Search Results for: itinerary

A Complete Guide for a Roadtrip from Portland to Yellowstone

July 13, 2017

Our road trip from Portland to Yellowstone was one to remember and we saw so much of the Western USA along the way! We made an itinerary for this road trip to take in a lot of the scenery along the way and make sure to really see as much as we could. And if you want to take a similar road trip, here’s the route we cook and a complete guide for you to follow on where we went and in what order so it makes sense and you can see as much as possible of the Western USA!

Day 1 – Portland to Kennewick, Washington

We started off our road trip with a stop overnight in Kennewick, Washington as well as a visit to Palouse Falls!

Stay here in Kennewick!

Day 1 – Kennewick, Washington to Walla Walla, Washington

Stop in the cute little town of Walla Walla for lunch!

Then continue on to Moscow, Idaho for the night.

Day 3 – Moscow, Idaho to Steptoe Butte and on to Kalispell, Montana

Start at sunrise at Steptoe Butte out in the Palouse area of Eastern Washington. This area will take your breath away with how beautiful it is!

Then head on to Kalispell, Montana where you’ll stay 2 nights. Stay here in Kalispell!

Day 4 – Explore Glacier National Park

Spend your day exploring nearby Glacier National Park, a quick drive from Kalispell. Start at the West Entrance of the park and drive the Going to the Sun Road as far as you can. If you go anytime other than the Summer, the road will be closed, but you can drive Highway 2 around the park and enter on the East side as well to get a well rounded experience of Glacier National Park.

Day 5 – Kalispell, Montana to Bozeman, Montana

Next, head to Bozeman and stopover for the night. Stay here in Bozeman!

Day 6 – Bozeman, Montana to West Yellowstone, Montana

Stop here for a night to explore Yellowstone! Head into the park mid-day and explore until the evening on your first day here.

Day 7 – Explore Yellowstone + drive to Ketchum, Idaho

Get up early for sunrise in Yellowstone National Park and explore until mid-day when the tour busses start to make the park really crowded. Then pack up and head to Ketchum, Idaho for the night.

Stay here in Ketchum!

Day 8 – Head back to Portland!

Spend your last day driving back to Portland!

Travel Tips : Tips for a Long Roadtrip

July 3, 2017

After 7 full days in the car on our road trip from Portland to Yellowstone and a number of places in between, I feel like I’m a road trip expert. This trip was really different for us than our usual travels and it definitely took some getting used to. And while at the end, we were so ready to be home and out of the car, here are my tips for a long road trip, some we did, some we wish we would have done to make the most out of it!

Bring Snacks and Drinks

We were in the car for multiple hours a day so snacks and drinks were an important necessity. The places were were going didn’t always have a lot of restaurants, so we brought stuff that would keep us filled up while out and about. We also brought a cooler with drinks and filled it with ice every day in our hotels so they would stay cold.

Switch Off Driving

Long hours driving can be really wearing, so Nick and I switched off driving along the way. Sometimes he’d drive one day and I’d drive the next, or we’d switch on and off during the same driving day. Whatever you system is, switch off driving so you both get to be behind the wheel.

Bring a Paper Map

On this drive, there were a ton of places we didn’t have cell phone service so a paper map came in really handy. We just bought a Western United States map before we left so that we had at least something we could rely on when we didn’t have service. We only had to use it a couple times, but when we needed it, we were sure glad we had it.

Bring Car Chargers for Phones

Car chargers are a must for a long road trip, without them our phones would have been dead and our directions lost. Be sure to have enough for however many people you have in the car!

Try to Consolidate Luggage

This is one thing I wish we would have done better actually. Every night going into new hotels, it got really tiring taking up all our luggage. We had a lot more than usual as we went through a ton of different climates and we were gone for a while, plus Nick had a ton of camera gear and then all our drinks, etc. I wish we could have found a better way to consolidate so you’re not carrying so much into hotels every night.

Stay 2 Nights in Certain Places

One thing I wish we would have done better was to add a few more 2-night stays to our itinerary. We did stay two nights in Kalispell outside Glacier National Park which was really nice but I would have liked to have done 2 nights in Bozeman and perhaps 2 nights in Ketchum on the end as well so that it gave us more time to just unpack and relax a bit. So for the future, I would add more 2 night stays in certain destinations.

More Travel Tips Posts

Spending 24 hours in Bozeman

June 27, 2017

When we were planning our itinerary en route to Yellowstone, we stopped over in Glacier National Park on the way East. As we were looking at the map to get from Glacier National Park to Yellowstone, we realized Bozeman, Montana was right on the way and knew we should stop there as Nick has family in the area. We booked a night there en route to Yellowstone, though in hindsight, it would have been nice to have a couple days in Bozeman as it turned out to be a super charming little town and we really enjoyed our time there. To start with, heading to Bozeman from Glacier National Park, we relished in the gorgeous Montana countryside in this area. Along with a night in downtown Bozeman, we explored the surrounding area which brings beauty all its own as well as the charm of the downtown area of the city.

We also took the opportunity in the open areas near Bozeman to get the drone out and see more of the countryside which opened up a whole new level of beauty to see everything from the air! If you’re in the area, even if you’re just spending 24 hours in Bozeman, it’s a fantastic idea!

Don’t Miss in Bozeman

Rice Thai restaurant

Wild Joe’s coffee

Wander the downtown area

Co-op grocery store

Explore the surrounding countrysides (and stop to play with horses and llamas!)

The Truth About Traveling : Seeing Your Own Country through New Eyes

June 12, 2017

On our recent road trip to Yellowstone National Park, we purposely gave ourselves more days than we probably needed and more stops than we needed to be able to see more of the Western part of the US, a section of the country that is truly right in our own backyard. There were places on our itinerary that we’d been wanting to get to forever like the Palouse in Eastern Washington, but you know other things and places always came first – like yearly trips to Paris or jaunts to Iceland or Autumn weeks in Tokyo. Somehow the foreign places always seem more intriguing, more interesting. Somehow the landscapes around the world and the cities across the globe always pull us more, perhaps because they are so different than we’re used to at home. But the truth is that our own countries, and my own country of the United States, are just as beautiful and just as unique and it’s important to remember that.

This trip was a different one for us. It was a week long, 5 states explored, and a dozen cities and towns along the way. We don’t normally do such long trips in the US – most are long weekends and most are city escapes. This time though, our goal was this : see as much as we could of the North West section of our own country. We wanted to enjoy the drives, take in the landscapes and see the country, untouched and raw. And see it we did.

In the 7 days we spent driving from Portland to Yellowstone and back, I realized something: no matter where you live, no matter how far you travel and how much of the world you see, it’s vitally important that we see our own countries too. It’s vitally important that we understand that someone that lives just miles from where you do might live completely differently, think completely differently. It’s important to understand the geographical factors in our world, and the economic ones. It’s important to just see with our own eyes what our own countries offer the world, the community. It’s vitally important for us to personally see with our own eyes what’s right in our backyards even though it might not seem all that exotic.

The United States is vast, one of the largest countries in the world. It has landscapes that change over and over as you go through state by state. It has all sorts of cities and towns and economic importance. It has some of the most diverse geographies in the world and above all, it’s my country, so it’s important that I see it. Just as important as seeing history in Europe or chasing senses in Asia. Just as important as my roots in the Middle East or seeing ruins in South America. Sometimes all it takes for us to truly understand where we come from is to see our own country through new eyes. And sometimes the things that are closest to us are the things that end up changing us the most.

More Truth About Traveling Posts

Travel Tips : Packing for a Road Trip to Yellowstone

May 25, 2017

We are headed off tomorrow for an epic road trip eventually leading us to Yellowstone National Park! Though we’re also making a number of stops before getting there, like finally seeing the Palouse in Eastern Washington and spending a couple days in Glacier National Park and Kalispell, Montana. This is a much different type of trip for us and I found it difficult to begin packing for it. There are a number of things for this trip that are required that I’m not used to packing or bringing with us and when I started searching online for a packing list for this type of trip, I found it hard to find. So, here is my own list for packing for a road trip to Yellowstone and what you might need!

Outdoor Clothes + Layers

When packing for this trip, the weather was sort of all over the place from place to place. Some were going to be hot in the upper 80’s, some were going to be rainy and in the lower 60’s, so figuring out what clothes to take was tricky. The key? Layers. Even the places that would be warm during the day are cold at night and in the early morning, so layers are the answer. Vests and light coats with hoods were essential in my packing to be sure to meet the requirements for each location.

Be sure to pack clothes that can get dirty as well as hiking boots or shoes that you’re comfortable walking in outdoors. I also made sure to pack a couple hats to keep the sun out of my face when out and about.

Camera gear

Since we’re driving, it’s easier to take a ton of camera gear with us for this trip. Nick is packing specific lenses for what type of trip this is, but he is also renting lenses that he doesn’t have from lensrentals.com. We do this frequently and it’s great to be able to rent anything that might be specific to a trip. Be sure though to handle your equipment carefully and pack it well to travel with.

Binoculars

One thing that kept popping in my research for Yellowstone specifically were to bring binoculars. Apparently to see wildlife, it’s a great thing to have!

Food storage / Cooler

A lot of the stops on this trip might not necessarily have a ton of restaurants or we might be out exploring all day and not near towns or cities, so a cooler or some sort of food storage was necessary for us to bring. We figured out in our itinerary the places where we would stop and buy food for specific things like breakfast or snacks while out and about through the day. While we didn’t have a cooler, we found a great collapsible one on Amazon for only $30 which will be easy to pack up and carry around with us.

Water Bottles

Again, since we’ll be out and about most days, it’s good to take a reusable water bottle to fill up and have with you throughout your time on the road.

Hat + Sunscreen

As I mentioned above in the clothes section, a good hat (or two) is important to block sun out of your face while out and about exploring. Sunscreen is also vital since we might be out hiking for hours on end and you want to protect your skin from the elements. This is my favorite sunscreen!

Blanket to Sit On

I spend a lot of time when traveling waiting for Nick to take photos. And since this trip will be no different and we might not always be near the car or have somewhere to sit, I bought an outdoor blanket that rolls up into a pack with a handle so that I have something to sit on while I wait.

« Previous Page
1
…
7
8
9
10
11
…
15
Next Page »

A Complete Guide for a Roadtrip from Portland to Yellowstone

Day 1 – Portland to Kennewick, Washington

Day 1 – Kennewick, Washington to Walla Walla, Washington