OK fellow travelers. Here’s the challenge.

What do you pack for a family of 4 (w/2 boys 10 & 14) for a three-week trip in August to the Pacific Northwest (Portland, Seattle, Vancouver) where you will be in cities, small towns, mountains, and then board a cruise ship for a trip up to Alaska? After the trip, you will rent an RV for a week and tour around the Alaskan wilderness.
Sounds like a great trip, right? But what kinds of clothes (and how many?!) do you need?
I’m sure there will be a Laundromat along the way, so things will get washed at some point. Ideas are very welcome!

P.S. Since we’ve never driven an RV, how difficult are they to maneuver? What kinds of provisions do you recommend for a week in Alaska?

As far as the NW and Alaska are concerned, basic everyday garb will be fine - dress as you would at home. In Alaska in August it may be dusty or muddy or both around RV parks or campgrounds, plan accordingly. For the cruise, you might ask your travel agent or the cruise line as to what sort of clothing works best - if it's a family-oriented ship most likely anything goes, but adults may want to take something slightly more dressy.
Wait till you get to Alaska (presumably Anchorage?) before further provisioning - everything you'll need is there, at chain stores (K-Mart, Fred Meyer, etc.,) Costco, or Nordstrom for city slicker duds.

Thanks, John.
I presume grocery stores are in Anchorage too, or are they mostly the wholesale-memberhsip types like Costco or BJs. (We don't have a membership and wonder if we'd need one to supply the RV.)
Have you ever driven one? This will be our first time "camping" as a family. The boys have done it with scouts, but without mom along. Regarding "provisions". Do RVs usually come with simple things like salt/pepper/spices or just the plates to put your food on and you get the rest? I have no clue.

Wow. I feel your excitement.
We also had "what do we pack" questions, and I just showed this post to my spouse, and here is the comments / suggestions: Remember, we did a 10 day RV trip in mid August (and are typically overpackers).

Highly recommend the zip off shorts for your kids. We brought shorts, but they were not worn. It would have been nice to zip off the bottom half on a couple of hot days.

Our kid (& us) dressed in layers: jeans, T-shirt (short), t-shirt (long) and a fleece or flannel.

We brought shorts and sweats, but they weren't worn much if at all.

The RV was cold a couple of nights. WE didn't want to run the heat, and my spouse brought and slept in thermal undies and socks - only 2 or 3 days though. I'd bring something warm to sleep in (the RV will be stocked with blankets.. for sure).

RAin gear, gloves and hat: On our boat tours (Kenai Fjords, Glacier BAy and whale watching at Pt. Adolphus) we wore thin gloves and donned rain jacket (only some of the time it rained). But you will want to hang out of the boat and feel the breeze on your face. etc

Shoes. We brought it all (i.e. overpacked! even dress shoes). Sneakers were never worn by my kid. Hiking shoes were enough. Your feet will probably get wet on deck (ours did on the tour boats) and sneakers didn't dry.

We also brought bulky jackets: never put them on. We each brought a winter(y) jacket (warmer than a thin thing). Took up a ton of room. Won't do that again. The fleece and layered shirts were enough. We also brought turtle necks and long sleeve t-shirts.

Binoculars. We also brought a scope, which was only used a couple of times.

Food: Stock up on your kids favorite stuff to eat. My spouse reminded me how it was not easy to find our kids favorite 'junk snack' everywhere, and we were glad we bought the 'case' of Pringles at Costco. We loaded up our RV at the Costco in Anchorage;

Riding in a RV is like hanging out at home. Bad hair morning and comfortable clothes will rule, until you get out of the camper.

How much? Bring a ton of 'bomb around the house' stuff for the kids: t-shirts, socks, pants, undies; Plan on doing laundry the day before you disembark the cruise ship, so you start out fresh in the camper. If you can, take enough for 1 week for each kid. I did laundry at every opportunity (because I didn't know if I would get another) and sort-of regret it. It took a couple of hours out of the day or the evening in the RV. Dirty clothes could have come home with me.

We actually packed our clothes in a large box (under 70 lbs) and checked them in on our way home.

What to buy in the camper? We actually spent more than a minute planning the menu. In the end, though, we had spaghetti, burgers, baked a turkey (bought at Costco), baked a cake (kid wanted to do that, which he baked along side the pipeline 'rest area' just north of Faribanks), bought a pizza. Get microwave popcorn; pick up condiments, meats/fish at Costco or a large grocery store. Also pick up some firewood shortly after you pick up the camper. Get some sort of fire starter (if you want) and matches for the 'campfire'. Also get Smores makings and libations for the hard working parents.

You will have the time of yourlife. Take me with you!

Just read you other post:

Our RV company (Alexander's in Anchorage) had an extra package for basic provisions. I think it was $35 and it had all the kitchen necessities. This is a great question for your RV dealer.

There are the usual big grocery chains in the cities. Prices were same as our local major store.

GOL,
Thanks for the input. It's what I was looking for...someone who has been there and done that.
I figured that jeans, some "nice" slacks, a blazer, fleece, and short and long sleeved shirts would suffice for the early and latter parts of the trip, but thinking about packing for a cruise in the middle made me concerned about overpacking and schlepping it all over Alaska. (I'm sure there isn't much storage in an RV.)
I guess we'll need the blazer for the "formal" part of the cruise for the males and the female will have to take a dress or skirt/dressy slacks/blouse for the same. Any comments are welcome on this part.

GOL, are the RV campgrounds few and far between or relatively easy to get to? Did you ever have to camp in a location that wasn't an RV campground?

Thanks for your help.

Campgrounds were around. Some were full and our reservation was a good thing, and others were not and we could drive up. Actually, only 2 were full out of many. We actually planned each day, as I was paranoid we could not find a campground with h20, power hookups.

We made reservations ahead of time, and cancelled a few times. Once, just using the Milepost, we reserved a campground in Glennallen. Then, we drove by and found it was not very good. We drove down Glenn hyw a few miles and found a perfect place (telsona, I think) where every site was along the stream, had fire rings, treed and they had enough washers / dryers.

The Milepost gave all that stuff, and we didn't worry about it much. Just be sure to reserve where you have hookups.

We camped twice along the side of the roadway, in a pullout. Once on the way from Anc to Seward, as we had to make an 8am boat tour. It was fun. We never felt unsafe. The other time along the Alaskan Highway east of Fairbanks. [It was still twilight near midnight and it didn't seem that late. The sun rose so early it seemend like it never set.] There ere plenty of 'pull-outs' and these are even marked inthe Milepost.

GOL,
Just curious. What size RV did you rent? For how many people? Was it sufficient in space without tripping over each other?
Your advice has been great! Thanks.

GBelle,

A 24' (or 25') Class C.

www.abcmotorhome.com/rvs_floorplans.htm

The web site of ABC Motorhome in Anchorage has a floor plan. (We didn't use ABC; FYI) We were in the 22/24 foot Motorhome. Our RV was almost identical to the floor plan of the 22/24' listed. The only difference was a comfy "captain" chair behind the passenger seat. Adults slept in the bed in back; kid slept on cabover bunk. Table folded into another bed, which we didn't need.

Was it sufficient space? Yes. We are road warriors anyway, with many family long road trips in sedans/SUVs over the years. So, the camper was very nice since we could walk around during the driving. Often, the passenger seat was occupied, and the other person was either on the table or on the bed in the back. We really didn't want to "miss" much of the driving, as everyplace was "new". If one of us got tired, we would take a nap. During the drive we didn't feel like we were tripping on each other. When we were not driving but in the RV, we were usually 1) getting ready (i.e., dressed, showered, etc.), 2) planning/preping a meal, 3) sleeping or 4) reliving the day and planning the next day. The only "tripping over each other" was getting ready for bed or during the morning routine. [Amazing enough, it still took us the same amount of time to get ready (in the morning) in an RV, whether you are home, in a hotel, or in a camper]

We really want to do this RV thing again, so there were not any long lasting bad memories. Plus, an RV, like a car, is captive time with your family/kids. No distractions, etc.

There isn't a whole lot of space to store 'stuff' you accumulate and you have to be diligent to keep it neat. After a week, my kids cabover (bunk) bed resembled the bedroom at home; So the bed became storage during the day. We didn't have a problem storing suitcases and supplies, as the camper has inside and outside storage compartments and a small closet. The only thing that made it claustrophobic-like was a few days worth of accumulated 'junk'.

My opinion may not be universal. I remember trying to decide which RV to get reading one woman's opinion. She essentially said that no matter what size RV you get, it will be too small, you will wish you rented the bigger one, and even then you will be glad it will be over to have back some more personal space. This was not my opinion, as I thought the RV was just right. However, I know people who cherish and require their own space who I would predict would have the same opinion as the mother I cited.

We had 2 adults and 1 child.

I can/will e-mail much more directly, if you would like.

GBelle,

Sounds like you have a truly wonderful adventure ahead of you. About 15 years ago (wow, how time flies) we rented an RV to tour the Western USA. We were novices and had never done any camping. But we enjoyed it. We had 2 teens and 2 adults and I think our RV was 24'. It was a wonderfull adventure and we had plenty of room for us and our things. A couple of pointers - we rented in Phoenix and paid extra for the complete package - linens, dishes etc. We found the supply of bath towels was inadequate (only one each) and the quality was chinzy. We ended up purchasing another bath towel each so we'd each have two bath towels. Another hint is that the refrigerator has a little hook on it. Be sure and re-latch it every time you open it. I remember going around a corner and everything fell out!

Have a great time...
Sandra