Six years ago I got a bee in my bonnet that I wanted to drive the Pacific Coast Highway and camp the whole way down. So we did it! Mr. Hedin’s parents had just bought a trailer that we could borrow so we loaded it up and headed out.

That trip started a tradition that still continues. We’ve road tripped to the Washington Coast, the Oregon Coast, Glacier Lake, Crater Lake, San Francisco, and this year we’re headed to Yellowstone.

These are our families favorite vacations.

It turns out that long hours in the car chatting about life, learning about the history of where we are at that moment, and even the arguing have created life long memories. Here are my tips for planning the perfect road trip for your family this summer.

Tip #1

For a ten day trip, choose a destination for your trip that’s about 10 hours away (if you drive straight there). You can add more hours to distance as your kids get older, but we’ve discovered 10-12 hours is the sweet spot. When we went to San Fransisco we took two weeks - fourteen days - to get there and back and it’s about 14 hours from our house.

Destinations from Seattle that are fun:

• Crater Lake

• Glacier National Park

• Olympic National Park

• Redwoods

• Yellowstone

• Banff National Park

TIP #2

If you’re taking a trailer (highly recommended) it will take longer to drive anywhere you are going than what maps tells you. I don’t know why. Plan on it. We discovered that no matter what we did we ended up getting to our campsite at 5pm.

Speaking of which, plan your campsites ahead, make reservations, and make sure you know what time you can arrive. We’ve arrived when the camp host is gone and we’ve arrived before we were supposed to. At least knowing if you are early or late means you can talk your way into or out of trouble.

Tip #3

Remember your audience. We started doing this when the kids were little. Jud was five when we did our first road trip. Which means we did not book five star restaurants - we debated who had the best tartar sauce on the Washington Coast. Our San Francisco stops were much different than if it would have just been Mr. Hedin and I.

Find a park. Find a goofy roadside attraction. Stop for ice cream. Find the best burger in town.

Tip #4

Teach!

I have a love of history anyway - it was my major in college - but teaching my kids a little something about where we are gives these trips a sense of purpose. The first year I did loads of research and made little packets for each of the kids with the history and games for them to play. No one read the history. Since then, I’ll print off the license plate game and a few word searches but the history pieces I keep on my phone and I read them off as we approach.

Some times it feels ridiculous and like only Mr Hedin and I are interested, but taking Washington State History is a middle school requirement in Washington State. This year my daughter has impressed me with what she has remembered from our drives. I wasn’t totally sure she was ever listening.

Share where you would go on your road trip! Or any tips you have for fun family adventures.

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When I tell most people that we love to road trip, they give me a quizzical look and ask about food.  It took me a little while to realize that most people equate a road trip with diners and drive thru food.  I don't.  I see a road trip as a chance to stop at road side fruit stands, eggs at tiny little home stands, farmer's markets, and buy fish from actual fishermen.  

The trick is to plan ahead enough so you can purchase groceries if you need them.  I also like to marinade and freeze the meat before we leave the house so we have menus planned out.  If you take the meat out of the freezer in the morning, it will be ready to cook by dinner.  

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DINNER #1

Grilled Oysters & Mizithra Pasta

Oysters are prolific on the Pacific Coast.  Almost every town we stopped in had plenty of stops including an old fishing boat (!) that we bought oysters straight from the fishermen.  In the summer, oysters must be cooked in order to kill any bacteria that could be lurking in warmer waters.  In the winter (or any month containing an "r") the water is cold enough that you don't have to worry about bacteria and can eat them raw.  

Also, my kids eat oysters and enjoy them.  If yours don't, then just buy 6 for you to eat and the kids can stick to the pasta.

The best part about this dinner is that it's done in about 15 minutes because really all you have to do is boil the water.  So when you arrive to the campsite later than expected and everyone is starving, instead of immediately devouring a bag of potato chips, you can have this on the table.

12 oysters

1 lb spaghetti

2 lemons, 1 of them zested & juiced

1/4 cup grated mizithra cheese

1/4 cup chopped parsley

1 clove garlic, grated

STEP 1

Bring a pot of water to a boil and pop the oysters on the grill.  

STEP 2

In a small bowl, whisk together lemon juice, zest, garlic, and parsley.  

STEP 3

Strain the pasta when cooked and reserve some of the pasta water.  Toss the pasta with the reserved lemon juice until coated.  If the pasta seems dry, add pasta water 2 tbs at a time.  You will probably use about 1/4 cup. 

STEP 4

Toss pasta with cheese & serve with oysters.  You'll know they're done when they begin to pop open.  Serve with lemon wedges on the side.

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DINNER #2

Beer Brats & Onions

In every small town there is a meat shop that has local sausages.  I don't know why.  I have yet to fail to find a little spot to buy local sausages.  I don't know if they are as exciting to most people as they are to me, but it's so fun to seek out the locally produced goods.  Cooking these brats over the open flame with a little beer and a bunch of onions brings out the flavor of the sausages.  Serve these on a kaiser roll and a big green salad - OR even better - some sliced peaches from what ever farmer's market you found the sausages.  

4 brats or local sausages

2 onions, sliced

1 can of pale ale beer

salt & pepper

STEP 1

Place the pan over the open flame and heat for a minute.  Add the sausages and shake to brown on both sides.  You can also use tongs or a fork.  The goal is to get them slightly browned - not cooked through yet. 

STEP 2

Add onions and move them around with the tongs or a fork until lightly browned.

STEP 3

Pour in 1/2 cup of beer and cover with a lid.  Move off of the direct heat and off to the side.  This is when you are cooking the sausages all the way through.  Cook until they are done.

Serve with a kaiser roll.

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Dinner #3

Hawaiian Barbecue Packets

Anything on a kabob is a big hit in my family and this dinner is fabulous both as a kabob and as a 'packet.'  Cooking it packet style keeps the moisture in and eliminates the crispy char on the outside of the meat.  It also reduces prep time by more than half.  Not threading skewers but popping everything in foil makes for a quick prep - and a quick clean up!  

I make rice on the stove while this cooks on the grill but you can use quick rice or camping rice if a trailer stove is unavailable.  

1.5 lb pork chops, cut into cubes

1 can pineapple rings

2 bell peppers, chopped

1 red onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, smashed

1 tbs fresh ginger, grated

1/4 cup soy sauce

STEP 1

Toss pork with soy sauce, ginger, and garlic.  Let rest.  You can do this in the morning or have it frozen ahead too.

STEP 2

Tear off 4 sheets of foil.  Fill one side of each one with pork, bell pepper, onion, and pineapple.  You can customize what goes in for picky eater - just remember to label the top with a sharpie.

STEP 3

Place packets on the edge of the fire away from direct heat, but still in the heat.  So basically, not on top of a flame but just off to the side.  Alternately, you can bake these in an oven or pop them on a traditional barbecue.  Cook in any situation about 15 minutes until pork is cooked through.  

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What do you cook while you're camping?  Want to see more of my "food from the road?" in the future?  Most of my recipes are healthy-ish and at the very least, an improvement on drive through options!  Let me know in the comments.

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HOT TIP

In the trailer, I'm a big fan of keeping everything in jars so we can refill at the bulk bins at stores we stop by.  We don't need LOADS of everything, but we do seem to need "everything."  

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So here's the deal.  I don't camp.  I love the idea.  I love the woods.  I love spending that time in nature with the children.  But I do not love sleeping in a tent.  I do not love awkward bathroom situations.  So we haven't camped as a family until last summer when we decided it was time to do something fun with our children before the oldest entered middle school and was way too cool to be with us.  

Since we had access to an Airstream trailer, it now actually seemed possible for our family to camp.  To camp and enjoy it.  Words I never thought I would say.  

I have wanted to travel the Pacific Coast Highway for a long time.  Ideally down to the end and back, but since we are starting at the top in Seattle and taking three young children, that seemed possible but not for a summer vacation.  So we settled on traveling the PCH from Tillamook, Oregon to San Francisco.  It was gorgeous and perfect and really fun.  

First stop after leaving Tillamook, Oregon was in Newport.  Newport is known for their oyster beds.  In fact, it was the naturally occurring oyster beds that first attracted settlers to the area in 1862.  By 1866 the first tourist destination resort was built by the man who had actually named the town after his favorite town on the east coast - Newport, Rhode Island.  

The early 1900's were hot in Newport.  Luckily, the seafood industry still is and we found amazing oysters and halibut to grill up for lunch.  

HOT TIP #1

Time your first stop to be around 10 or 11am.  It's the perfect time to buy something for lunch.  Then make another stop an hour or so after you leave for lunch.  It breaks up the day and gives you something to look forward too every hour instead of in four (or more!) hours.

Lunch at Cape Perpetua outside of Newport featuring fresh grilled (it's summer!) oysters and pasta tossed with lemon and parsley.  Also, we split a beer because we're old.  

Our second night was spent in Bandon, Oregon.  In hind sight, we were clearly racing to get to the Redwoods and didn't pay a ton of attention to where we were staying before we got there.  We chose an in-town RV Park which was lovely but we learned quickly that we are not RV Park people, we are Parks people.  National or State, it doesn't matter, but a Park.  There's a big difference.  

We also made the mistake of being in Bandon on a Sunday.  When you are city people, you don't think of things like "town closes on Sunday."  We were planning on shopping in town on the cute boardwalk.  Nothing but a darling little tavern was open on a Sunday.  In an effort to be good parents, we did not go in the tavern.  We bought fish & chips from the stand in town and came back to the RV Park.  

HOT TIP #2

Always buy the fish & chips.  This isn't the time to 'watch what you eat.'

The best part of an RV Park is the signs they have up for 'residents'

I remembered going to the Trees of Mystery when I was a little girl.  I remember loving it.  I remembered it being so cool.  It still is.  Trees of Mystery is the kind road side attraction that every road trip needs.  It's kitchy, touristy, vintage sight seeing spot that is well worth the stop.

While we were there the children became enamored with Paul Bunyan.  There are little recordings you can listen to as you walk through the park that give glimpses into the stories of Paul Bunyan and Babe, the Blue Ox.  By the time we got to the gift shop, we knew we needed a book with the stories of Paul Bunyan, which - of course - we found.  We had chosen to have a 'screen free' trip which meant that we needed to keep the kids occupied while we drove.  Or at least not arguing.  I made little books with games and coloring for them, but those were not always the biggest hit.  Reading a chapter or two of the book each morning while we drove kept everyone happy and we could then talk about the book as we continued on our drive.

HOT TIP #3

Find something your kids are into and cling to it.  Make it a theme of the trip.

You literally can't go on a road trip without having an argument at some point.  Samoa Cookhouse was ours.  From where we were on our trip, Samoa Cookhouse was a healthy 30 minute drive out of the way.  I had read about it online and really really wanted to go. REALLY.

But the thing we learned while dragging a trailer on the small and winding roads of the PCH was that everything takes much longer than any maps app says it will.  We cannot drive as fast as a regular car and it took multiple stops at little beaches and coffee shops to keep everyone happy.  So a 30 minute "detour" for a "funky" lunch was really pushing the limit at this point.  

Ironically, Mr. Hedin was a forestry major in college.  Part of the School of Forestry is competing in forest related games which are evidently really fun and they travel for competitions to other forest type places.  One of the places they traveled was to Humboldt.  You know, like where the redwoods are.  Like where we were on this trip.  And one of the places he ate was at this "funky" restaurant that he really wanted to go to.  But he couldn't remember the name.  

UGG.  We literally spent two days debating going to this restaurant before we realized we were talking about the SAME DAMN RESTAURANT!  If anything was worth an argument, it was Samoa Cookhouse.  It is epic.  It's old school epic.  It's the kind of restaurant where you order breakfast, lunch or dinner.  I don't mean you look at a menu and order.  I mean, you say "We'll have breakfast" as long as you are there before 10am, that will happen.  And they bring you what they are serving.  There are no choices, no edits, and no one leaves hungry.  It's an obscene amount of food.  

RV Park Camping is not as glamorous as the trees, but when you're just outside of San Francisco, your options are limited. 

San Francisco was our "final destination" mostly because I am a city girl and I knew I would be craving 'big city' at this point.  And I was.  But no one else was.  Lesson learned that we probably don't need to make a 'big city' a part of this kind of trip. 

But I do love San Fran.  It's changed a lot over the years but it was fun to take my children to places I remember from my childhood and places that Mr. Hedin and I have gone when we've visited.  We got to go to Chinatown and get fortune cookies from the factory, Chinese food at Mr. Hedin and my favorite spot, went to Gumps where my mother used to love to shop, we saw Lombard street and had a milkshake a Ghiradelli.  I wouldn't change our trip for anything, but next time, we'll fly.

Perhaps the most strategic part of our trip was the 'round trip' situation.  We live in Seattle, we were returning to Seattle and most 'road trips' that I saw online started in one city and landed in a totally separate city and didn't have a route for the way home.  San Francisco marked the 'turn around' for us.  

Our first stop on the return trip was at Point Reyes.  I was so stinking excited about Point Reyes.  I wanted all of the blue cheese and I had read about the Farmer's Market in town.  I love a good Farmer's Market.  It was just as fabulous as expected.  Not only is there the cutest little general store in town, but on the weekend there's a market in front of the general store with darling crafts, flowers, fruit and vegetables, fresh cheese, everything you could want.  BONUS there was a children's crafting station at the market where the children were totally entertained while Mr. Hedin and I shopped around.  It was my favorite stop.  It was darling and lovely and a perfect respite from our two days in a cement jungle of the San Francisco RV Park.  

HOT TIP #4

Make sure you have something scheduled that everyone is excited for.  For me, it was the Farmer's Market.  The wear of daily driving and 'managing' the situation can be weary if you don't have something to look forward to.  

The best part of this trip was seeing the kids climb and explore and do things that city kids just aren't used to doing.  We don't live in an apartment and we do have a yard and places for the kids to ride bikes, etc.  But in large part, our life is in the city.  

I don't know that we realized that's why we were taking this trip when we started.  We saw this as a fun family trip to make memories and have an adventure together.  It was that, but the connection to nature that occurred was a surprising bonus.  It's greatly influenced how we will spend our 2018 road trip. 

On the way down the coast we basically skipped it.  We skipped the sand dunes, etc. knowing that we would come back to them on the round trip side of things.  It also gave us something to still look forward too since I think we all agreed the redwoods were our favorite thing.   

HOT TIP #5

Schedule fun stops the entire trip, not just on the way down.  A round trip can seem boring on the way back since "you've been there" so have something to look forward too for the entire time.

As our family gets bigger (size wise, not adding people) it will be more challenging for everyone to sleep in the 19' trailer.  We could always add a tent or a sleeping spot in the car, but we don't really have those children.  We have the children who would be totally into a family bed if Mr. Hedin and I would allow it.  And they do attempt it at 3am when we are not awake enough to protest.  Until the day when we just simply can't make it happen, we'll continue to take our little adventures as a family staying in parks (but not RV parks).  

Are you traveling somewhere this summer?  Would you travel in a trailer with your children? 

Pin this for later and take your own Seattle to San Fran trip.

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SHOP MY TRIP

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