July 2024

Idaho, Montana, and Oregon 

We spent the first few days of July in Montana.  Fourth of July was an enjoyable time at Lolo Hot Springs.  Our creekside campsite had few bugs and Lucky loved wading in the water all day.  We were able to stop by the Smokejumper Visitor Center in Missoula.  It's a free museum and they also provide free tours. We enjoyed learning about the hard work smokejumpers do and we even got to see inside their plane.  Josh and I highly recommend this activity if you're ever in the Missoula area. 

The first weekend of July we drove to Grangeville, ID, where we were able to meet up with Aunt Peg and Uncle Grant for dinner.  The following morning we went out to breakfast together before a long drive back to MT.  There was a heatwave hitting eastern WA, OR, and ID, so we headed east into MT where temps were in the 80s instead of the 100s!  Josh was able to book us two nights at  Missouri Headwater State Park and then three nights at Lonesomehurst Campground in West Yellowstone, MT.  Lonesomehurst is about 20 minutes outside of the west entrance of Yellowstone. 

Four four afternoons we explored Yellowstone.  We saw everything from Old Faithful, Mammoth Springs, and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone to the mud volcano.  In between we saw elk, bears, a longhorn sheep, and numerous bison.  We didn't see a moose, unfortunately. 

After our time in Yellowstone we stayed a night at a dispersed area just north of the Grand Teton National Park.  We were able to spend most of a Saturday at Grand Teton.  It was a beautiful area and we were glad to have been able to visit.  That night we stayed at Jackson Hole Still Works, which is a Harvest Host.  The distillery was great and made amazing sloshies (Wyoming's take on a slushie).  Our favorite sloshies were the espresso martini and the pearadise (gin, ginger, and pear). 

Wyoming and Montana were getting a heat wave so we decided to do a hard push from Jackson, MT, to Bend, OR.  It's about an 11 hour drive. We were up at 6am on Sunday, July 14th and made it to camp around 8pm.  We stayed off of a forest service road that was only a 15 minute drive from downtown Bend. 

For two days and nights we stayed in Bend.  Then we made a four hour drive to the Oregon coast.  We ended up parking overnight at Thor's Well off of highway 101.  During the day we found a beautiful place to park and work at Yachats State Park.  We really enjoyed the town of Yachats and Lucky loved running on the beach. 

After Yachats we headed north and stopped at Blue Heron French Cheese Company in Tillamook for a night.  The business is a Harvest Host that has a huge field.  They're able to host about 100 RVs at one time.  We appreciated it because we didn't have to request to stay or check in as we arrived after business hours.  We just checked in when they opened at 8am and they gave us a parking pass good for five nights!  It was neat that they not only have cheese but ice cream, wine tastings, a restaurant/cafe, a gift shop, and a petting zoo.  

On a Friday afternoon we departed Tillamook and spent a couple of hours in Manzanita, OR.  We made camp in the Tillamook State Forest along the Nehalem River and Cook Creek Road.  The following day was spent getting coffee and mini donuts from Pacific Roots Coffee + Mini Donuts, lounging on the beach, and then making our way towards Portland. 

We stayed at a couple of Harvest Hosts over the weekend.  The first was Kramer Vineyards, which was a beautiful property and had great wine. It was really neat to look out over the vines at sunset and sunrise from our camp spot.  The following night we stayed at Trail Distilling.  We appreciated there was a 2.75 mile loop trail that was easily accessible from the property.    

For four nights we stayed at McMenamins Kennedy School.  This was because the van was getting suspension and tires at Owl Offroad.  Once the suspension was complete we headed to more Harvest Hosts for our remaining time in Oregon.  These included Fox Farm Vineyards, Carpenter Creek Ranch, Gather and Feast Farm,  and Matranga Vineyards.