We just ended our 9 day road trip. Whatever possessed us to want to travel 2473 miles with 5 kids in a 37 foot rv??? Call it a misguided sense of adventure, a desire to see the country, a desire to NOT endure airport security or flying, or call it crazy. Whatever you want to call it, here are the nitty gritty details:
The route we travelled was as follows:
Day 1: Boise to Cannon Beach
Day 2: Cannon Beach to Newport
Day 3: Newport to Florence
Day 4: Florence to Bandon
Day 5: Bandon to Fortuna
Day 6: Fortuna to Petaluma
Day 7: Petaluma to Reno
Day 8: Reno to Las Vegas
Day 9: Las Vegas to home
Here is what is looked like on the map
Cannon Beach:
Newport: Aquarium, and Ripley's
Tillamook Cheese Factory on the way to Florence
Florence: SNOW!!
More Oregon Beaches:
The Redwoods
The Cathedral
The Dyerville Giant's Roots:
Good times in the RV
The Cathedral
The Dyerville Giant's Roots:
Good times in the RV
First the good:
Loved the Oregon Coast. Cannon Beach was spectacular, as were the dunes around Florence. The RV was great for traveling in the sense that we had tons of space, therefore no fighting about who is touching who, etc. It was also nice to avoid 4 million potty or snack breaks, as we were fully equipped. The Redwood Forest was magnificent as well. I am love with the trees there. I could quite happily live in the Redwood Forest I think, although I was constantly thinking that Bigfoot was lurking around every corner. The weather was rainy on day 2 and 3, and then we actually woke up to snow covered sand dunes in Florence. I don't think that is at all normal for there, so we just tried to enjoy. We didn't have too much rain after that, and though it was chilly in the redwoods, it was deserted which was awesome!
The Bad:
Because we were novice RV'ers, we had a few "incidents". Parking is tough...driving in city traffic is really tough, and backing into a tree lined parking space in a campground, at night, in pouring rain is a recipe for minor disaster. Let's just say, that we've given the RV a minor scar on the front passenger side. Tim also put a gash on his skull one night trying to level the thing, and the awning inexplicably started flapping around as we were driving through the sideways rain in Oregon. We had to stop and try to fix it, with no cell service, so that was fun too. Oh yeah, Cooper basically didn't sleep the first night, so we were pretty grouchy, so when the RV incidents started to happen we thought we might not last 9 days. BUT we did!
The Sweet:
Bruce's Candy Kitchen in Cannon Beach...yum. The best salt water taffy ever!
Watching my kids bond and have fun playing board games, telling stories, and exploring the seaside together.
Listening to Piper explain that the trees in Boise were nearly as big as the Redwoods...(loco)
Being able to make popcorn and watch a movie in surround sound at night in a gorgeous state campground.
Fish and chips all down the coast.
Hot chocolate and toast every morning together
The Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport
Tillamook Cheese Factory in Tillamook
Ripley's Believe it or Not in Newport
The sand dunes in Florence
The Snow covered trees in Honeyman State Park
The "Trees of Mystery" in the Redwood Forest
The Avenue of Giants...in a different Redwood Forest
The North San Francisco KOA in Petaluma...that place was rocking!
The ToNoPah Casino Thanksgiving buffet...thank goodness we happened on that or we would have had a full on mutiny.
The Stinky:
The RV smells a bit like a port a potty on wheels, which is sort of is. I don't know if that was normal, but it wasn't good. Going to Reno to watch a football game...freezing half to death, and then witnessing the most heartbreaking loss in BSU history. Josh was in tears, and Tim wanted to be. We are still experiencing a little depression over the whole thing. The drive home from Vegas definitely could have been worse, since we were in between storms, but it could have been better, since the wind howled the entire way....Tim's shoulders will be sore for days from keeping that beast on the road.
Will we ever do it again????
Probably.
