Seattle to Cleveland and Back summer trip-3 kids, 3 weeks, help us choose a route

[Lifemagician]

Love the idea about travel journals! I sort of kept one on our last trip by sending email dispatches, but I neglected to keep copies and no longer have the email account I used.

Maybe this time, you could start a thread in our RoadTrip Field Report forum. Many here love to see how relevant their advice was. It also helps future travellers when planning their trips. You could send the link to all your email recipients. You'll find it is great to read back over later.

And we love to see travel pictures.

Lifey

[DonnaR57]

And we love to see travel pictures.

Yup. We're the friends that don't moan and groan when you dig out the vacation pictures.

Also, what I did during our 2012 and 2014 trips: I kept a handwritten journal, and one online in the RoadTrip Field Report forum. When I got home, I put the handwritten and the printed-out Field Report journals in the same envelope. The handwritten journal kept track of expenses, fuel mileage, and some commentary, while the Field Report was more of a public record.

I have travel journals going back to the early 90s. My mom has me beat, though. She even has a travel journal for her's and my dad's honeymoon.

Donna

[Lifemagician]

Yup. We're the friends that don't moan and groan when you dig out the vacation pictures.

Couldn't have said it better myself!

Lifey

[Tiki]

Great idea about starting a thread in the trips forum. I will do that for our upcoming spring break trip to Gold Country in California. I'm still working on getting all my photos from LAST spring break's trip through Oregon on the Journey Through Time Byway (highly recommended!).

Thanks for the feedback on Yellowstone. I just don't think we'll have time for more than a drivethrough with all the miles we need to cover, but it sounds like a drive through is better than skipping it altogether.

[DonnaR57]

Here's another thought regarding Yellowstone: From Seattle to West Yellowstone, MT, is about 740 miles - a day and a half's drive. This would make a great one-week trip in the summer, perhaps another year? I'd suggest it for a spring break or fall break, but unfortunately, Yellowstone is pretty-well shut down to vehicular traffic between late Sept and mid-May. If I lived in Seattle, I'd save this one for a trip when I didn't have a lot of time (or money) in a given summer.

Donna

[Tiki]

Great idea, Donna. And since I just checked Yellowstone lodging to find everything for the day I would need in June sold out, it'll be a better option to really see the park. I am still going to pitch the idea of driving through though. I visited Glacier NP many years ago as a drive through and still have memories of the mountains and moose and bear we encountered.

I think I've got plenty for us to see on the western end of the trip with sights of SD, Yellowstone, ghost town near Philipsburg, MT, but still trying to find what to see between the SD border and Cleveland. Thoughts? I remember that area as being a sea of corn...there must be something a bit off the beaten track?

[DonnaR57]

Yellowstone fills up early, that's for sure. I got our reservations last January for our July trip, and the park was already fully booked. So we stayed in West Yellowstone. (Even Evergreen Motel, suggested by glc, was booked. We did One Horse Motel which was tiny, very cramped.)

Between the SD border and Cleveland -- someone suggested I-29 to I-70, which would take you past a couple of Lewis & Clark sites, the St Louis Arch, through Indianapolis to Columbus OH where you catch I-71 up to Cleveland. Someone suggested Wall Drug and Corn Palace in SD. If your girls were ever fans of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, you could go north from the Corn Palace on SD-37 , turn east on US-14 at Huron and head for DeSmet, where Laura lived. There is a museum and a lot of other things there. Then head east again to I-29 and drop south from there. Yes, it's a bit out of the way, but your daughters might enjoy it if they loved the books. (If not, ignore this idea.)

As for the 2-year-old, I have a grandchild that age, and raised my kids on road trips from a very young age. Get them out of that torturous device when you stop, let him run in some grass somewhere like at a rest area or (if you find one) a city park. He doesn't need anything fancy, just a place to run. He'll turn into a great traveler! (My girls BOTH still love road trips, though they aren't at a stage in their lives when they have a lot of time or $ to do so.)


Donna

[Tiki]

I think the little guy will be ok. He's been on trips to California and Eastern Oregon and handled them pretty well. We'll get him out of the car whenever possible--the hard part is always getting him back into the car seat:-(.

Just spent an hour with the DH poring over the map. We've got one way pretty much nailed down now, but have to decide if it is coming or going. Steps include: Seattle to Missoula (with stops for the ghost town near Philipsburg), MT to SD via Devil's tower, and the Rapid City area (Rushmore, Jewel Cave, Wind Cave, Crazy Horse, Badlands), stay a day in the SD area so we can see all the big sights, then east via I-90 through Minnesota & Wisconsin, stop a day in Chicago to see the big city, then hug the lake to Cleveland.

Return trip? Debating between going up into Canada and seeing Banff and Lake Louise or going via Yellowstone, Denver, Utah, Eastern Oregon.

More poring over the map to help decide!

[Lifemagician]

Through Canada, be sure to allow a little more time. Speeds are slower north of the border. I take it you all have passports.

I'm not going to suggest either route. Having been to both, each has amazing attracations.

Lifey

[glc]

If you go via Chicago, you will have significant tolls and terrible rush hour traffic. Just saying.

Don't forget Wall Drug and the Corn Palace.