Hi from Washington State

[springfever]

We are to take possession of our new 2015 Cherokee Grey Wolf 26DBH on April 4th. We are in process of adopting 2 of our grandsons, ages 12 & 5 yrs and thought we would try to take them camping and on some sort of road trips. I am disabled so I need to get out too and enjoy some time with the boys and hubby. Any ideas on inexpensive things to do or places to go with our new trailer would be most welcome. Hubby has some vacation time coming so we are trying to figure out if we are able to make a trip to the east coast to visit son, daughter in law and 3 grandsons after school gets out. Am still doing research on gas mileage for the trailer and a Dodge Ram 1500 P.U. and trying to figure out a route of some things to do along the way to see if we can make it work for us. We will have to work around hubby's schedule for some short camping trips or road trips like around holidays if anyone has any suggestions. We live near Idaho/Washington border, so anything not too far away would be great. Have already been reading a lot on this forum and have learned quite a bit. Wish I had read it before we purchased the trailer, as I have now found things we should or shouldn't have done. Oh well, I am sure we are going to enjoy the time we spend in our trailer and make some wonderful memories.

[Ford Idaho]

Congratulations on the adoption and the new unit.

Grand Coulee Dam, Fort Spokane and St. Paul's Mission between ID.,OR., and WA there are hundreds of things to see and do.

I suspect you are looking for things the two GS would like so look to their interests.

Best of luck from SW Idaho.

[Platokidd]

Welcome from the top side land of Lincoln

[Wiscampsin]

Welcome from Wisconsin and congrats on your 2015 Cherokee Grey Wolf 26DBH.

[Hutch333id]

Congratulations on all of you new acquisitions. From personal experience I know there are lots of great locations to camp in WA and nearby ID. If you have questions, this is a great forum to find answers. Welcome aboard.

[glen1971]

Welcome from southern AB! Happy campin!!

[Tonkatoy77]

Welcome and congrats! We make a couple trips to Hell's Canyon every year. Idaho Power does a great job maintaining their parks. We always stay at Copperfield park.

[coupevillefish]

Welcome from the wet side of the state. As Ford Idaho said, there is a lot to see in your area. I was raised just across the the border from you in Post Falls.

We visited Grand Coulee last Fall and enjoyed the laser show. We camped at a county or city campground in Coulee City that was very pleasant. We also visited Dry Falls in the area.

Going to the east coast takes time. Last Fall's 4 week trip only took us as far east as Indiana but we take our time and meander. A benefit of being retired.

As someone said, find out what interests the boys and focus on that. And have fun.

[springfever]

Thanks Ford Idaho. We actually were thinking Coulee Dam but hadn't thought of the others. The older one is into dinosaurs; meaning he wants to be a paleontologist or a movie maker making dinosaur movies. Has been this way since he was about 3 yrs old. We had seen some museums in Montana about dinosaurs and were thinking they might be a good place to go as well. The younger one; he likes whatever the older one likes. lol

[springfever]

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome! coupevillefish we lived in Post Falls and still have a home there that our children live in...we are just about 4 streets in from the stateline, so are really close. We have seen the laser show but the boys haven't and I know they would love it. My husband took a month off work so we could take our time doing something. If you only got as far as Indiana, not sure that is going to work for us. We wanted to stop along the way and do some things and still get back home in that amount of time. Our focus is on the boys and what they want and like. The older one went on vacation with us to Seattle and visited some places, but the younger one hasn't been anywhere. If you ask them what they want to do, their typical response is "I don't know" and they really don't as they haven't been anywhere really.
Wish we were in a position where my husband could retire and just travel, but circumstances the way they are, it is not possible. That is what we had talked about for many years, but family comes first and have to do the best we can. I would love it if we could take the boys and travel like I have heard some people do, but wouldn't even know where to begin or if it is even feasible. Whatever we do, I know we will have fun and will make lots of good memories. Thanks all for your ideas, will be checking into them.

[coupevillefish]

Well,you could do the east coast in 4 weeks. You just would need a quicker pace than ours. There is a lot to see and do. We try for 200 to 300 miles per day and often stay 2 to 3 nights in an area. With family back there, you will probably go more than once and pick different routes and stops. No need to see it all in one trip.

Other thoughts headed west are the Ginko Petrified forest at Vantage. Haven't stopped there but would like to. On the wet side, aka Seattle, there are lots of areas for the boys to explore including beaches, air museums, etc. If you eventually get as far as Whidbey Island (where we are), Fort Casey is fun for kids to explore.

[springfever]

Thanks coupevillefish for the info. Will try to figure all this out and see what happens. I am sure the boys would like any of those places!

[F and E Damp]

Welcome form the top LH corner. This is a very scenic area to visit. Anacortes is the terminus of the State ferry services to the other San Juan Islands and to Sidney, BC on Vancouver Island. There are lots of different activities between here and Seattle (about 90 miles south) that the boys might be interested in. There's a historical airplane museum at the Burlington airport and another one, owned by Microsoft founder Paul Allen at Everett airport. On the other side of the Everett airport is the Boeing "Future of Flight" Museum and factory tour center. Everett has a minor league professional baseball team also.

Lots of neat stuff. Good luck in your travels with the boys.

[springfever]

Thanks F and E Damp. I appreciate all the good feedback I am getting for places to go. Will check some of these out and see what happens.