Road Trippin’
Nothing draws a family closer than being in confined spaces on a road trip! We tested our family strength recently with a road trip to a few National Parks. If you have a 4th grade child, take advantage of the free national park pass. This pass allows free admission to national parks! On the list for this trip was Crater Lake and Yosemite National Park.
We drove from Portland, Oregon and surprisingly the kids did great! And also surprisingly, they did not sleep. Not one bit! But that was ok, we were prepared for that. On all of our trips, I usually hit the dollar store for new coloring books, journals, crayons, pencils, crossword puzzles and the like and create a little pack for each of them. Each of them fills up a back pack with other items they would like to bring like favorite toys, stuffed animals, books or whatever but it all has to fit in their backpack. That keeps things down to the minimum. We also had movies and video games that we rotated between each of the 3 kids. And of course we played the license plate game because you just can’t do a road trip without! And last but not least, we let them be bored. Gasp! And it was fine. I feel like it’s good for the kids to be bored sometimes and let them figure out how to pass the time. And guess what?! they survived!
Our first stop was Crater Lake. The deepest lake in the US that was once a volcano. Also known for its beauty and magnificent blue waters. We stayed in some cabins here just for one night. There was actually quite a bit of snow on the ground for June so many of the hiking trails were closed to that hindered our plans just a little but didn’t hinder the beautiful scenery!
Then we made the long drive to Yosemite from there. I had a reservation just outside the park at Yosemite Lakes Campground and it worked out pretty nice. It was just a short drive into the park. But you definitely wanted to get there early so you didn’t have to deal with the traffic in the park. The best way to get around is just to park at your first destination and take the free shuttle around the park. Now, if you want to stay inside the park for your accommodations you definitely need to make reservations about a year in advance. We spent a couple days in the park sightseeing and hiking. There is definitely stuff to do for everyone. But just taking in the beautiful scenery was something else. So peaceful and serene. Lots of wildlife to see, and we even saw a bear!
From Yosemite we drove to the Redwoods and just spent a couple hours there and then headed to the Oregon Caves. Here you can take guided tour and the kids have an opportunity to become junior rangers which we took full advantage of.
Then it was back to Portland! And if you are ever traveling down I-5 in Southern Oregon, you have to stop at Rice Hill for ice cream. Joel and I had fond memories of stopping there in college with our trips to Lake Shasta every year. But note to self, do not let your kids get double scoops before you have to contained them in a 4 hour car ride home. Holy sugar high batman!
