Hi! Welcome back to the Lexi Grace Design blog! Lexi here. Today I’m going to take a little bit of time to share how the first half of our road trip has gone. I hope to share more specifics in future posts regarding Wilson the Winnebago and life as first time rv’ers, but I thought it would be fun to share some highlights of our first few weeks on the road. We have had our ups and downs as we have traveled over the past few weeks learning to navigate a new mode of transportation while traveling during the COVID pandemic… but we have made so many memories as a family and I am looking forward to the next few weeks as we finish up our trip! In this post, I am going to take you through the first half of our trip through Utah, Montana, and Washington. Our time on the road has been a mix of National Parks, small towns, and visiting and driveway camping with friends and family. I hope you enjoy some of the photos of the first few week of our trip! I’ve also included some links and noted our favorite stops along the way!

UTAH

SIGHTS AND STOPS

Utah was BREATHTAKING. Each spot we visited didn’t seem real. The desert has always been beautiful to me, but these parks were stunning.

Zion National Park: We really enjoyed our time hiking through Zion and Bryce Canyon. Due to the size of our RV (25ft) we weren’t able to access all of Zion, and with COVID, shuttles were not running. That left us exploring some lesser visited parts on our own. We were so happy to find a little creek bed with a “jumping rock” as my boys would say. We are so thankful Zion National Park is just a 6-hour drive from Phoenix and can’t wait to find a long weekend to come back and explore.
Navajo Loop Trail at Bryce Canyon: Bryce Canyon was by far our favorite Utah stop. The hikes we took were both beautiful and doable for our family. Hike highlights- a rattlesnake joined us for part of the hike. We kept a good distance but it was so fun to see one in nature.
The Rock Stop: All along the way the highway had little rock stands to shop and browse. We really enjoyed The Rock Shop. The owner was so friendly and they had a great selection. I’m just bummed I didn’t buy more!

MONTANA

SIGHTS AND STOPS

Montana was one of the stops I was most looking forward to and although we didn’t do as much as I had planned, it was still beautiful, relaxing, and an adventure for our family. While in Montana we also decided Wilson the Winnebago needed a friend (and we needed the ability to drive into parts of the National Parks that aren’t accessible to RV’s)! Meet Willy the Jeep (it came with the name… the kids think it sounds good with Wilson :). While near Glacier we visited the town of Whitefish MT, and fell in love with the area. The shops, food, and scenery were so much fun and we hope to be back again.

Glacier National Park: I was really excited for this park, and we will definitely have to come back to see everything it has to offer. Unfortunately the main scenic road. “road to the sun” was closed and we weren’t able to access the majority of the park. We walked a few miles in (which was beautiful), but we will have to come back to really see all that Glacier has to offer.
Glacier Guides Montana Rafting: SO MUCH FUN! We took the “scenic” tour down the river, that had just the right amount of small rapids to keep it exciting, but also the pace was slow enough to look for wildlife and listen to the tour guide give information about the river and park.
Rock Climb Montana: I didn’t expect to REALLY be rock climbing with my whole family, but that’s just what we did! The guide with Rock Climb Montana was so great with the kids (and me… I needed him to repeat home to harness in a few times, just to make sure I got it right!), we all learned how to tie the knots, get prepared to climb, and then actually climb HIGH up the side of the rocks! This was such a fun activity to learn and do as a family. We will definitely be looking into rock climbing excursions in Phoenix when we return (and it cools off!).

WASHINGTON

SIGHTS AND STOPS

Nana & Papa’s House: It is always so much fun to visit my parents at their home in north eastern Washington. They live outside a small town (VERY small 250 person town) called Ione WA on the Pend Orielle River. I didn’t grow up here, but spent summers trips here while growing up. While here we fished, tubed, played TONS of Monopoly Deal, ate WAY TOO MUCH of my mom’s cooking (and my dad’s specialty- Apple torta- think apple pie/casserole with butter and sugar, but paired with steak) and stayed up super late (the sun doesn’t go down until 10pm.
Cousin Copper in Selah, WA: One of our favorite stops is in Selah WA (in central Washington close to Mount Rainier but on the more desert side of the state) to visit Chris’s sister and her family. Selah in agriculture country where there are hills and hills of cherry trees, apple trees, hop fields, and grape vineyards. It is truly beautiful here. Chris’s sister’s family has a little farm and vineyard and while we were there they added three sheep, three chicks, one turkey, and one piglet to their farm. The kids love spending time with the animals, running around, feeding, and cuddling them.
The Olympic National Park: In sixth grade my class took a trip to Sol Duc Hot Springs on the Olympic Peninsula and I have always wanted to go back. I was hoping it was going to be as magical as I remembered it and it was! We spent two nights at the Sol Duc campground which was a great location for hiking to Sol Duc Falls, and driving to the coast and Hoh Rainforest. While there we visited Kalaloch Beach where the “tree of life” is. We made the biggest sand castle on the completely fogged in beach. And we hiked, and hiked, and hiked some more through the Hoh Rainforest which has some of the tallest, and mossiest trees I have ever seen. The country side leaving the peninsula and traveling south was one of my favorite drives so far.