ewolff

Hi everybody,

We are a family of four from Uruguay, South America (two kids ages 8 and 13) and are planning a RV road trip this summer from Zion National Park to the Seattle area and possibly North Cascade National Park.

We have been making road trips (renting RV) for the last 3 years, getting excellent advice and ideas from forums and destination experts whose invaluable support helped us put together and enjoy three unforgettable RV road trips; first to the West (California,Nevada & Arizona), then Wyoming, Montana and South Dakota) and last year the North East Coat and Ontario. We can not thank all of them enough.

I am trying to put together this year’s trip with no much time in advance, so your advice and support would be much necessary.
Every previous year we did complete loops renting and returning to the same location. This year because of the distance, I am thinking of making a one-way trip.

Still working on the airline tickets, but I believe we will be landing at Las Vegas and renting the RV there. We have been in Las Vegas before, so we do not intend to spend much time there but drive straight to Zion Park.

First sketch/approach to this road trip as follows:

- Las Vegas to Zion NP
- Zion NP to Arches NP
- Arches NP to Salt Lake City for a quick visit to main point of interest
- SLCity to Bonneville Salt Flats and then north through Twin Falls to Craters of the Moon NP
- Craters of the Moon NP drive West through Boise cross Oregon towards the Coast ( could be Newport or other recommended must see town on the coast)
- Drive North on Oregon Coast to Astoria
- Drive North to Seattle to spend a couple of days visiting
- Time permitting drive north towards North Cascade NP and/or San Juan Islands
- End the trip in Seattle to return the RV and catch a flight back

Our main goals are to see the highlights of that part of the country and enjoy time as a family.

We love: - National Parks : hiking
- Exploring the outdoors, caves, mountain and trail hiking, - Exploring the historical and interesting places
- Driving through scenic routes
- Experiencing unique adventure activities like white water rafting, canopy or other, ( we have never done balloon flying yet and I read there are many places to do it there)
- Family fun activities, amusement parks, etc.
- Whale watching could be a great experience for the kids if it is the right time of year

Amain amusement park should be part of the trip if possible

We do not mind a couple of long 6-8 hours drives if necessary on the trip, but prefer shorter 2-3 hour average drives (even if needed to drive morning and late afternoon)

We do not intend to spend too much time in the main cities, but enjoy the surroundings, drive by and just get a glimpse of the main spots and highlights.

We enjoy much more to discover National Parks, small historical and quaint towns, appreciate the way of life of local communities and living some local experiences eating at the local traditional places, than touring the big cities.


Main Questions:

a) any advice on quality one way RV rental? ( Except for the first year, we have rented in the past from 5 star certified renters which offer newer and excellently maintained units with full equipment. It does make a difference in the travel experience )

b) suggestions on RV parks or places to stay in the N.Parks and along the way?

c) is there a main amusement park (like a six flags or similar) along the way ?

d) any recommendations of nice little traditional places to eat excellent local food along the path?


Would greatly appreciate your recommendation on nicest routes to take, places to visit, not to miss towns or sites, not to miss activities, family fun and enjoyable places and activities in those areas, etc. etc.
As well as your overall thought about this trip based on your own experience.

All inputs will be greatly appreciated and very helpful to put together this road trip.

Thanks a lot in advance for your support,

Eduardo

Virginia1990

Regarding Zion, I recommend staying in Springdale, right outside the western entrance. There is an RV park right outside the National Park called Zion Canyon Campground and RV Resort (http://www.zioncamp.com/locations/ut...national-park/). This is assuming you won't get a spot inside the park. For hiking, I recommend the Narrows definitely. Angel's Landing is beautiful, but I'm not sure you want to take your kids up that hike because of the drop-offs.
Observation Point is another trail that leads to a wonderful view down the main canyon, but I'm not sure how the drop offs here compare to Angel's Landing as this hike is still on my bucket list! Hidden Canyon is a great short trail, and it's mostly shaded whereas the majority of hikes in Zion are not. Emerald Pools is also a nice short trail. Canyon Overlook is another wonderful short hike, but at the eastern entrance (east side of the tunnel). While in Zion, we enjoyed Wildcat Willie's for dinner multiple times.

Since you are so close and it's on your way, don't miss Bryce Canyon between Zion and Arches. Even if you just do the Queen's Garden/Navajo Loop Trail, it's beautiful and very unique. It's a short drive from Zion, maybe 1.5 hours. You could drive to Bryce in the evening after a day at Zion (do Canyon Overlook hike on your way out), then be there for the sunrise and the trail in the morning before heading on to Moab. We stayed at the Best Western Bryce Canyon Grand Hotel right outside the park and loved it. I'm sure there are RV parks here as well I just don't know the name of them.

After leaving Bryce, there is a scenic drive called Scenic Byway 12 that runs from Bryce to Capitol Reef NP through some great scenery with lots of stops along the way. It goes to I-70, where you would head east, then get off on 191 south to get to Moab.

In Moab, the Moab Brewery is a good place to eat, and for a more expensive dinner the views at the Sunset Grill are great. For hiking in Arches, I would recommend doing the Devil's Garden and Delicate Arch. Park Avenue is also nice, and different from the typical arches that you will mostly see.

SLC is also one of my favorites. Be sure to visit downtown to see the Mormon Temple and the surrounding buildings. The architecture is beautiful. Also, check out the courthouse. Again, beautiful architecture. The Dodo was a restaurant I enjoyed there, and they have a great large selection of pie too! There's a hike in SLC called The Furniture that my roommate and I attempted. We never found the "furniture", and neither did anyone else we passed on the trails that day. But, the views that we had of the city while hiking up there looking for it were great, and we enjoyed the hike nonetheless.

From here, I'm no help. But I would love to hear what you think of the Seattle/Olympic Peninsula area when you return as my fiancé and I are looking into taking our honeymoon there next June!

janisj

I agree -- you definitely need to include Bryce Canyon.

As for theme parks -- the northwest is not a big theme park/water park region. There are a few like Enchanted Forest south of Salem and Wild Waves not far from Tacoma. But neither is worth the time IMO on such a rushed itinerary covering so much territory.

ewolff

Thanks a lot for the suggestions and specific tips.
Will definitely include Bryce Canyon then.

I read about Silverwood them park near Coeur d'Alene, ID. Any comments?
Is a different route than we originally sketched, but also many things to visit and do along the way.

After Craters of the Moon, we will have to decide either to drive north through Idaho ( Missoula, Wallace, Coer d'Alene) and then crossing west towards Seattle or, as originally planned, west from Craters of the Moon to Newport and then north along the coastline.

Dayle

Hi Eduardo,

How wonderful for your family that you are planning another trip!

I might suggest that you should think about making this a Las Vegas to Salt Lake City trip, because there is just so much of they type of things your family enjoys right in Utah.

2 nts in Zion, minimum
2 nts in Bryce
drive Hwy 12
1 nt in Capitol Reef National Park
start early the next day and see Goblin Valley and Little Wildhorse Canyon on the way to Moab
4 nts Moab
2 nts either in the Unita Wilderness (east of Park City), or
2 nts Park City
1 nts SLC

Adjust according to your interests!

Here is what you can do:

Zion - besides the excellent and one of a kind hikes you can do in Zion, you can also take an ATV tour outside the park, or go mountain biking. If river levels allow you can also do an innertube float on the Virgin River outside the park. Great on a hot day.

Bryce - besides hiking, you can take a horseback ride either in or out of the park.

Highway 12 between Bryce and Torrey (Capitol Reef National Park). Take your time and visit the Devil's Garden and hike Calf Creek Falls. A beautiful hike to a spectacular, tall waterfall. Need a very early morning start for this hike as it's very popular and the parking is limited.

Up and over Boulder Mountain (10,000 ft. elevation) through the aspens with 100 mile views, wild turkeys, deer and more.

See a little of Capitol Reef Natl Park, especially the old Gifford farm, orchards, fresh pie and petroglyphs right next to the Fremont River.

Visit Goblin Valley, you will think you are on another planet and it's kid heaven. If time, drive further out and hike a bit in Little Wildhorse Canyon (slot canyon).

In Moab you can spend an entire week and still not do everything there is to do! See Arches with short walks and longer hikes if you are more ambitious. Definitely sign up for the Fiery Furnace hike with the rangers. It's a real treat. 1 or 2 entire days just in Arches and most of the hikes are not difficult. Another day for Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park and Dead Horse Point State Park. Then you can do an off road hummer tour combined with a 1/2 day jet boat ride on the Colorado River. If that's to wild, you can take an easy 1/2 day float trip upriver from Moab on the CO River. ATV tours and guided mountain bike tours are also available. Sign up for a canyoneering trip with one of the local outfitters and learn to rappel! Horseback riding available in the area too.

Continue on up to the Uinta Wilderness on the Wyoming boarder if you would like a night or two in the high mountains with wildflowers and small lake fishing. Gorgeous hiking everywhere, but go prepared and informed. Lots of campground up there, but if a weekend, you will need advance reservations.

Park City - if you choose a night or two here you can visit the Utah Olympic Park. Talk about an amusement park! Ride the summer bobsled on wheels (on the actaul Olympic track), zip lines, rope courses, and more. See the athletes practice and enjoy the Sunday evening show put on by the Olympic aerialists. They go down a plastic coated ramp, do their flips and twists and land in the pool. I've never met anyone of any age who didn't love seeing this in person! There is also hot air ballooning in Park City and too many other outdoor sports to even mention.

Then if you need another amusement park you can visit Lagoon, north of SLC. It's our state's main amusement park with roller coasts, etc. If you hit it right, you might be in town for a rodeo or demolition derby (a car crash event in an arena). Last car running wins!

Definitely 14 days worth. Save the northwest for the next trip.

Just a few things to think about!

happytrailstoyou

Driving to Seattle from Arches via Craters of the Moon is not a good plan. Considering your previous travels in Western US, a better trip would focus on Oregon, Washington, and Vancouver Island (Victoria and Tofino).

HTtY

PS Craters of the Moon is off the beaten track and, all things considered, visiting it is not as thrilling as its name suggests.

tomfuller

I would not miss the chance to see at least a small part of Yellowstone to see Craters of the Moon.
It is a solid 6 hours from Boise to Bend via I-84 and US 20 from Ontario OR.
Spend a night in Bend and then continue on US 20 all the way to Newport. Just south of Newport (across the big bridge) go to see the Oregon Coast Aquarium.
If you have an interest in the volcanic history of the Pacific Northwest, visit the Lavalands visitor center and the lava cave south of Bend.
The High Desert Museum is also worth a couple hours IMO.

Fodorite018

I know a lot of people who really like Silverwood and families add it to their summer vacation when they head that direction.

I agree that Wild Waves and Enchanted Forest are ones that can easily be missed.

Not on your route, but an easy detour from the OR coast, head to McMinnville to Wings and Waves. It is a pretty new waterpark that is based around a huge airplane. It is hard to describe, but check their website and you will see what I mean. They are part of the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum, which is excellent on it's own, so adding this would be a nice day.

Otherwise, right off of I-5 in WA (not far from Centralia, at Ground Mound) is a Great Wolf Lodge, which is an indoor water park/hotel.

Gardyloo

I would like to offer an alternative itinerary for your consideration, given the overall outline of the trip you've planned. With the time you have available I think you need to think a bit strategically about your route.

Assuming you're flying into Las Vegas, my recommendation would be to rent an ordinary car for a few days and use it to visit Zion and Bryce, staying in hotels or motels instead of driving an RV on twisty high-altitude roads. In Zion your private vehicle won't be allowed into the valley anyway.

Then return to Las Vegas and fly to Portland, Oregon, and do your RV trip as a round-trip "loop," either heading north or south, but returning to Portland. One-way flights from Las Vegas to Portland are frequent and inexpensive, and the RV rental will likely be much cheaper.

For example, here's a southern loop out of Portland - https://goo.gl/maps/A7z1h . It includes the Columbia Gorge and Mount Hood, Crater Lake National Park, a dip down to the northern California coast to see the coast redwoods, then the full length of the Oregon coast all the way to Cape Disappointment at the mouth of the Columbia River, and a return to Portland via Mount St. Helens.

This covers a remarkable variety of landscapes - the stunning Columbia River gorge and Hood River Valley with Mount Hood looming above, wonderful sagebrush and "old west" scenery on the way to Crater Lake, then the redwoods (which if you haven't seen I promise will be the highlight of the trip) and the marvelous Oregon coast with its rocky scenery, sand dunes, lighthouses and fishing communities. Finally visit the awe-inspiring mouth of the Columbia River and historic and scenic Cape Disappointment, followed by Mount St. Helens. (Of course this trip can be covered in reverse, too.)

Or here's a northern loop - https://goo.gl/maps/QSIyA - that also includes the Columbia Gorge, but then turns north and travels through Mount Rainier National Park, then out to the Pacific coast and a circuit of the Olympic Peninsula and Olympic National Park, finishing with a return to Portland via Mt. St. Helens. (Or again, this can be done in reverse.)

This route would also give you the Columbia Gorge, but then also Mount Rainier and Olympic National Parks. Olympic NP offers spectacular coastal scenery, unique rain forest valleys, alpine wilderness, hot springs and wildlife. Mt. Rainier offers fabulous short hikes, wildflowers, and of course amazing views.

Both of these loops can be done in roughly ten days, and both will offer phenomenal variety, including a couple of national parks. More importantly, they'll offer more things to do and see using the hours (and rental cost) that you'd otherwise be spending on long drives across desert using your original plan.

If you need to get to Seattle to fly home, the train from Portland to Seattle is inexpensive; however PDX airport also offers easy connections to points in the US offering air service back to South America.

One other thing, regarding your desire for amusement parks or similar. We don't know when your trip will be (assume summer) but one alternative might be to find a state or county fair that's taking place during your travel period. Fairs always have amusement rides, also rodeos, music performances, all sorts of competitions, and a real chance to experience the USA at the "grass roots" as it were.

For example, here's a list of fairs this year in Oregon - http://oregonfairs.org/content.php?p...gon_Fair_Dates - and here's one for Washington - http://www.wastatefairs.com/index_files/Fair_Dates.htm

I think a visit to a county or state fair would be a real bonus; and there are enough of them that working one into your itinerary shouldn't present a big problem.

ewolff

Hi Folks,

Was traveling for work on a trade show and was not able to get back to you. Sorry for that.
Having said that, I sincerely appreciate your posts and suggestions, for you really put yourselves in my shoes and gave sincere and thoughtful advise, helping us to see things into the proper perspective.

We read and discussed your posts with my wife and realized it will be difficult and most probably not enjoyable, to cover all the area we originally sketched. I also spent many hours yesterday trying to find a company to rent a nice well maintained and equipped RV to make the one way trip, and actually all I got was either El Monte or Cruise America with not the best reviews from customers.
For us, this is an issue, for we will spend many hours in the unit and can not afford breakdowns and lost time in this type of trip. So it is a must to get a dependable, very clean and neat as well as well equipped and fairly newer unit.

We did found 5 star certified RV rental companies both in Salt Lake City and in Seattle.

One of the reasons we love RVing is actually avoiding packing bags , checking in and out of hotels, flights, etc. So even though I did like Gardyloo's proposed alternative, it would not work for us with the kids.

So now we are trying to put everything into consideration to make the difficult decision wether to make either a southwestern loop from Salt Lake City and forget about Oregon/Washington or the opposite; rent in Seattle and make it a North Pacific coast and mountain loop.

At this point we are leaning towards the southern loop for we believe we could have more fun activities with the kids. But we are still trying to put it together and all suggestions and comments are welcome.

Will post back after we put together one or the other option.

Thanks again.