Planning the Next Great Road-Trips!

We're just home and already starting to talk about our next road-trip! 

We have two opportunities to travel coming up soon - in September Bear has 10-days off, and in October he has a conference for work (one week) that we go to each year as a family.  We've been eying a return to the Four Corners area for September, and know San Diego is the destination in October since it's where the conference is being held this year.

Do we drive?  Do we fly?  Do we train?  Do we do a combo?

Decisions, decisions!

The verdict is - we drive!

The decision to drive in September was pretty easy - it's not that far and driving far outweighs the hassle factor of flying with a toddler and all the stuff he needs (ie. stroller, car seat, etc.). 

October was a harder call - it's much farther away, much more driving and neither me, nor Bear, wants another three-week apart experience; it's way too long for us to be apart, but more importantly, too long for the kids!  But I hate flying these days and really prefer being able to stop as we go, seeing sites and things we'd miss if we just flew out and back.  In the end it came down to costs - it'll cost half to drive than to fly and rent a car, and we'll get two weeks out of the adventure instead of six days.

Now for the planning, which includes thinking about what to do differently this time, from the lessons learned from our last road-trip!

In September, the vacation will be vacation and educational - since it's within the school year and we're in the full swing of Boo's lesson plans, I'll need to schedule in daily lessons, educational stops and downtime to just have fun.  Same with October - if I'm driving to San Diego, I need to plan out how to get there and back, with adequate time for lessons, learning experiences and just plain 'ole fun.  I think I'll start reading some Road-Schooling blogs to get ideas!

Fossil Butte, Dinosaur and Home!

A last minute change in driving plans led us to Wyoming, to start our day at Fossil Butte - one of the best parks we visited in our travels.  It was amazingly well done and geared especially for fossil lovers like Boo!  Not only that, but the park rangers were among the best we'd met.

The only thing I wish we could have done was explore the area more - it was terribly hot, which made exploring difficult with Bug.  So, once Boo finished up his ranger badge, we targeted our sights on Dinosaur National Monument, which the ranger said was a pretty easy drive and we should have lots of time to do it to in the same day.

He was right on the drive - it was easy and pretty quick.  There were, however, no restaurants between the two, so we had to eat gas station food - UGH!  All in all though, Dinosaur was fun too!

Now that we were in Colorado, the push home really started - just Colorado and Kansas to go.  We pushed to Kansas in the evening and then, for hours and hours the next day, with this as our primary landscape view:

But we made it, home safe and sound, happy to see Bear and amazed we did it!  Now to start planning our next adventure!

Onward Ho!

Waking in Idaho, I checked the map as we headed out, noting we might be able to pull off two Junior Ranger badges today as we headed for the Hagerman Fossil Beds, with the City of Rocks on our way too, as we continued to head toward Utah.

As luck would have it, City of Rocks wasn't doable, but Hagerman Fossil Beds was home (temporarily) to Minidoka, so Boo did indeed get to do two Junior Ranger Badges today!

Once we realized that City of Rocks wasn't going to happen, we headed into Utah and spent a few hours at Crystal Hot Springs, swimming and relaxing before the long drive to Wyoming.

Heading Home!

With snowboard camp over, it's time to hit the road and head home!

First stop - Fort Vancouver, in Vancouver, WA.

A few hours, and another Junior Ranger badge complete!

Then we headed for Mount Rainier!

And you guessed it, another Junior Ranger badge complete!

And while we didn't have a good view of the mountain while there, we did have an awesome look on our drive heading east, toward Idaho for the evening!

Week of Fun

I decided to see a couple of things with Bug - namely the Enchanted Forest and the Oregon Zoo.  Both were fun, with the Oregon Zoo being one of the best zoos I've visited and well worth the admission and parking fees!

For Boo, the week was amazing - lots of learning, snowboarding and making lots of friends.  By the third day, he was already planning his return next year with two other boys his age.

But Mom! Please Feed Me!

First full-day of snowboard camp was great! 

Except the food. 

I didn't realize that I'd created a food snob, but it seems I have.  Boo didn't like the breakfast and couldn't find much to make for lunch and was really worried about dinner.  Needless to say, marshmallow that I am, I'll be making him breakfast in the morning and packing his lunch - honestly, I wouldn't want to eat the food myself either.

Ready to go up to Mt. Hood

Eying the Mountain!

Settling In...

Arriving at Mt. Hood means more consistency in our day for the next week.  Boo is attending snowboard camp at Windell's and we're firmly in place for a week in a cottage we're renting in Brightwood, OR, about 3.5 miles from camp.

After settling in last night, we got everything together and were ready for the day when it was time to get Boo registered for the week.  He is so excited!

Within minutes of our arrival, he was off and doing what they do - open BMX and skateboarding the first day:

As a day-camper, Boo will arrive each morning, have breakfast, make his lunch and then head up to the mountain to snowboard until mid-afternoon.  Then they come back to camp and can BMX, skateboard and do various programs to improve their skills until video review of their morning on the mountain.  That's followed by dinner and the evening programs, with day-campers picked up between 9:00-10:00 PM.  They call Windell's "the funnest place on earth" and judging from the reactions of the kids arriving, I'd say it's true!

Adjusting Plans

Remaining flexible is an absolute must when you're road tripping with the kids.  After an awesome day just playing at the beach and exploring southwestern Oregon, we decided to do it again, just a bit further north and put off arrival at Mt. Hood by a day - arriving the day before snowboard camp started, instead of two days before.

So we woke and drove north, getting close enough to Mt. Hood that we'd arrive there in a few hours when we took off again in a couple of days.  The drive along the Oregon coast was spectacular, and our digs in Liincoln City were right on the beach, perfect to spend a couple of nights and just relax some more!

Our second day there was rainy, but even the rain didn't stop the kids from having a blast!

Third day, still more rain, but some sun too, with more beach time before we headed to Mt. Hood!

Do I have to Drive?

So, yes, I reached a point where even I did not want to drive anymore!

Remedy?

Beach play for a day!

And finding a B&B with an amazing view to kick back and relax!

Other sites and views from exploring the area:

Should I worry?

When the "rock fall" is the road!

Redwoods

If there is one place to take your kids, Redwoods is it...it is spectucular, huge and so much fun to explore!

On our way, we stopped at one of the three drive-through trees in California (privately owned park).

And then made our way to the Visitor's Center for the national and state park.

Four Days to get There!

Waking in Santa Cruz I realized we had just four more days to get to Mt. Hood - and about 700 miles more to drive.  Since we were on the coast, and San Francisco was just a stone's throw away, it was our next logical stop.

So, we explored Fisherman's Wharf first, then headed for the Exploratorium!

While I originally thought we'd spend a couple of hours at Exploratorium, we stayed six hours and left only because they were closing!  It was amazing and a definite return-to place when we are in SF again in the future!

Over dinner Boo said he wanted to do some more Junior Ranger programs, so I checked the map and our national park passport and decided we'd target the Redwood National Park next.