The Ultimate Natural Wonders Road Trip google map flickr/ Howard Ignatius See Oregon's most stunning natural wonders on this incredible 16-hour, multi-day road trip. 7. This is really just a half-day, since my plane landed around noon. was very foggy, so I could not see the waterfall at all. Do: Considered one of the most spectacular national parks in the U.S., Yellowstone is festooned with hot springs and geysers, including the granddaddy of them all, Old Faithful. The Two Medicine area of Glacier National Park is well worth the effort it takes to get there. Even though I already went to a lavender farm on San Juan Island, I had to see another one! It was under construction, so people recommended not going until it was complete. Larger cabins have 2-3 bedrooms, fireplaces and porches. It is, indeed, a special place, made even more special by a magical mix of rain, clouds, and sunshine. Explore this trip . Map of Yellowstone National Park and the surrounding area of Yellowstone. You dont have to travel to England to ponder the origins of the mysterious Stonehenge. It was still kinda foggy, but it made for some cool pictures with the bridge. ta.queueForLoad : function(f, g){document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', f);})(function(){ta.trackEventOnPage('postLinkInline', 'impression', 'postLinks-72740071', '');}, 'log_autolink_impression');Portland, perhaps seeing the Oregon Coast? Do I need to book hotels ahead or can I book hotels as I travel? The 10th is my birthday and if I can I would really like to wake up looking over Cannon Beach but the next main destination is Yellowstone, would the weather allow us to meander back to Washington via Montana after a min 6 days in Yellowstone? After a very full day of driving and hiking, I was exhausted by the time I approached the destination. I only hit a tiny portion, but I plan on coming back to see the rest. If you are short on time, Ive detailed my trip so you can get ideas on what is possible. I drove the treacherous curves a bit more quickly this time, but still stopped to gaze at the incredible eastern side of Glacier National Park. Around sunset, I ended up at the railroad tracks and grain elevators north of Pincher Creek. Login or register to comment on this itinerary below or join the conversation with other members on our Road Trips Forum. I probably stayed here less than an hour. All the while, you're staring at gorgeous views that appear before you, around every corner. Mountain States sub-region (Idaho, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, new Mexico, and Utah). I had to hurry to finish the hike, and then hurry back to the airport, but I made it with time to spare. Road Trip Fun from VA to WY, MT, Banff, Yoho, Jasper 2023 Northeast Europe Christmas market trip, Road trip from Las Vegas to San Francisco via Los Angeles, OKC to Chandler to Tulsa to Kansas City to Omaha in Mar '23. One more reason to go back to the area. Moving further south you'll find motorcycle roads winding through fertile stretches of the Rocky Mountains and . Only roadside stops of 10 minutes or less. Take a look at this webcam which shows almost NO flow. Plan Your Trip. From Randle to Windy Ridge, you'll be driving one of the most scenic routes in Washington State, the NF-99. I hiked to the "L" and beyond, then came back and sat on the "L" for a while, and thought about dinner. Route distance: 1,561 km Suggested Time: 2 weeks + A vast, scenic landscape provides the timeless backdrop for the western United States. I know what I want to do at the start, the middle and the end, its the bits in between and how long to spend at each place I am not sure about. Our itinerary took us through the iconic national parks with a number of must-see stops on the way to Idaho, Montana and Wyoming! Yellowstone National Park. Are you camping or staying in hotels? Unfortunately, it Members who are knowledgeable about this destination and volunteer their time to answer travelers' questions. Appreciative residents live among it all in manageable yet exciting cities and towns. Always gotten lodging for summer in January or February. Stay: Book a night at the historic Belton Chalet, an iconic early 20th-century lodge, for $145 in the spring/fall and $185 in the summer. In most places, there isnt a good alternative. Hiking a couple easy trails was on our agenda, but Patricks ankle was hurting so we werent able. Breakfast: Get your morning coffee and a light breakfast at the friendly local favorite, Rawhide Coffee. Eat & Drink:The Raven, a waterfront restaurant in Big Fork, has an eclectic menu, craft cocktails, live music and unparalleled views. With sunset still hours away, I wasn't ready to quit -- so after checking into my hotel, I drove over to the coast, to see the famous shipwreck half-buried on the beach at Fort Stevens Park near Astoria, Oregon. Here are our suggestions for places to visit near or on the way to Yellowstone in Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Utah, South Dakota and Colorado. I opted for the shorter, familiar route. Start New Trip. Rates start around $100/night. Dan's typos are always fun and offer a puzzle to decipher. Is there anything you can recommend in between these places, do I need to extend or reduce any time anywhere? It's quite nice -- and the endless chain of mountain peaks in the distance were an unexpected addition to the landscape. Again the weather was not cooperating and it was very cloudy. I drove around Pincher Creek on the morning of Day 7, just to see what it looked like when the streets weren't piled with snow and stained with salt. Reasonable, but no time to really see anything along the way. Maybe a few short stops. At the far end of the lake, I hopped off (and waded through some frigid ankle-deep water) to get to the trail to Twin Falls. The first three routes are coast-to-coast road trips, while the last two run north to south along the west and east coasts, respectively. There are lots of things to do in Seattle. Anacortes ferry. Coeur d'Alene Idaho. At Gild, a brewpub on the Hip Strip, find three separate floors of fun, each with their own bar and atmosphere. Last summer, we spent 10 days seeing the Pacific Northwest on a road trip. I don't know exactly yet what days we will be there until I can fill in the blanks. Eat & Drink: Get an unlimited chuckwagon dinner and a show at The Cody Cattle Company. Eat & Drink: Have an elegant dinner at Sun Valleys original dining room, The Ram, or indulge in Tuscan favorites at Ketchums best Italian restaurant, Cristinas. It's such a neat little town, that I always enjoy walking around there. Day 2 Sandpoint, ID drive to Seattle, WA 6 hrs of driving. Sub-region Pacific States (Alaska, Washington, Hawaii, California, and Oregon). Map of Oregon showing state regions. I dont even remember the time. At the historic Pioneer Saloon, meat is on the menu, along with plenty of liquor to wet your whistle. I flew to Spokane solo, rented a car and then headed towards Whitefish, Montana. Water is sharply diverted upstream from here for agricultural interests. She recommended circling around the park on US 2, then taking US 93 south, past Flathead Lake, towards Missoula. Both hikes combined probably amounted to 11 miles or more of hiking. Where will you stay this night. Its super cute!! Can you run your trip in the other direction so you do Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons earlier in your trip? I expect there to be some road closures tonight in Yellowstone due to snow. No sightseeing at all. The Maritime Museum there is fascinating. The rest of the drive back to East Glacier Park Village was more extraordinary than I could ever express. It was the shorter route, for sure (although still a long drive), but it was the same route I had taken during my 2006 trip. Summer season is the busiest season for traveling within the United States; July and August are by far the most crowded times in most national parks, and the months when hotel rooms are the most expensive. For the remaining daylight hours, I had two goals: enjoy a drive through the spectacular Columbia River Gorge, and finish the day at Pasco, Washington. That was it. Powells Books and VooDoo Donuts were the must dos here. When here, turn onto Yankee Fork Road and drive down it for about 20 minutes. For Jackson/Grand Tetons just stay in one place instead of moving. Some online reviews led me to the pizza at Ciao Mambo, near the University of Montana. I did miss you lived in Calgary, I saw the Kiwi and thought you were visiting from there. Devils Tower to Grand Teton National Park. We explored the cute downtown area of Whitefish in the morning. Nature:Get out on the water at Flathead Lake, the biggest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi. Re: Road Trip Sept 18 Oregon-Idaho-Wyoming-Montana-Washington 5 years ago Save Sawtooth Mountains, Idaho Panhandle and its lakes, Hells Canyon and US-12 from Missoula area to Lewiston ID are some Idaho highlights. This volcano explosion was like a 100x bigger than Mount St. Helens! It paralleled I-90 through some scenic farmland. Abbreviations: WY. I also knew that See an impressive collection of dinosaur fossils at the Museum of the Rockies or browse the shops and galleries downtown. 9 things to do at the Columbia River Gorge in Washington. It's pretty common for me to skip meals and survive on food from the cooler while on vacation, but on this trip, it was a necessity. Town:Whitefish considers itself Montanas outdoor recreation playground, and for good reason. It makes for one of the most epic road trips there is - this 12-stop itinerary is one of the best ways to do it right. Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming This road trip includes parks: Olympic National Park, North Cascades National Park, Crater Lake National Park, Glacier National Park, Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and more! Day 4 Seattle, WA drive to Portland, OR 3 hrs of driving. By using this . It took a while to get out of the traffic mess of Portland, but eventually I made my way across the Columbia River and into Washington. That, by my standards, is a very rushed itinerary with way too much time in the (ta && ta.queueForLoad ? Those traveling from areas with high rates of Covid-19 should consider avoiding travel for now in order to reduce spread. You can read more about it here. This is a must do on a Pacific Northwest road trip! What about heading to the east side of the park. Definitely fit the whole Portland vibe! Eat & Drink:Stretch your legs and grab a cold drink or a bite at the Galena Lodgein Galena, a community-owned homebase for skiers and hikers in the Boulder Mountains. I talked to the person at the front office as I checked out of the cabin. Discover our 7-Day Northern Idaho Itinerary for more ideas in this part of the Inland Northwest!. Washington Route 124, then US 12 cuts across the Palouse, to the twin cities of Clarkston, Washington and Lewiston, Idaho. This is an arid trek through Eastern Oregon with many geological oddities to see and plenty of pioneering history to explore. Stay: Spend a night at the Cmon Inn, a Montana lodge with an indoor courtyard and waterfall, for around $120. I tackled two trails while I was in Many Glacier: the Grinnell Glacier Trail (which starts with loops around Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine), and the Ptarmigan Tunnel Trail. This one was bigger and sold white chocolate lavender ice cream! Population: ~ 580,000. Nothing was open, because it Very easy to get to, right off the highway. ta.queueForLoad : function(f, g){document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', f);})(function(){ta.trackEventOnPage('postLinkInline', 'impression', 'postLinks-72738360', '');}, 'log_autolink_impression');Seattle, WA, Day 7 Portland, OR drive to La Grande, OR, Day 8 La Grande, OR drive to Craters of the Moon, Day 9 Craters drive to Yellowstone NP, Wyoming, Day 11 Yellowstone NP, WY drive to Bozeman, MT, Day 12 Bozeman, MT drive to Flathead Lake, MT, Day 15 Flathead Lake, MT drive to Whitefish, MT, Day 16 Whitefish, MT drive to Calgary, AB. This is what I have so. It took a lot longer to get there and around the mountain than I thought. I love bookstores, so I just had to check it out and of course buy a couple books! This canyon on the north end of Missoula is a favorite for locals who want to get away from the Its a long, but scenic, drive to get from Interstate 90 to Kalispell and Glacier National Park, or to go Take the scenic drive along the Yakima River, through the canyon of the same name. It passes through spectacular scenery, traveling over the Continental Divide in Montana, through Old West towns and on to exciting cities. Mount Rainier was our top destination today. Maybe a few short stops. We ended up staying here a couple hours longer than planned since it was cold and rainy. From I-90 just south of the Montana-Wyoming border, you'll have your pick of two scenic drives that start on US 14: the Bighorn and Buffalo Bill Cody Scenic Byway is a roughly 200-mile route across the Bighorn and Shoshone national forests on the way to Cody, while the Medicine Wheel Passage Scenic Highway heads toward Bighorn Lake on US 14A. Nature:Explore the cinder cones and underground lava tubes of Craters of the Moon National Monument, an alien landscape formed by fire. Share Map. That temperature is 117 F (47 C). Seriously people, Seattle has a monorail! You really need 3 days to get around the highlights, so with only one day, you'll be limited as to what you can get to. This post was first published in 2018 and fully updated in 2021. As I checked out of my cabin, I had reached the end of my reserved accommodations for this trip. Trip length: 500 miles, about 8 hours of driving. Another benefit of sticking to the Washington side: you can visit the Stonehenge replica, a war memorial in Maryhill, Washington. Notice. Answer 1 of 3: Hi, My husband and I are planning a 2 week Washington / Oregon / Idaho / Montana road trip in late May / early June starting and finishing in Calgary, AB (Canada). America's Mother Road: Historic Route 66 Photo Credit: TheCuriousGnome We drove for a couple more hours to get a head start on our destination for tomorrow. In 2006 I headed on into Idaho, then cut across Oregon to get back to Portland. Our pizza ended up taking to long and we missed it. Planning a road trip- lodging in the national parks, Thinking of a long, family road trip in the west? We headed back towards Oregon and tried to watch the sunset from the coast. Hood area orfOregon. Please may I ask for help regarding our itinerary!! Area: 97,914 sq mi (253,600 sq km). Chihuly Garden and Glass has been on my bucket list for a while, so I was thrilled to finally be here. You might notice that this trip follows a similar route as the 2006 Northern Rockies trip. Visit the quintessential Western towns of Cody, Buffalo and Sheridan, linked by stunning drives. Needless to say, when my head hit that pillow, I was out!! We learned so much about volcanos at the visitor center. 13 Places; 01:02; 26 mi; Trip Guide; 10 things to do on a Western Wyoming road trip. I checked into my motel in Columbia Falls, then spent the rest of the day on the west side of Glacier National Park. Nature:Natural beauty surrounds you as you drive north through Grand Teton National Park. Breakfast: Wake up with traditional and international breakfast favorites from The Wild Table. After registering, I can manage my newsletter subscriptions by visiting my Profile Settings page. Now you're ready to hit the road specifically . This North Idaho city sits at the foot of adventure in all directions. My comment is simply you are driving 6-7 hrs west to head to Seattle for a day, back to Portland then east again to La Grande. IMO, Astoria is worth some time. https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g28973-i480-Wyoming.html. As long as the itinerary matches your travel style, it's okay. 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