Link to the overall post (showing the mileage and other numbers)
Our Adventure Day by Day
I debated about whether to write detailed posts on our adventures, but decided I wanted them on the blog so I'm afraid you'll have to endure them.
- Days 1-3: Mesa Verde National Park and Four Corners
- Day 4: Arches National Park
- Day 5: Canyonlands National Park
- Days 6-7: Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument
- Days 7-8: Grand Canyon National Park
- Days 9-10: Hoover Dam and Death Valley National Park
- Days 11-12: Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park
- Days 13-14: Yosemite National Park
- Days 15-16: Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Kirby Cove campground
- Days 17-18: Redwoods National Park and whale watching
- Days 19-20: Mt. St. Helens and Olympic National Park (Hoh Rainforest and Ruby Beach)
- Days 21-23: Vancouver, British Columbia
- Days 24-26: Museum of the Rockies, Yellowstone National Park, Grand Tetons National Park
- Days 27-29: Sinks Canyon State Park, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, family, and driving home
The Down and Dirty Guide to Camping with Kids: How to Plan Memorable Family Adventures and Connect Kids to Nature by Helen Olsson is a fantastic resource for planning camping trips with kids. I highly recommend it. I created pages of checklists, all based originally on the ones available in this book. Most of the book focuses on shorter camping trips, though, and many long-term camping articles and posts online assume you're in an RV rather than tent camping, so here are a few ideas I might expand into actual posts on preparing for a long tent camping trip with four children.
- Clothing for six for a month - prairie, mountains, desert, rainforest, tide pools, cities, hiking, swimming
- Feeding six with a camp stove and a cooler
- Keeping clean at a campground
- Washing dishes at a campground
- Staying unplugged and sane on long drives between campgrounds
- Junior Ranger program - Fantastic or a Hassle?