So we’re traveling for 4 months… Now what!?
That was the question we asked ourselves once we decided we were going to travel for the summer. The thought of traveling long term has always been a dream of mine but the execution with a 6 year old & an (almost) 3 year old was going to take a lot of planning. I was up for the challenge though & immediately started brainstorming places we wanted to travel to.
One of the first ideas that popped into my head was a road trip through Oregon, Washington & Canada. I had done it once before but Kannon was a toddler & Adam wasn’t able to join us because of a work project so it would be a new adventure for them. One thing led to another & next thing we knew, we had a 3 week trip in an RV planned! Keep reading for the first part of our summer road trip adventure!
Day 1: Salt Lake City, Utah to Winnemucca, Nevada
Our first day consisted of driving from the Salt Lake City, Utah area to a small city named Winnemucca in Nevada. We didn’t want to drive the entire way to Crater Lake in one day so we decided to drive halfway & stop to sleep to break up the trip. I’m not going to lie, we slept in a Walmart parking lot that night & while it might sound very odd, it wasn’t bad at all, it was free & actually convenient because we could run into the store for water or any necessities we needed! Apparently, this is a thing for RV life & some Walmarts allow it but some don’t so if you’re looking to stay in a Walmart parking lot, make sure to check with the manager or they might come knocking on your door & make you leave in the middle of the night 🙂
Day 2: Winnemucca, Nevada to Crater Lake, Oregon
We woke up early (thanks to our sweet boys :)) & decided to get on the road since we still had about a 6-hour drive to Crater Lake. The drive was beautiful & we made plenty of pit stops along the way to let our boys get out, stretch their legs & throw some rocks on the side of the road (which is their favorite activity on road trips). This was our first time to Crater Lake & it was absolutely breathtaking! Photos don’t do it justice because you can’t quite capture the expansiveness of the lake & its surroundings but it truly is a sight to see. If you’re traveling through Oregon, I highly recommend making a stop, even if it’s a quick one, because it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before.
After exploring for a bit we jumped back in the RV & headed to our campsite. We stayed at Diamond Lake Campground ($24/night) & it was such a beautiful campground! The view of the lake from our RV window was lovely & besides the crazy amounts of mosquitos, it was incredible! We had a couple of major mishaps occur the next day but if you haven’t already, you can watch our vlog from this portion of the trip HERE. Those experiences made for a funny story & a crazy day but honestly, it made the trip that much more memorable & we were just thankful that we were safe.
Day 3: Crater Lake, Oregon to Mount Hood, Oregon
What should have been about a 4 1/2 hour drive turned into a full day because of the crazy tire blowout I was talking about above (video of the day is HERE) BUT those moments are what make the adventure a true adventure & it’s a story that we’ll talk about for years to come. To be honest, I felt really proud of us for figuring the situation out considering we had never changed a flat tire on an RV, we didn’t have any cell service & we were blocking half of the lane of traffic. So all in all, I will take the experience as a win!
Once we finally made it to our campground near Mount Hood, we started a campfire, roasted marshmallows & watched the most beautiful sunset overlooking Trillium Lake & Mount Hood. The woman standing next to us said the sky was the most pink she’s ever seen it & she wasn’t lying, the sky was absolutely breathtaking!
Have you been to Crater Lake &/or Mount Hood before? What’s the most beautiful lake you’ve ever seen?