Today’s guest is Kathleen Wiersch, a Bay Area freelance marketer/writer, mother of two toddlers, and an avid frugal outdoorswoman.  She has recently become the San Jose eco-travel writer for examiner.com.

More people thought we were crazy than not when we told them we were taking a road trip with our 2 and 3-year-old children through Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana for 3 weeks.

In hindsight we did most things right.  We could have made a few improvements, but overall it was a very successful trip.

Here are a few of the things we did right:

1. Packing a portable DVD player

Toddlers don’t do scenery unless they can touch it.  My husband and I gasped as we passed Mt Shasta heading north, but my kids missed it.  They were watching Diego save a baby wolf for the 3rd time that day.  Hey, it worked.

2.  Stopping at fast food playgrounds

Road trips have different rules.  Even if you are normally careful about junk food, try to get over it for the trip. The very best stops we made were at fast food restaurants with playgrounds. Yes, the glamor never ends.

3.  Breaking up the camping

We made short visits to friends with camping in between. The kids could look forward to “new toys” and we could look forward to washing clothes and taking long hot showers that didn’t require coins. While most of our adventures were had at lovely camping spots near Lake Shastina, Farragut State Park, and Glacier National Park, the greatest moments of pleasure were those showers in between.

4. Sleeping in two tents

We had a girls’ tent and a boys’ tent. This worked out great because our kids would not settle in the same tent. Maybe some day this will be an adults’ tent and a kids’ tent – a girl can dream, right?

5. Staying flexible (but not as flexible as we were pre-kids)

We didn’t have reservations, we just had targets and fallback plans. It turned out that Glacier National Park in June was too mosquito-infested for us, so we left a day early. It wasn’t as toddler friendly as other parks were so we adjusted our plans. We never could have figured this out in advance (no matter how much research I did online). Still, I had done enough research that I had a Plan B (and frequently a Plan C), something I never liked to have when it was just my husband and me.

Here are a few things I’ll do differently next time:

1.  We’ll cook waaaay less while camping

Not only was this a lot of extra stuff to lug around but it was just too hard while also taking care of the kids. If you camp someplace far from restaurants and take out, discover the wonderful world of “bar” cuisine.  Trust me: your kids will not notice. Save the “fun” of camp cooking when you have little dishwashers out of diapers.

2.  We’ll bring friends…

It takes a village to camp with kids, and I wish I would have convinced some of our friends to camp with us. Needless to say we never used our “lounge” chairs.  Also, we never met anyone during our 10 nights of camping—it can get a little lonely.

3. ..and way less stuff

In addition to all that not-needed cooking equipment and lounge chairs, we brought a lot of food we didn’t need or use.  Next time I’ll pack much lighter.  If I’m missing something I’ll buy it on the road or do without.

We’re psyched to take our newfound knowledge on the road again soon.  Since we have a national park pass, we intend to hit as many parks in California as we can this year, camping as much as possible.  As long as there’s a hot shower within three days, I’m good.

August 21st, 2009 | by travelsavvymom 10 comments