You may remember that we bought a travel trailer in 2020. We loved that trailer but with the addition of Stephen, it was just a little too tight. Timing is everything, so we figured we would try to sell it while the market was still hot and create some adventures in different ways. We will buy another RV camper somewhere down the line because we loved being able to bring our second home with us wherever we may roam. This spring we took an epic road trip without the camper. We spent two days in Texas.
Texas
My husband had to work while we were in Texas, so I had to keep the kids busy. We got boba and hung out at the hotel the first day. The second day I took the kids to Fort Worth. We were able to see the huge longhorn cattle on their cattle drive. We got some BBQ at the stockyards and also picked up some different types of jerky to try on the road trip. It was a beautiful day with great weather.
Arizona
Our next stop was Arizona for a few days to visit with family. We got some great family pics taken by Rob Krueger Photography. While in Arizona we mostly just spent that time with family. We went to our nephew and Godson’s baptism. It was a nice visit and so great to see my husband’s brothers and especially my sister-in-law. Simon had a blast playing with his cousin and still loves to call her on video calls.
Vegas and Utah
Our next stop was Utah to visit some friends. We made a quick stop in Vegas to get out and stretch our legs. Vegas is somewhere we decided is not someplace we would like to explore more as a family. We didn’t do a lot in Utah. My husband was working again and the girls were just enjoying visiting with friends. We did do our usual and visited Guzzle for soda. We tried to visit Bridal Veil Falls but it wasn’t open yet for the season. It was just a very nice, quick, visit and we were very grateful to our friends for making space and opening their home to our family of 9!
Mt Rushmore
Our next stop was Mt Rushmore as we made our way back East to head home. We dealt with stomach flu over night and someone got shot in our hotel in the middle of the night. (Really makes you feel safe…) After some fresh air at Mt Rushmore Simon was feeling better. We also did the loop at the Badlands.
Badlands National park
The Badlands is so vast! I felt so small and couldn’t believe how big of an area the Badlands covers. We loved trying to spot the wildlife as we drove through. Our goal was to make it to Sioux Falls for the night, but between Mt Rushmore and the Badlands we were worn out and didn’t make it that far.
Wisconsin Dells
Our final stop on our way home was Wisconsin Dells. We wanted the kids to have some fun before we headed back to the day to day. We were able to find a great deal at Chula Vista, which we haven’t been to since 2013. They had some spring break pricing that made it affordable for our family. It was so nice to stretch out for the last few days, too, as we had a room big enough for all of us! We didn’t do a lot in the dells, just the waterpark and, of course, Paul Bunyan Cook Shanty.
We had a great trip and proved that we could do it without our travel trailer. Now on to our new adventures. We just bought a cargo trailer and are getting camping gear ready. Our family will have our first tent camping experience coming up at the end of July as a family this big. We haven’t tent camped in quite a few years. It’s been quite the experience just trying to come up with a tent large enough. I will share our set up after our trip and let you know what we like and don’t like. Maybe it’ll help another large family figure out that they can also have some affordable adventures together.
