Northwest Road Trip

I want to plan a road trip from Missouri to Seattle (maybe Canada) for this summer. I can only take three weeks vacation.

My main goals are to spend some time with my "almost teenage" boys, while they will still tolerate me. I need some ideas on things that will WOW them and not break the bank. We are a camping family. We also have one dog that will travel with us. I love scenery and historic things --- they (boys and dogs) love water, beaches, wildlife, and hiking. None of us are big on shopping or antiquing.

Any ideas, suggestions, hints, warnings, are appreciated. Any road trips I have taken before have been with very specific agendas. I don't have any ideas for this one, not even the destination point.

Thank you in advance for any and all help........

Welcome to the RTA Forum, This kind of trip is my personal favorite! 3 Weeks with a general direction, but no specific demands.

There are plenty of things in the Northwest that I'm sure you will enjoy. Certainly, spending some time in Yellowstone or Glacier could be a part of your trip. There's also lots of places to hike and explore in Washington and Oregon. Check out this recent thread for some great ideas in the area.

Most importantly, keep your trip flexable. Get some ideas of the places you want to go, but don't tie yourself down with a specific itenerary. Give your kids lots of say in where you're going and how long you spend there, but if you're having more or less fun than you anticipated, then adjust accordingly.

Greetings, Angie, and welcome to the forum!

I only have time right now to give you a list of highlights. You won't have time to do all of thes but, hopefully, this will give you some ideas. I put them in order, favorites first. You will have to keep in mind that some of these areas are national parks and won't allow your dog on the trails. But there are usually national forest or BLM lands close-by where your dog can go.

Idaho:
Silverwood Theme Park
Craters of the Moon
Payette Forest
Nez Perce Indian Reservation

Oregon:
Crater Lake
Coastal Highway
Columbia River Gorge
Mt. Hood
Bend

Washington:
Mt. St. Helens
Olympic Peninsula and beaches
Mt. Rainier
Grand Coulee Dam and the general coulee areas
Long Beach Peninsula and beaches
North Cascades Highway
Methow Valley
San Juan Islands and the various peninsulas in Puget Sound
Yakima Valley wine country

If something intrigues you and you want more details, please let me know.

Enjoy!

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America forum.

I see you're getting lots of great recommendations for what to do in the Northwest, so I'm going to concentrate on what's in between Missouri and there. I am generally an advocate of taking different routes out and back on such a long RoadTrip, and in this case you've got two great choices between Omaha and Seattle. I'll describe them assuming you go west on the northern one and east on the southern one, but there's no reason you can't do them the other way or even find a third alternative of your own.

The first is basically I-29 north from Omaha to Sioux Falls, SD and then I-90 west to Seattle. There are a ton of places to stop along here that will more than interest two young boys. Be sure to read this field report on a recent RoadTrip through that under-appreciated state. The biggest highlight of this route is, of course, Yellowstone National Park. From there you head up toward Idaho, the subject of this thread.

The second possible route is I-82/84 from Seattle to Salt Lake City and then I-80 to Omaha. For southern Idaho this post might help. You'd then continue on through Wyoming and Colorado with stops at Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area and Rocky Mountain National Park. Then as you head back out on to the plains, you'll be following the old Oregon Trail, and you might want to stop at some of the landmarks associated with it such as Scottsbluff, Chimney Rock, and Courthouse and Jail Rocks. Also, there's Buffalo Bill's Ranch in North Platte, and a Pony Express Station in Gothenburg, both in Nebraska.

On more general topics, we offer a number of tips for keeping costs down. If it's not mentioned in there, be sure to get a Golden Eagle Pass from the National Park Service before you go. And be sure to involve your sons in the planning for this trip. Get them some maps and let them 'discover' the major stops along the way that they want to see, and then you, as the cool mom that you are, can just stumble upon some of the others as you drive along. Another great resource for things to do and cheap camping along the way are the various state park systems, be sure to look into them.

AZBuck