Itinerary

Many have asked for our itinerary, so I decided to a blog post would be the easiest way to communicate the information out. As you may or may not know, we had to readjust the plan a few times because of wildfires, mudslides and teenage opinions! With that being said, I will also include our original Plan A itinerary activities (at the bottom) for your reading pleasure!

STOP 1 – Chalk Hill, PA

Harvest Host: Christian Klay Winery ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

STOP 2 – Columbus, OH

Campground: Cross Creek Camping Resort ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

  • The Wilds – 4 out of 4 Sweets give this experience two thumbs up. I’ll have you read our blog posts for the details! When booking tickets, we recommend the budget-friendly Open Air Safari, as opposed to the $200/person tour. We saw both and don’t think it was worth the up charge.
  • The Columbus Zoo – This was, by far, the best zoo experience of my entire life. Many say I need to experience the San Diego Zoo, which is on my list, but for now this is the best!! Again, check out our blog posts for more pictures and a detailed recounting of our fabulous day spent here!!

STOP 3 – Sun Prairie, Wisconsin

“Campground”: Walmart Parking Lot ⭐️

  • Sassy Cow Creamery – Aside from sightseeing and galavanting from one National Park to another, another goal of our trip was to experience the local “thing” at every stop. When in Wisconsin, you visit a local dairy and sample all. the. things.

STOP 3 – South Dakota

Campground: No Bad Days Campground⭐️⭐️⭐️

  • Mount Rushmore This is an obvious “bucket list” item, but make sure you read my blog post for tips on how, in my opinion, to best experience it!
  • Deadwood – This stop was totally impromptu as we were driving by. The town was a tourist cliche, but oddly enough really well done. There were lots of cute shops and picturesque stops along the main street. I wouldn’t dedicate an entire day to it, but it is worthy of an hour long stop to stretch your legs!
  • Devils Tower – Again, not really worth a full day of sightseeing. It was a “bucket list” item for our family, but definitely cool to see. It wasn’t on our exact route but worth the 35 minute detour. What’s with all of the alien references though?! Weird.

STOP 4 – Yellowstone National Park

Campground: Bridge Bay Campground ⭐️

  • Upper & Lower Falls Hike – As a non-hiker, this was the ideal hike. Paved, short, mostly flat and lots of overlooks. We arrived early (good idea, Doug!) and basically had the trail to ourselves. By the time we got back to the RV, the parking lot was at capacity.
  • Norris Geyser Basin – This place stunk. Like legitimately, it smelled. However, it was amazing once you figured out (and remembered!) to breath through your mouth. There are 3 loops you can hike and each has it’s unique charm and photo ops!
  • Lunch @ Overlook in Mammoth Springs – The original intention was to stop at Mammoth Springs to check it out, but by the time we arrived it was much too peopley. Instead, we drove to the end of town – literally, the end of town – set up a picnic lunch and took in the views. It was perfect!
  • Hayden Valley – If you want to see bison, go here!!! We were so excited when we saw 1 bison as we were leaving our campground. When we stumbled upon the field with over 100 bison, it was incredible. I definitely recommend checking out our blog posts from this day!

STOP 5 – Grand Teton National Park

Campground: Bridge Bay Campground ⭐️

  • Jenny Lake – We highly recommend the boat ride across the lake (free for active duty military) and then a hike up to Inspiration Point.

STOP 6 – Yellowstone National Park (Day 2)

Campground: Grant Village ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

  • Old Faithful – Definitely a bucket list item, but after seeing Norris Geyser Basin, I would almost say it was not that impressive. I’m sure others would argue that fact with me, though. Be sure to check the website for timing!
  • Grand Prismatic – Go check out our blog posts. The pictures will explain it better than I ever could using words. It is important to make sure to time your visit after mid-morning when the fog has rolled off. Otherwise, the view will be disappointing! The short hike up to the Overlook is definitely a must-do. And Doug, my hiking husband, would recommend the hike to Fairy Falls is also a must-do!

STOP 7 – West Yellowstone, Montana

Campground: Grizzly RV Park ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

STOP 8 – Glacier National Park

Campground: Glacier Campground ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

  • Hike @ Many Glacier – I would certainly not classify this as an “easy” hike for the non-hiker type, but it was worth it. I do wish the temperature was a bit less but we made it work. At the top of the trail we hiked, there was a gorgeous waterfall pool where we cooled off. Wildlife was everywhere, but I’ll let you go read our blog posts for more details on that!
  • Going to the Sun Road – **There is a lottery system for tickets! But if you read my blog post, Doug found a workaround that actually, in my opinion, made for a better day anyway. And we got to experience…
  • Lake MacDonald @ sunset. It was gorgeous, incredible, all the things. I most certainly will be going back to Glacier National Park to explore more. It is definitely my favorite National Park now, with Acadia being a very close second.

STOP 9 – Seattle, Washington

Campground: Seattle/Tacoma KOA ⭐️

  • Pike Place Market – I would recommend starting AND ending your day here. The vibe is different depending on the time of day you visit. In the morning, it’s a great place to grab a pastry, some fresh fruit and people watch. In the afternoon, we were able to check out some vendors that had not set up when we were there earlier.
  • Space Needle – This was definitely a “bucket list” item, but totally glad we checked it out. The views were incredible and it was a fun experience.
  • Museum of Pop Culture – This museum had something of interest for every member of our family. Not to mention, the architecture of the outside of the building was super cool. When we finished touring, we sat outside while our teen and tween played on a playground. For a moment in time, we all felt younger than we were!
  • Seattle Public Library – This is likely not on everyone’s list but with Peyton in our family, it had to be done. The building itself, both inside and out, was gorgeous. My favorite feature was the incredible air conditioning!
  • Dinner in Chinatown – After being on the road and not dining out very often, we all were craving Asian food. So clearly we had to go check out Chinatown. The vibe was totally different than the rest of the city but still great. Our food was amazing – we had Dim Sum at Harbor City Restaurant. Although I really wanted to try Dough Zone but the whole GF thing would have been a real problem for Livi!! Next time… 🙂

STOP 10 – Orcas Island

Campground: West Beach Resort ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

  • Anacortes Ferry Terminal – If you want to board with an RV, you must reserve well in advance! However, it appeared that normal size cars and even pedestrians were able to “walk-on” without a reservation. The cost of your ticket is round trip, fyi.
  • Orcas Island Shuttle – This is a new-to-the-island business with great owners! They were super responsive and the shuttle bus was very clean. Doug was even able to ride for free as an active duty service member!
  • Walking Tour of Eastsound – It was a super cute town with lots of cute shops! If you time your visit at low tide, there are many creatures to be seen on the waterfront. We highly recommend the Irish Pub for lunch – their poutine (fries w/ cheese & gravy) and views were equally amazing!
  • Whale Watch Tour: Outer Island Excursions – We give this two thumbs way up!! The Captain and the Naturalist on board were superb in every way. It was a smaller boat, which I preferred, and it had an indoor area if you wanted to get away from the wind. We were fortunate enough to follow around (from a safe, respectful distance) a family of orcas hunting for their dinner for about 2 1/2 hours!

STOP 11 – Seaside, Oregon

Campground: Thousand Trails – Seaside RV Campground ⭐️⭐️⭐️

  • Seaside Beach – If I had to choose between Seaside and Cannon Beach to live, I would choose Cannon. However, Seaside had it’s touristy charm and we could ride our bikes everywhere in town from our campground! Bonus – we found so many whole sand dollars (already dead) to bring home.
  • Cannon Beach – Haystack Rock – If you are a Goonies fan, you’ll recognize Haystack Rock from the movie. I’ve never seen the movie, but still enjoyed the gorgeous beach. The pacific northwest ocean water, as we discovered, is much colder than we expected. It was only 52 degrees when we were there in August!

STOP 12 – Ely, Nevada

BLM Campground: Sacramento Pass ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

  • Star Gazing – Never in our lives have we seen a more gorgeous night sky. Free camping at Sacramento Pass, no hookups, but God provided the entertainment for the evening!

STOP 13 – Great Basin National Park

This stop was super anticlimactic, aside from being able to visit the gift shop and visitor center. I’m grateful we stayed where we did at Sacramento Pass, so we could experience one of the things Great Basin is known for – being able to see The Milky Way!

STOP 14 – Bryce Canyon National Park

Campground: Sunset Campground ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

  • BCNP Hop-on / Hop-off Shuttle – For the non-hiker, this made it easy peasy to see the popular spots in the park. The drivers are super sweet, too, and keep you entertained and provide you with a plethora of fun facts!
  • American ATV Self-Guided Day Trip – Panguitch, UT – Pricey, but so very worth it! The owners are down-to-earth and super knowledgeable about the area and it’s geological history. This is the only company that allows for self-guided trips. It was certainly an adventure, not for the faint of heart. 3 out of 4 Sweets would recommend!

STOP 15 – Capitol Reef National Park

Campground: Wonderland RV Park ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

  • Gifford House – You must try the homemade cinnamon rolls & ice cream!
  • Scenic Drive – Making this 12 mile drive is less than ideal with a 31 foot RV, but doable and worth it. If it is a rainy season, be aware of flooding and mudslides making the road difficult to pass.
  • Check out the Petroglyphs!! This was a highlight for me. A quick stop but worth it to read and see the history.

STOP 16 – Salt Lake City, Utah

Campground: Pony Express RV Resort ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

  • Scheels Store – It’s a random retail stop on the way, but amazing – worth it!! There is a massive salt water aquarium in the store, as well as a ferris wheel and endless shopping for any type of person.
  • Antelope Island State Park – We were glad to mark it off the “bucket list”, but make sure to read our blog posts on this particular “adventure”

STOP 17 – Nebraska

Campground: High Point RV Park ⭐️⭐️

STOP 18 – Hamburg, Iowa

Campground: Waubonsie State Park ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

STOP 19 – New Berlin, Illinois

Harvest Host: Danenberger Family Vineyards ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

STOP 20 – Arthur, Illinois

  • Yoder’s Amish Kitchen – So much delicious food, fantastic service and a quaint gift shop… understandably the reason most people go to Arthur, Illinois!!
  • Kauffman Amish Furniture Outlet – I wanted to purchase a new dining room table, but instead only walked out with a hand-crafted wooden sign. I’ll be back for that table!!!

STOP 21 – St. Clairesville, Ohio

“Campground”: Cracker Barrel ⭐️⭐️

HOME SWEET HOME!!

The Best Made Plans… or so we thought.

States Traveled

National Parks Visited

Day 11 – glacier national park

Today is day 11. We are at this horrible campsite in the woods called glacier RV national park. When you had to take a shower 🚿 or go to the bathroom 🚽 you had to walk down a big hill and it was really annoying and tiering. For the shower there’s only 3 for the hole campsite with no plumbing at the campsites. Then my mom was being really annoying because she video anyone using the shadow shower but her🙄. Anyway today we are renting a Jeep and we are going to go around glacier national Park and do some hiking.We just finished hiking 🥾 and it was pretty fun we swam in a little river pool thing it was really fun we also saw 3 mousses 1 really cute 🥰 baby and a mom mousse a little while later we saw a boy mousse. When we finished ✔️ the hike we got really good ice cream 🍦. After that we went to the sun road to watch the sun set on our way to watch the sun set we… touched a glacier 1 of the things on my bucket list 😀 , saw pretty wildflowers, great views and twisty roads, mountain goats 🐐 witch were so cute ☺️,and finally we watched the sun set.

Day 9 Yellowstone day 2

Today is day 9. We are going to Old Faithful today. Old Faithful is a very tall geyser. A geyser is like a small volcano that shoots out water 💦. It was so cool 😎 and pretty 🤩. Just like the geyser from day 7 this geyser is hot 🥵 to.After we were done there we went to the Grand Prismatic Springs parking lot. Once we got there we hiked up to the Grand Prismatic Springs overlook. The Grand Prismatic Springs was really pretty 🤩. Afterwards we went back to are campsite and figure out what we were we wanted to go to dinner. We all voted on pizza 🍕. Then we started to bike 🚲 to town for dinner. Once we got there we made a reservation and waited for 40 minutes🤤. Finely we sat down and got are menus and we started to order then we asked for a GF pizza and they said they were out. So we went to a different pizza place and we waited 30 more minutes 🤤. Then we finally ate dinner😀😃😄😁😆🤤!!!!!!!! Then we biked home and dad almost 😅 killed 😡 us.

Day 4 Driving and Sightseeing

This is day 4. We have 19 full days left. Today we drove from Wisconsin to Minnesota to South Dakota. It was very hot in South Dakota but it cooled down at night. we drove up to Mount Rushmore. We sat there for a while waiting for the sculpture illumination to start. When it finally started it was cool. They played a video about all the presidents that were in the sculpture. Then the park ranger told us how to leave after it was over. And then they lit up the sculpture.

Day 7 – Yellowstone Day 1

Upper and lower falls….Today is day 7. Today we are going to hike to the Upper and lower falls. To get to the upper and lower falls we have to hike 1 mile there and 1 mile back. On are way home we saw a really cute little chipmunk and a few minutes later I found a Rainbow 🌈 in one of the water falls. Then we went back to are camper and went to the Norris Geyser Basin. At the Norris Geyser Basin hike I was pretty grumpy 😠 because I don’t like hiking 🥾 at all. At the Norris Geyser Basin it was really stinky🥴💩but pretty. Some of them looked like pools but you can not swim in them or you would diy in 2 seconds because it is so hot 🥵. Then we drove to a really good place to eat lunch. Today We are eating lunch by the mountains ⛰. after we ate lunch mom and Peyton took naps 😴💤. While mom and Peyton were talking naps dad and I went up to the store we bought a key chain for me and my dad bought a hat🧢. Wen we were on are way to a spot near the lake we saw hundreds of bison 🦬 on a area of grass near the road. The bison were everywhere on the grass. Every few minutes a bison went in to the middle of the road and made a traffic jam. We saw a ton of bison and a few baby bison they were so cute 😊. Once we got enough pictures📸of the bison 🦬. Then we went to a spot by the lake.Once we got to a spot by the lake we settled in and made dinner. Wen mom and dad were making dinner 🍽 Peyton and I were watching HarryPotter⚡️. Once my parents finished dinner we ate it then my parents went out side and Peyton and I stayed inside and finished HarryPotter. About 30 minutes later we drove back to are campsite 🏕 and went to sleep 🛌.

West Beach

Today was once again a long driving day, but once we got to the beach it was all worth it.

Before we went to the beach, we biked around the campground and saw a ton of rabbits. After that, we rode our bikes to the town, and after that the beach.

It was my first time in the Pacific Ocean, and I can honestly say I prefer it to the Atlantic. The water is colder, the sand is softer, and there are sand dollars everywhere. We walked out to a sandbar and collected shells and scared away seagulls. We didn’t do much else, but the next day made up for it.

Orca’s Island

At the start of the day, we took a shuttle bus to the town of Eastsound on Orca’s Island. Our driver had the cutest dog in the passenger’s seat. He was a little white dog named Fitz. We gave him all our attention the entire ride.

The town itself was so pretty! The shops were all beautifully decorated, there were also colorful plants in all the yards. We went to a bookstore, a jewelry shop, and multiple clothing stores.

If you walked a little bit away from the town and down a hill, there was a small beach. It was mostly rocks but there were still some nice shells here and there. Another cool thing about the beach was if you turned over a particularly large rock, tons of tiny black crabs would run out from under it. There was also and amazing view of a tiny island.

We stopped for lunch and coffee back in the town and then walked to the docks where we boarded our boat. The boat was called The Blackfish and had two floors. The second floor could only fit eight people, so my sister and I ran up the ladder as soon as we could so we could get a spot.

We were only sailing around for about fifteen minutes before we saw the orcas. There were three of them and we followed them around for the next three hours. Watching them swim and hunt was so cool. Sadly, we never got to see them jump out of the water. But it was awesome nonetheless.

After the tour, we took a shuttle back to our campsite (No Fitz this time, sadly.) and ate ice cream sundaes.

Seattle

Today was actually pretty spontaneous. Two days ago, I suggested that we cut our Glacier visit short so we could have a full day in Seattle. And everyone agreed that it could be fun. So we drove a full day to a KOA in Washington and started planning our visit.

We got up early so we could make it on an early train to Seattle. We took a bus to the train station and then took a train into the city. Once we got there, we walked to our first stop: Pike’s Place Market.

We saw the original Starbucks, put money in the Golden Pig, and got breakfast at an amazing bakery. I got a peanut butter oatmeal cookie, Livi got chocolate macaroons, Dad got a bacon cheddar croissant, and mom got raspberry scones. My dad also got some fresh bread to go. After breakfast, we walked around the market, stopping at many stalls. There were stalls featuring products like jewelry, clothing, bags, paintings, ornaments, and so much more. There were also food stalls with fresh produce, baked goods, and fish caught from the Pugent Sound. You could actually see the Sound and the mountain range behind it from the market.

After we left Pikes Place, we hiked up a huge hill and made our way to the monorail entrance. Once we got there, it still wouldn’t open for another 20 minutes so we went to the park next to it. It was actually a really cool park. There were hula hoops laid out for people to use, a playground, and brightly colored lanterns were hanging from the trees.

After the monorail ride (which only took 2 minutes) we walked to the Space Needle. Inside, you got a little history lesson about the tower and the people who worked on it.

Inside the elevators, talking wasn’t allowed for some reason, but once you got to the top, the view was all worth it! We had an amazing 380° view of the entire city, the sound, and the mountains behind it. We even got to see the helicopter pad from Grey’s Anatomy. There was also a revolving glass floor below the restaurant.

On our way out, we stopped at the gift shop and saw a pretty fountain. And then we walked through an alleyway of glass buildings to reach the pizza parlor where we had lunch.

After lunch, we went to the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPop). There were so many cool exhibits including costumes from Disney movies, a science fiction Hall of Fame, and props from fantasy franchises like Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings. There were also Pearl Jam and Nirvana exhibits which my dad loved.

After the museum, we played on a ginormous playground and then took the monorail back to the other side of the city. Once we were at the other side, we took a small walk to the Seattle Public Library. It was amazing! The building was made of all windows so you could see the outside from everywhere inside the library. There were three stories with all sorts of cool places inside of it. Including a gift shop, computer lab, small auditorium, a coffee stand, and of course: many many books. It was amazing.

Once we left the library however, things got a little crazy. We all started following my dad around because we thought he knew where we were going. Turns out, none of us knew where we were going. After a little bit of a fight that resulted in us being lost, dehydrated, and tired, we finally found our way to Chinatown where we had dinner.

day 8 Grand Teton

Today is day 8. Early in the morning my dad woke up and started driving to a site seeing place. Once we got to the site seeing place we started to talk to these people in a black bus 🚌. Then they asked us if we wanted to draw on it ✍. We drew a mountain ⛰ a family 👨‍👩‍👧‍👧 and a hart ❤️. Then we drove to Jenny lake.Once we got to Jenny lake we went on a boat 🚤 over to a really good hiking area. First we hiked to the water fall💦. Then we started to hike 🥾up to the top but I got tired😩 so my mom and I hiked halfway up then we started to hike down but we went exploring and saw the water fall 💦again but from a different angle. Then we went all the way down to the boat🚤 and then we went back. Then we went to the gift shop and bought some stuff like t-shirts👚👕and post cards 🎴 . We met Peyton and dad at the camper🚐.