Roadschooling the Pacific Northwest
with Full Itinerary
Trail of Shadows, Mt. Rainier, WA
It took me a good week to recover from our 3300 mile road trip around the Pacific Northwest. Traveling with 4 young children is not for the faint of heart, BUT, man, it was worth every second. It’s the experience that keeps us coming back for more! I haven’t talked much about our travels in this space, but as I was reflecting back about what home-centered learning looks like for us - I realized so much of this is apart of our lifestyle. A lifestyle that values seeing and exploring and learning about the world. We have so much to learn and see and don’t you think the Lord would want us to have these enriching life experiences? Is there a time and place for learning at desks and in books? Absolutely! But, there is just something about feeling it in person, that you can’t capture on a worksheet, a book or even a screen. We are on this earth to learn and gain experience! That’s why these kind of opportunities breath life into our souls.
It’s world schooling at it’s finest.
Children’s Travel Books
For trips that I know are going to be an educational experience, I like to prepare for them by reading and watching documentaries or YouTube videos about where we are headed. Since the PNW has a lot of National Parks, I would recommend our two favorite National Park books and a few others. I don’t want to keep too many state or destination specific books/stories on hand because that would take up a lot of space so that’s why I like a few of these more generalized books better.
America’s National Parks: If I had to choose just one, it would probably be this one because there is real photography of the National Parks. It’s easy to read and aesthetically pleasing. Even I would prefer to read this book over some of the adult books out there.
National Parks of the USA: This book is just simply gorgeous and I love the artwork. We love looking up and comparing these two National Park books and I think it’s fun to see places from a different artistic perspective.
Goodnight Books for Toddlers: If I could own every one of these of the places we’ve been, I would! My youngest was three when we visited Yellowstone and we read the Yellowstone book every night before our trip and for weeks after. Today, two years later, and it’s still one of his very favorite books to read. Do you know why? Because it captures those memories and reflections. He has so many good memories tied to these experiences. Ones that, as adults, we can’t really comprehend from a child’s perspective. I think a lot of us forget that children feel just as we do! He opens those pages and remembers.
Junior Ranger Program: In my opinion, if you like visiting National Parks, I think this is a must-do with kids. We got some Junior Ranger Passport books and at each visitor center the kids get to stamp their books and get a badge. It is a huge highlight for them and also takes the focus off of buying a souvenir at every single place we go. You can get these books in most gift shops. We picked up ours up in Zion a few years ago, but looks like you can purchase them here.
Beginner’s United States Atlas: This is also a must-have. Whenever we visit a new state we pull it up and read all about it. We’ll also mark the routes we’re taking on our big wall maps. We love these because they’re pre-laminated and I can use a dry erase marker on them.
Be sure to check out my post on Road Trip Activities for Kids. We used EVERYTHING on this post and really, there wasn’t anything I regretted bringing.
Pacific Northwest
This was not a trip we took our time and relaxed on the beach. We had some quiet afternoons, but for the most part, we were pretty go, go, go and that is how we covered so many miles and saw so many things in such a short amount of time. The advantage of that is we see and experience a lot which was our goal. The disadvantage of this is the it does wear on you and by the end we were all really tired, especially the kids. My personality is such that I don’t necessarily like to be in one place for a long time anyway. I like to see the big things and then keep going so I liked moving our trailer every 1-2 days. But, I could see where this would be really hard on some people. We purposely chose May - and the last two weeks before most schools would be out - so we’d miss the summer crowds and it seriously was the best time to travel! Everywhere we went…the National Parks, Seattle, the Redwoods… we had the place to ourselves, which just made it so enjoyable.
Here are the main places we hit and a few thoughts on these areas.
Pendleton: The first day we traveled from Salt Lake City, Utah up through Idaho and stayed at a rest stop on the border of Idaho and Oregon. The next morning we headed for Pendleton, OR so we could visit the Pendleton Factory. The tour wasn’t operating, but we did some shopping and bought a really nice wool blanket out of their discount area and some new clothes for my husband and his brother. There was also a little museum-like part off to the side of the store we were able to walk through.
Mt. Rainier NP, WA
The Gorge and Multnomah Falls: This was probably my favorite drive of the trip. After going through this area, I wish we would’ve planned 1-2 days in this area so we could explore and hike the Gorge. This was a last minute itinerary change (literally like right before a turn off) and I am so glad we took a little extra time to head this way. It was so pretty. Multnomah Falls is a must-do. Take a few extra minutes and hike up to the bridge at the falls. Finding parking here with an RV was difficult, but we were able to make it work.
Mount Saint Helens: The visitor center closed about an hour before we were able to get here and unfortunately we couldn’t see the peak. We spent some time here though, made dinner, took a break from driving, and went on a little walking path around the area.
Mount Rainier National Park: We never saw the peak of Mount Rainer because it was too cloudy and I’ve heard that is really common. Since we were there May 15 a lot of the park was still closed and there was a lot snow when you climbed elevation. We drove up as far as we could up the mountain and got out and explored a long the way. We left the park mid-afternoon and the rest of our family we were traveling with (my husband’s brother and his family) stayed in the park most of the day and was about to see the peak for about 15 minutes while they were doing a restroom break near the Henry M. Jackson Visitors Center. We did the Trail of the Shadows loop right by this visitor center. It is about a .75 mile hike and was perfect for the kids. I loved it too. We stayed at the Mounthaven Resort in Ashford which was right at the entrance of the National Park and it was so fun. This was probably one of the favorite places we stayed at because of the scenery and the park the kids could play at right outside our door. There are also cute little cabins you can reserve here.
Fort Warden State Park and Seattle: Seattle wasn’t my favorite, but I am glad we went in, saw the city and left. Spending a few days in the city was not appealing to any of us. What we decided to do was camp at Fort Warden State Park which was about an hour away and we LOVED it here. We spent two nights here but I wish we had done 3 or even 4-5. I could’ve made a whole trip just out of this area. I also loved the RV campground which was a 30 second walk to the beach. One night we went into town and got ice cream and then came back to the state park and hiked all around the WWII batteries. It would’ve been fun to explore the museum and some of the other buildings, but we didn’t have time. We took one day and drove to the Bainbridge Ferry and rode into Seattle. We rode the Ferris wheel, visited Pikes Market and ate at Ivers. It was a completely different experience than being in any of the National Parks and I am so glad we did it all, but we just didn’t love any of these places. We’re not big city people. On our way back to Fort Warden we stopped at Sluey’s bakery. This had been recommended to us and it was delicious. We got the famous maple gingerbread men donuts and a whole bunch of other things to try.
Olympic NP Visitor’s Center
Olympic National Park: Leaving Fort Warden and on our way to Olympic National Park we stopped at the Olympic Game Farm where you can feed large game from inside our car. Bison, elk, deer, bears. There were also other animals - peacocks, tigers, wolves, ect. This was one of the highlights for the kids and we laughed literally the entire time. This area was SO pretty. You know how you drive through new areas you can totally see yourself living there - out of everywhere we visited on our trip - Sequim was that place and touched my heart. It is such a pretty area and is another area we could’ve spent a lot more time in.
The Olympic National Park Visitor’s Center in Port Angeles was SO fun. The best visitor center we’ve ever been in. We spent over an hour here and I am pretty sure my kids could’ve spent an entire day there. We had the whole children’s area to ourselves and it was so cute! Tons of things for the kids to explore and play with. It must be my homeschool heart, because I would much rather spend a whole day at this visitor’s center than in Seattle, ha! This is a must-do.
As we drove through Olympic National Park - we LOVED Crecent Lake. So pretty and another place I wish we could’ve spent more time in. We really wanted to go to the Sol Duc Hot Springs, but we weren’t able to make it. Hopefully, we’ll be able to go back one day.
Forks, La Push, and the Hoh Rainforest: Who knew the book series Twilight was based off of this area? Because I sure didn’t and was surprised to see hints of the vampire and were wolf territories. Now that I have been through the area though, I totally see it! It’s been years since I’ve read the books but La Push and Forks brought it all back for me. Here we stayed at Bogachiel State Park for three nights and we didn’t love this area. I would recommend looking at staying in La Push near Second Beach. This is another place we could’ve made an entire trip out of. We loved loved loved Second Beach and came here twice. We cooked dinner on the beach, the kids climbed the massive trees that had washed ashore, and played in the sand for hours. We’ve been to the ocean a few times before, but the kids don’t remember so this felt like the first time all over again.
Rialto Beach, La Push, WA
One day we went to Rialto Beach and hiked out to the tide pools just north of the beach. The hike should be done at low-tide and was easy enough, but it was a bit too long for our kids. We ended up having to carry my five year old and almost three year old a lot of the way - which didn’t make it as enjoyable for us. Great for older kids though and so fun to go out to the big rocks and tide pool. We saw over 30 starfish here I would say if you weren’t going to be tide pooling anywhere else, then this is definitely worth the hike, but we had so many other tide pooling opportunities I am not sure I would’ve done it again with my younger two.
The Hoh Rainforest was amazing! It is so incredible because there just isn’t anything like this anywhere in the states. Its the only temperate rainforest in the US. We did a handful of rainforest studies this last year so it was so fun to experience it. When you think rainforest you think more like jungle like and this is just so different and unique. We hiked the Hall of the Mosses which a must-do and perfect for children. On the way out and toward Cape Dissappintmnet we stopped at Ruby Beach which was where we were able to find some more starfish and tide pools. It was a little hike down to the beach and we didn’t spend a lot of time here but, we easily could’ve.
Cape Disappointment: We stayed at Camp Disappointment State Park which was good for one night. Quick drive to the museum and lighthouse. We spent most of our time at the Lewis and Clark Interpretation Center which also has a lighthouse museum up top. This was a really fun place to visit and homeschoolers get in for free. (Yay!) After the museum we hiked up to the lighthouse which was great. Easy hike for the kids and a fun first-time lighthouse experience for the kids.
Seaside, Boardwalk, and Cannon Beach: The next day on our way to Nahalem Bay State Park we hit Seaside Beach which was pretty quiet on a cooler May afternoon. I could see how this place would be busy and hopping in the summer, but there wasn’t much going on. By this point in the trip we had been to a lot of beaches and I was getting tired of cleaning so much sand out of our things, ha! So, we grabbed some sand dollars, visited some of the touristy shops on the boardwalk and headed on our way. This part of the area also has Cannon Beach, but we had a very very cranky three year old at this point so we just kept on driving. But, I’d say stop here and see the haystacks if you have the time!
Here we stayed at Nahalem Bay State Park which we loved and another place I could’ve stayed for a few days. They had cute little yurts that would be so fun to stay at if you don’t have an RV. We could walk to the beach, but it was pretty chilly so we didn’t spend long there. Great little park for the kids to play here too.
Tillamook Cheese Factory and Tillamook Air Museum: This was another big day full of fun highlights for the kids. The cheese factory was great and definitely one of those things you want to do while you’re in the area. But, the air museum was amazing. Absolute must-do and a big highlight for all of us. After, we stopped at Yaquima Lighthouse which was probably my favorite lighthouse we visited. We were also able to see sea lions here which was something the kids had been looking forward to.
Jessie Honeyman State Park: Another fantastic place to stay and somewhere I wish we could’ve stayed a bit longer. Our campground was within walking distance of the sand dunes. We decided to celebrate my son’s birthday this day so we woke up and went out to breakfast at McDonald’s while we did some laundry in town and then came back and spent the late morning at the dunes. He loves all things ATVs and four wheelers and sand dunes. We had a few sand toys but we mostly hiked around (the hills were much harder to climb in the sinking sand than they looked haha). We tried sand boarding, but that totally didn’t work. It was a completely different experience than being on the sand on the beach though so it was a fun way to spend the morning.
Harris Beach RV Park: That night we drove to Harris Beach and this was the best beach campground we stayed at. The RV lots itself was not my favorite - we were all really close and it was tight to fit our long RV in. But, it was just a one minute drive down to the beach (not an easy hike with kids) and the beach was, by far, the best beach we went to so it was definitely worth staying here. We spent a long time here playing in the sand, flying kites, and chasing the seagulls.
Redwood National Park: The next day we headed to the Redwoods as the finale to our trip. We unhitched our trailers in a pull off on the side of the road and then headed to the Hiouchi Visitor Center so we could figure out where we wanted to hike and get our Junior Ranger stamps and badges. We ended up deciding to do two hikes. Grove of the Titans and another .5 mile or so loop very close to the grove but I can’t remember what it is called. The shorter hike was great for my three year old but I stayed with him while the others went through the Grove of the Titans because that one was a bit longer. We went back and got our trailers and then drove through the rest of the park and made sure to stop and see Paul Bunyan and his blue ox by the Mystery of Trees. That night we stayed at Sounds of the Sea RV Park about an hour outside of the park. We didn’t love the location, but it worked for one night. We headed home the next morning and stayed at another rest stop along the way home.
I am sure I missed something, but I did a pretty good job at tagging these locations and saving a lot of the video highlights on my reels and story highlights on IG so be sure to check that out. Let me know if you head this way or have any questions! We left Utah the morning of May 14 and had planned to return either the 29 or 30, but we moved along pretty quickly and made it home late on the 29 so it ended up being exactly two weeks. Here is a copy of our itinerary below. I adjusted it a little to reflect how our trip went. You’ll notice we stayed in a lot of state parks. This makes it easy to find places to stay along the way and they’re much cheaper than other RV resorts, but keep in mind, we made a lot of these reservations 6-10 months in advance. A few of the places we logged in right at midnight to reserve spots because they can go quickly.
Headed somewhere? You might also like this post: Road Trip Activities for Kids