Northwest USA
 

My wife, daughter (8) and I are planning a trip to the Northwest this summer for 10 days. We were looking for suggestions for places to visit or possible tweaks to our itinerary (not set in stone). We’re totally open to suggestions for hikes, rafting, jeep tours, cool towns & places for kids. We plan on covering a lot of ground Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana & Wyoming. Right now our trip looks like this:

- Fly into Portland:
o Sightsee and rent ATVs to explore the sand dunes.

- Seattle
o Sightseeing.

- Glacier National Park:
o Hiking & sightsee
o Jeep tour somewhere in MT (if there are any)

- Lewis & Clark National Forest:
o Sightsee

- Yellowstone:
o Hiking & sightsee

- Grand Teton’s
o Hiking & sightsee
o Possible spend the night in Jackson Hole

- Craters of the Moon:
o Sightsee

- Sawtooth/McCall:
o Raft the Salmon River.

- Fly home from Boise.

Thank you for any help or advice you can offer.

You are doing this all by car? Driving? And in only 10 days?

Wow, that's ambitious. Where are you flying from? I would edit it to a maximum of 4 destinations, if you are sticking to 10 days. Kids need time to settle in and adjust (I am a mother of a 8 year old).

<i>We plan on covering a lot of ground...</i>

Your list needs to be trimmed by at least half. For example, the sand dunes for dune buggy rides are a full day's drive south of Portland, on the coast. From there to Seattle is another full day's drive. Glacier or Yellowstone are two days' drive from Seattle or Portland.

It just doesn't add up. All you'd be doing is driving, with little time for hikes, jeep rides, rafting...

Where are you coming from?

Before we spend a lot of time trying to salvage this trip, one important question -- have you already booked your flights? If those ARE set in stone, then we can try to help you, but this overall plan is really pretty poor.

I'm not sure what you have planned for Lewis & Clark Nat'l Forest. There really isn't sight-seeing, per se, it's just driving.

Are you thinking a day in Glacier and then spending a day or so to drive to Yellowstone?

Your 8 year old would probably enjoy Lewis and Clark Caverns and the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, if you're thinking about using the West entrance to Yellowstone.

My 8 year old was not thrilled with Glacier.

This is way too much for a 10 day driving trip.

Anyone ready to make bets on whether this poster comes back? It would be nice if he (she) does, just saying we've seen so many of this type of post from first time posters who never return to see or respond to advice. Maybe this one will be different?

When 1st posters like this never come back, I don't know if it's because they don't care for our suggestions... or they can't find their way back to Fodor's.

Thank you, I appreciate the suggestions. My initial post was misleading, what I should have written was that the total trip would be 12 days. Day 1 would be our flight into Portland from Philly(early flight) and day 12 would be our flight home. Leaving 10 days to do everything in between. If we would trim this back what would your suggestion be?

Last year we did a family trip from Phoenix to San Fran. We hit Sedona, Montezuma Well, flagstaff, Zion, North Rim Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Yosemite & Sequoia. That was a 10 day trip total (including 2 days for flights). Mileage wise it's close to trip I proposed in my original post, it's off by +\-300 miles but we also have two additional days this year to offset the extra mileage. That's why I think it's doable. Also, my daughter likes to hike but she has her limits. Despite the fact that my wife and I would love to spend 2 or 3 days in Glacier camping and hiking, it's just not going to happen with an 8 year old. So it doesn't make sense for us to spend more than 1.5 or 2 days in one park. We try to mix in hikes, rafting/kayaking, cities, etc.

Again, I appreciate any help that you can offer!

mdb16--I am sorry, but even with 12 days, this trip is impossible. Please consider trimming this back by at least half. Otherwise it will literally by a drive by, without time to even stop at the places you are wanting. Many people do not realize how spread out things are here, and that the parks take time to even drive through. Have you had a chance to read some guidebooks yet?

>> Phoenix to San Fran. We hit Sedona, Montezuma Well, flagstaff, Zion, North Rim Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Yosemite & Sequoia. <<

To manage than in 8 days you must have been on a forced march. How does your daughter enjoy being stuck in the back seat for hour after hour every day?

I think your current plan is even worse, but maybe that is how you travel . . . long road trips (as opposed to 'being there' trips) can be fun, but w/ a 8 yo??? Not great IMO.

Thanks, mms. I'll looke into scaling the trip back. We are very early in the planning stage so I'm still doing research, nothing is set in stone.

I think the phrase "we hit . . . " is very telling. Apparently the goal is to rack up places to "hit", not really to relax, sit back, and fully experience or explore. That's fine. We all have different ways we like to travel. If you loved your trip you describe above, then there is no reason to scale back the new trip. You will be able to "hit" all those places and enjoy them as you did the ones on the other trip.

What I would do:
1. Fly to Seattle; do local sightseeing and then rent a car to drive down into the Oregon coast. Return to Seattle.
2. Fly to Kalispell, MT (Alaska Air is about $110 each). Be sure to take the red bus tour rather than drive yourself--much less stressful.
3. Drive to Yellowstone, about 400 miles. See Yellowstone and Grand Tetons.
4. Drive to Craters of the Moon (175 miles).
5. Do the Salmon River raft trip.
6. Fly home from Boise.

An alternative would be to skip Idaho and go to Colorado to Rocky Mountain National Park and fly back from Denver.

If you're on the West side of Glacier, the hike to Avalanche Lake would work well for an 8 year old.

If you're traveling between West Glacier and Yellowstone, you can go through Missoula or Helena. Both have carousels downtown and both have Big Dipper ice cream shops downtown.

If you're going through Bozeman, I definitely recommend the Museum of the Rockies. Our daughter loves it and has loved it since she was little. Also, as mentioned above, Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park is worth a stop. The tour takes two hours, and the Caverns are well-decorated with stalagmites and stalactites. It's a good stop.

Which route are you thinking about between Seattle and Glacier?

IMHO I would NOT take the "Red Bus" tours in GNP. You can cover the same area as the tour in your car and stop when and where YOU want to stop as oppose to stopping where THEY want to stop. Remember that there is only one road going through the park, Going to the Sun road, 51miles long and VERY slow driving not stressful at all IMO There is also a FREE shuttle bus that runs the length of the road and stops at designated bus stops.
Be aware that the park is opened 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. However the Sun road will NOT open in it's entirety this year until June 19 and that is weather dependent.
For the latest on road openings and closures go to WWW.nps.gov/glacier

I have hiked on the dunes in an area where I was sure I wouldn't get run over by a dune buggy or ATV. The dunes are pretty far from Portland for a few hours of ATV use. http://www.duneguide.com/sand_dune_g...egon_dunes.htm
My advice would be to skip the dunes and skip Craters of the Moon. I spent about 2 hours there last summer and was not that impressed.
As noted, don't count on the Going to the Sun road to be open all the way through until June 19. There will be many trails closed in Glacier even after that date.