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Our family is planning to take a road trip from Minneapolis to Northern California. We have 2 kids (ages 14 and 11) and we hope to camp and hotel it along the way. We would like to travel thru Montana, hit the west coast in Washington and Oregon and then make our way to the Redwoods in northern CA. Any suggestions for scenic stops/desinations? How much time do you think we will need to make the round trip?
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I would say give it at least two solid weeks to be able to enjoy this trip. The round trip by the direct route would be roughly 4500 miles total. That's an average of 6 hours on the road each day for 14 days.
Have you given thought to stopping at Yellowstone National Park, which is roughly along the route you outlined? Have you taken long trips of this nature before, either alone or with your children?
I'm from Eagan, MN and we were thinking of making a similar road trip but only up to Montana. Our plan was to visit Glacier National Park and Yellowstone. If you want to drive via Montana then you're probably looking at driving I94/I90 to Seattle. From I94/I90 I think both parks are about 2 hours away. You can go to the National Parks website ( nps.gov ) to get more info. Here's a link to a site that has some photo's of Glacier NP 4 days to explore Yellowstone Park alone may not be enough. But stopping for 1 day may allow you to explore the park's main attractions and stop at the visitor's center. This will give you a much better idea of what it has to offer and help you plan a longer trip for next time. This winter, we did the drive from Minneapolis to LA and it took us 3 days each way (stopping at hotels for the night with 2 drivers alternating at the wheel). My estimate is that with 2 drivers, it'll take you 3 days to drive to Seattle and another day to drive from Seattle to Redwoods. I'd say 2 weeks is about right and that would give you enough time to rest and enjoy some of the stops along the way. Within the Seattle area, you can see the Olympic National Park, and Mt. Rainier. Right in downtown Seattle, you can visit the Klondike Gold Rush visitors center. Good luck and enjoy your trip.