We stopped for the night at Diamond lake because it seemed like the nicest closest place to Crater Lake National Park, which doesn’t allow RV camping in the boundaries of the park itself. Both the lake and the adjoining RV resort seemed very nice in their own right, but we wouldn’t have much opportunity to…
Summer 2021 Western Trip – 10 – Old Friends in Portland
While there’s a lot to do in Portland, the purpose of our stopover was a quick visit with friends. First stop was Friday evening with my good high school friend Jonah, his wife Cindi, and their kids Hana and Kiran (who our boys hit it off with). We had a great time catching up over…
Summer 2021 Western Trip – 9 – Cooling Off at Rainbow Falls State Park
Not only did we get to cool off after a string of 90 and 100 plus days, we actually got to reacquaint ourselves with pants and sweatshirts again! Driving west for about 4 hours saw the temperature drop by a very welcome 30 degrees and replaced desert with forest. For the record, Rainbow Falls was…
Summer 2021 Western Trip – 8 – Blustery Wanapum State Park in Washington
After a somewhat reasonable three hour drive we pulled into our full hookups campsite at Wanapum State Park in a very dry section of Eastern Washington. We find that state parks typically provide the spacious campsites when compared to private campgrounds, but they’re usually sparse on utilities, so it was a nice treat to get…
Summer 2021 Western Trip – 7 – Coeur D’alene, Idaho
While we may not have absolutely needed to stop in Coeur D’alene on our way to Eastern Washington, we did still need the Idaho sticker for the back of our RV. That’s just how we roll. Although it was pretty late when we pulled into our spot at Camp Coeur D’alene, and we were both…
Summer 2021 Western Trip – 6 – New Friends in Helena
Leaving Gardiner, it was once again just the four of us. About an hour into our drive we decided to stop for one of our rare restaurant lunches, this time in the town of Livingston. The internet had informed us of a highly rated BBQ place, and those can be hard for us to pass…
Summer 2021 Western Trip – 5 – Yellowstone and Gardiner, Montana
Grab some snacks, this is going to be a long post! After leaving Jackson, we all caravaned (two RVs and a mini van) straight to Yellowstone via Grand Tetons National Park. Our campsite for the next 4 days was just north of the small town of Gardiner in southern Montana. We had to drive the…
Summer 2021 Western Trip – 4 – Jackson and the Tetons
That’s right, Jackson isn’t just a hideout for Billionaires, it’s also the perfect home base for exploring Grand Tetons National Park. Considering how late in the season we were making our reservations, we were very lucky to get anything. We ended up at The Virginian Resort, which is part hotel and part RV Park on…
Summer 2021 Western Trip – 3.5 – Dinosaur National Monument
Pros about Dinosaur National Monument: It was a quick 20 minute drive from our Campsite and Steinaker State Park. Interesting dinosaur exhibits. Cons about Dinosaur National Monument: Despite its name there were no actual dinosaurs. Lots of bones and some replicas, but no actual dinosaurs running around – BOO! Our visit to the monument was…
Summer 2021 Western Trip – 3 – Steinaker State Park, Utah and Onward Into Wyoming
On the way to Steinaker Park – Taking as many pictures as I do, I’ve come up with some strange categories. This picture ranks highly in the “Landscape Photo Taken While Pumping Gas’ category. After Bonneville Seabase it was time to head east to meet up with Lana’s cousins from glorious New Jersey. They had…