Family Bliss On The Go to a Northwest Road Trip
In the summer of 2022, we decided to do a road trip around the Northwest US because our nephew was born in Oregon and we wanted to meet him. We did this trip with our two boys (then ages 7yo and 4yo). We flew from Pittsburgh to Jackson Hole, Wyoming via Chicago, which is where we rented the car to drive the rest of the trip. The summary itinerary included Grand Tetons National Park in Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, and then heading to Oregon via stops in Montana and Idaho. We ultimately flew home from Portland, Oregon's airport. Read below for a more detailed itinerary, what we learned or would have definitely done differently, what we loved and would highly recommend, and for tips to plan your own similar trip!
Day 1: we flew to Jackson Hole. This is a super cute little airport, and the boys loved walking off the airplane right onto the tarmac. Once we got our car, we drove through Grand Tetons National Park to get to our cabin at Colter Bay Village and casually explore the nearby lake area. We always plan for lowkey evenings after traveling, which is why we didn't do more at that park, and that's something I would have changed. Ideally, we would have added an extra day onto our trip, stayed closer for that night, and spent the next day exploring that area. It was really pretty, and I feel like we wasted it by just driving through with a few sightseeing stops.
Day 2: We woke up at 5am for an early start to our day, but we were still on EST time, so it wasn't bad. We drove to Yellowstone and on the drive saw elk, some deer, and then our first bison. I won't lie, I literally shrieked with excitement at the first bison we saw. Which, if you've been to Yellowstone, I'm sure you realize is hilarious, because we saw SO many more bison as the day progressed. If you go to Yellowstone, you really cannot NOT see bison!
We visited the Mud Volcano, Dragon's Mouth Spring, and the Sulfur Cauldron. Prep your kids in advance for what sulfur smells like because it was definitely stinky but really cool to see.
We saw our first herd of bison at Hayden Valley and then another herd right along the road, so close we could have touched them. Obviously, don't! In all seriousness, there are definitely enough stories in the news about bison attacks, so know to keep your distance, respect their space, and quickly get your kids in the car if bison are getting too close to you!
We visited the "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone," then Atticus napped in the car while Kai and Jon did some switchback trails to the Lower Falls. Then, it was Kai's turn to nap in the car, so Jon and Atticus explored Emerald Pools and Steamboat Geyser. This is important advice for parents going on trips with kids- be flexible, allow naps to happen, don't feel like everyone has to do everything! Allowing the kids to take naps in the car and allowing me to relax in there with them during those naps, while Jon took the awake child on fun little adventures, meant everyone was well rested and happy for our later adventures.
Finally, we arrived at the Old Faithful Lodge, which is where we had a cabin near Old Faithful. Don't get me wrong- this was EXPENSIVE! You hear cabin in national park and think that should be budget-friendly, but this was definitely not. For us, it was worth it to stay right next to Old Faithful and not have to leave the park, but others may disagree. We dined at the Old Faithful Inn and saw the geyser doing it's thing as we walked back to our cabin from dinner!
Day 3: After breakfast, we hiked the thermal basin near Old Faithful and saw it do its thing one last time before we left. We went to the Grand Prismatic area near and walked the boardwalk route first. Next, we hiked up to see the Grand Prismatic from above. I will say that this was probably the prettiest thing in all of Yellowstone and, in my opinion, way cooler than Old Faithful. That being said, one of our sons (who will remain nameless so he's not embarrassed online) desperately had to use the restroom (#2!) and was hesitant to go in any of the outhouses in the park. This resulted in him screaming and crying for the bulk of our hike up there and viewing of the beautiful site. Unfortunately, even in the best environments, kids can be kids! We drove to a few different outhouses thereafter until we found him one he deemed clean enough to suck it up and go. All better!
As we drove out of Yellowstone National Park, we entered West Yellowstone, which is actually in Montana. We visited the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center, which the children loved. The coolest part was that our older son was old enough to be allowed to sign up with a group of kids to go into the bear enclosure (with the bears not in there!) to hide food around. The kids had a little education about how this is enriching for the bears who have to search for food in the wild, then they tried to choose their best hiding spots for their food. Once he got out of the enclosure, we were able to watch the bears enter back in and play hide and seek with the food until they found his!
After the discovery center, we had a chill evening walking around the cool little town of West Yellowstone, including dinner, some shopping, and huckleberry ice cream at an old soda fountain from 1907. We stayed at a cabin/hotel within walking distance of the "downtown" area, so we settled in for the night.
Day 4: We left Montana and ventured into Idaho. First, we went to Craters of the Moon National Monument where we scrambled over and under rugged lava rocks and through tunnels and caves formed from lava tubes.
Then we drove west to Bruneau Dunes State Park. During daytime, we climbed up the sand dunes but the sand was very hot. We were wearing tennis shoes but it still seeped in and was burning, so we didn't spend a ton of daytime time there. That being said, we went back in the evening and loved it. We did the observatory experience there, where we learned about light pollution and various things in space. We got a chance to use their telescopes to see Saturn, the moon, and the nebula. Kai was very excited to see Saturn's rings! Then we went on a tour where we used blue UV lights to search for scorpions. This was a great adventure for the boys and something they both still remember well! I highly recommend this!!
I will say, despite being in Idaho for most of one entire day, we sadly did not eat any real Idaho potatoes. This was on my list to do, and we had to count McDonalds French fries as our potatoes. Bummer!
Day 5, we had a slowed down day. First we had a pit stop in Baker City to eat at the Oregon Trail Restaurant, which was literally on the Oregon Trail. Fortunately, we did not get dysentery and die, so we continued on. Our base that day/night was in Sumpter, Oregon, which is an old sleepy mining town. We stayed at the Sumpter Stockade Motel, which is designed to look like an old fort. This was the least expensive of all of our stays thus far on this trip, and it included a kitchen and living room and an awesome outdoor area where the kids could run around and play. I would definitely recommend this place to stay with kids! The town is known for its gold rush history, so we went out and panned for gold and toured the dredge before walking the VERY little town (about two blocks) for ice cream and some grocery items.
Day 6 was a long driving day with short pit stops along the way to break it up for the kids (and me!). One of my favorite things we drove through/stopped at were the Painted Hills. Another planned stop on the journey was at the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, but we didn't realize we should maybe look it up in advance and it turned out to be closed....we still looked around the outside area, which was sufficient for us, but I can't say anything about the inside/if it were open.
We then came up on Mt Hood views in the distance and finally made it to our family's house to meet our baby nephew!
Day 7, Jon had gone on a mountain biking ride with his brother in the morning when I started to worry that our youngest son had pink eye. I ended up taking him to Med Express because I didn't want to chance him getting the new baby sick. Turns out, he had a scratch on his cornea somehow. Fortunately, he just needed drops and was fine! Life happens, even on the road!
We then hiked the Old Salmon River trail and played in the river a bit. The water was very cold, and Atticus was not a fan of the cold temps!
Day 8, we went to the Columbia River Gorge and saw so many beautiful waterfalls!! Tip while exploring outdoor areas with kids, you can help teach them mindfulness by stopping occasionally and having them name everything from each of their senses (that is, what do they see, what do they hear, what do they smell, are they tasting anything?, what do they feel with their body like sun on skin, cool breezes, something under their feet, something with their hands, etc.).
Day 9, we took the boys rock climbing at the Giant Staircase, then went on a wild huckleberry hunt. We visited the Timberline Lodge, which was cool for two reasons. First of all, the outside of it is used for the movie The Shining. Secondly, it was dedicated by President Roosevelt. On the nearby mountain, the boys went out to have a snowball fight. Again, Atticus was not prepared for this. He begged for a snowball, and then cried when he felt it in his bare hands! They walked a tiny bit of the Pacific Crest Trail before we ended the day.
Day 10, we ventured to the coast and then Portland, Oregon. First, we went to Cannon Beach to see the Haystack Rock (from the movie Goonies) and to have a chill day at the beach, with our kids' first time dipping toes into the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately, we missed the puffins that are sometimes in that area (typically from June to July....we went in early August). Then we visited the famous Voodoo Donuts before driving into Vancouver, Washington to stay with Beth's family for the night before going to the airport early the next morning.
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