The Grand Field Trip - Glacier, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton
In September 2019, when we got Lucille, we decided it was time to plan an epic multi-state, two-week camping trip to visit a few of the US National Parks we’ve been wanting to get to. We narrowed our choices down to Glacier, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton for June 2020. It coordinated perfectly with our twins’ 4th grade park passes and the fact that we had chosen not to go back to Hawaii for the summer of 2020 (in hindsight, thank goodness!). Our oldest kiddo coined it The Grand Field Trip.
Camping/RVing and traveling with extended family is something we do often and really enjoy the time spent together. My (Mandy) parents, college-age sister, and the five of us are usually exploring somewhere together. Once agreed, I was happily elected to do all the planning and got straight to it. My first lesson - we didn’t start planning early enough! Kinda.
A little background, I am the only one in our group who had already been to Yellowstone and Grand Teton so I had some idea of where to go and where to stay. I quickly found out that Colter Bay, the BEST campground at Grand Teton, was already booked some 9 months early! Now, it is perfectly possible to head out on a trip such as this without reservations, but since we are coordinating two RVs, two trucks, and two families we prefer to have reservations at campgrounds well ahead of time. Our families have some mixed feelings on boondocking at the moment - though it is entirely possible in these areas. So some reservations needed to be made ASAP and some I couldn’t make until after the first of the year.
We planned the trip for 13 days in mid to end of June, knowing there would be fewer crowds, but possibly still cold and snowy that far north. We were correct on both! Most of the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier National Park was still blocked by snow, we knew the risk and we were okay with the outcome. It did snow in Yellowstone, yes, in late June. And there was a good amount of rain. But for the most part, our trip went better than expected.
Route Planning
Laid out on the map were each of our campground stops. Some were just overnight and others were a few days depending on the area. Most of our time was devoted to exploring Glacier National Park.
Stop 1 - overnight in Buffalo, Wyoming
Stop 2 - overnight in Billings, Montana
Stop 3 - 4 nights in West Glacier, Montana
Stop 4 - 2 nights in Gallatin, Montana
Stop 5 - 2 nights in West Yellowstone, Montana
Stop 6 - 2 nights in Moran, Wyoming
Stop 7 - overnight in Laramie, Wyoming
And then back to home in Colorado.
Our longest drive day was Billings to Glacier at about seven hours and our shortest was West Yellowstone, MT to Moran, WY at about 45 minutes with park traffic. In a perfect world, each drive day would be about three hours, but that didn’t work for this trip.
This was a lot of driving, over 2,300 miles total due to driving through the National Parks as well as exploring the local areas. We knew it would be a little hectic, but the overall vote was that it was worth it to see so much in one trip. And it was just as epic as we imagined.
Meal Planning
Planning over 40 meals for 8 people with a wide variety of diets is a challenge, especially on the road. But we have figured out a few tricks over the years to keep things simple. We eat dinner together every night, typically potluck style so each family can sort out their own dietary needs. Then breakfast and lunch are mostly done individually. Every few days when we have extended free time at the campground we will then do a potluck breakfast or lunch. For the most part, we intentionally schedule these free time moments not only for meals but for the people in the group that appreciate some free time.
Examples of how we combine/potluck our meals is very very simple:
Breakfast- we make the pancakes/french toast plus provide all the toppings as well as a large fruit platter and my parents will scramble eggs and make sausage/bacon.
Lunch - we bring everything for sandwiches including deli meat, rolls, cheese, and condiments then my parents will bring side dishes including fruit or veggies and of course cookies.
Keeping meals simple isn’t always thrilling, but it does work. We like to get fancy with dinner.
We do like to eat out when traveling and usually go to a restaurant once a day, typically for lunch. However, COVID-19 really hindered that experience with this specific trip so we did end up planning more meals from the RVs than usual. I posted our actual meal plan here.
Scheduling Activities (for 8 people)
Between the eight of us we, of course, have our own ideas on how to sightsee and vacation. Some of us would prefer to go, go, go, and see all the sights possible. Others want to take it easy - a relaxing break from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. This means the ultimate rule of being “allowed” to go separate ways. All too often families who travel together force one another to go along and do the same things for the sake of being together. This is when conflict starts to happen. We avoid this by only planning a few whole family excursions, maybe one a day, and then we break into groups that after often changing at any given time.
A few of the family outings we planned were:
Walking through Buffalo, WY - this is the town where the show Longmire takes place, we’re all fans of the show which led us to all want to see some of the sights
Moss Mansion - Billings, MT
Flathead Lake, MT
Other separate activities:
Fly fishing
Hiking
Shopping/Sightseeing
Photography
Relaxing back at camp
Exploring more of the surrounding areas wherever we are
As I touched on before, if you are planning a trip for multiple couples/families (or even for just yourself), do schedule downtime. Families need time to do laundry, prepare meals, tidy the RV/tent, grocery shop, or catch up on any number of items. Also, make use of walkie talkies, it makes everything easier. This budget-friendly set has been our most reliable set of walkie talkies in over 15 years of travel and road trips, not to mention great battery life. We keep ours in the separate RVs and take them along while driving anywhere.
Campgrounds
When planning an RV road trip, the first place I go to is Campendium, it seems to be the most trustworthy reviews, plus the cell maps help because a few of us need reliable connections for work, even while on vacation. The second place I look is the satellite view on Google Maps. My parents are not fans of traffic noise at night, so I try to keep that in mind when booking a campground.
After hours of research, I narrowed down the list to:
Buffalo KOA
Billings KOA
Laramie KOA
We don’t typically go to this many KOA campgrounds, but in these locations, they seemed to be the best options. However, West Glacier was a must stay place for us. We had heard an abundance of great things about it and the pictures were gorgeous, so there were no other options near Glacier National Park.
Tip: when traveling with a group we always add a request in the comments section of the reservation explaining that we are traveling with the “Smith” family, add in their confirmation number, and we would appreciate being next to each other. You obviously need to be booking the same type of site. For this particular trip, our request was fulfilled at all but one campground. Many of the campground staff went out of their way to accommodate us and we were extremely appreciative.
In all, this trip was amazing! We knew we would love it, but we fell in love with so many places we never expected. I anticipated everyone loving Yellowstone because it’s Yellowstone, but instead, the whole group raved about Grand Teton as well as Gallatin, Montana. The beauty of the Northern Rockies is unparalleled. Wide-open land, gorgeous sights, and the gracious people will keep us coming back.