Introduction to our 2026 Glacier National Park Trip
It’s one of my favorite times of the year – vacation with my favorite people, exploring one of America’s national parks!
I love blogging about these trips each summer for a few reasons. Perhaps primarily, I like having the memories written down as we go so that I can add them to our photo books I create via Shutterfly following each trip. But I also love being able to share our adventures to help others who may be researching and planning their own trips, and if nothing else, I will forever and always hope to inspire families to make memories no matter how challenging the process may be.
I repeat it every year – I’m so grateful for a husband that pushed me in the early years of parenting to try something because of it’s value, and not to avoid things simply because they might be hard. Through his leadership, I’ve learned not to ask the question on whether or not something is challenging (it almost always will be); instead, we ask if something is valuable, and it also almost always will be.
We started our RV-ing adventures in 2019 when we had 6 and 4 year old boys, and a 6 month old baby girl. We bought a 2003 Fleetwood Discovery and adventured with it for 7 years. Only this past May did we upgrade to a newer rig, and I’m still so grateful that we didn’t wait until we could afford the nicer one. We would have missed out on so many years of so many memories. We loved our old “Woodrow,” and it was a joy to gift it to family who will continue adventuring in it together.
Last year, we had the privilege of having all of our kids’ grandparents on vacation with us. My mom traveled with us, and Nick’s parents rented a bumper pull alongside us. This year, Nick’s parents have their own Class A motorhome and my mom is still with us. Our kids this summer are ages 13, 11, 7 and 3!
Our new rig is a 2018 Forest River Berkshire 45 XLT. We were able to take it out for two weeks earlier this summer to begin to learn the ins and outs of a different coach, and we are excited to enjoy it for this vacation! We are praying that whatever goes wrong (because a house on wheels almost always has something go wrong) is minimal, and that God will give us the grace to walk through whatever unexpected circumstances we may experience. Some of our favorite stories (now) come from some of the craziest mishaps and breakages we’ve experienced along the way…8 hours on the side of the road from a shredded belt; caravanning with friends and having countless flat tires between us all; a misfired explosion of bear spray that took several of us out for hours and left a permanent dent in the side of our RV; having to hold a window in place for four hours while driving through Colorado winds. We love these memories and the laughter they now bring! We’ve learned to say (and think!) the words, “Always an adventure!”
Although we’ve done our two week vacations a million different ways (hitting lots of stops along the way), the focus of this summer is pretty simple: Glacier National Park. We traveled to Glacier in 2022 when I was pregnant with Karis, and it’s one of our favorite places we’ve ever traveled. Since none of our parents have been there before, we knew we wanted to bring them along with us, and we wanted four full days in the park. Our goal is to get up there as soon as we can, enjoy four days in Glacier, and then head back to Fun Valley in Colorado where we will end our trip at a slower pace before driving back home.
Here are some resources I use to help us plan:
1.) Roadtrippers – this is how we map out and plan our big “moving” (driving) days and determine our route. Nick and I look at this together and decide where we want to make reservations, and where we plan to boondock (camp without any hookup, usually at a truck stop or rest stop). Nick loves boondocking because he literally drives until he’s tired, pulls over and sleeps, and can quickly get up and get going again the next morning. We don’t have to pay to stay when we boondock, and we use our fresh water tank and generator for all of our needs in the motorhome.
2.) Dirt in my shoes National Park Itineraries – I cannot recommend these resources enough! After 4 years of planning our national trip visits myself, I chose to purchase one of Ash’s itineraries last summer for our visits to Yellowstone and Grand Teton, and they DID NOT DISAPPOINT. I’ve always felt pretty confident in my own ability to research and plan our trips, but after using Ash’s itineraries last summer, I will never do a national park again without this former park ranger’s help. She saves us so much time and maximizes our trips by following her recommendations. It is money well-spent, I promise.
3.) Lists! I use lists on my phone and that’s how I pack for everything.
I love to plan, but there’s also a lot of spontaneity in making decisions in the moment as we go. Nick and I balance each other well for this, so I create options and hold plans loosely and he helps discern in the moment where we need to shift directions with plans, whether it’s regarding a hike, or grilling our dinner vs. eating at a local restaurant. Doing our trips this way is like a crash course in testing and growing dynamics in our marriage, and it’s been such a great training ground for growth as we strive to each embody our Biblical roles as husband and wife. I highly recommend it. 😉
Speaking of sanctification, we get a lot of that in our parenting, too, being in close quarters for two weeks straight. We don’t do it perfectly, but here is the main principle we strive to follow, which really is the same principle from scripture that we try to walk on a daily basis for normal life:
Confess sin quickly, repent fully, and get back in fellowship. We can often forget as parents that sin will be present wherever we go, and it’s comical how often it shocks us when it appears. But the truth is, sin will be present, and rather than acting appalled when we see it, our goal is to confess and repent and move on. There’s no sense wasting time wallowing in guilt. We prioritize confessing sin, forgiving each other, and getting back into fellowship as soon as possible. Vacations always yield plenty of opportunities for us to practice this well. And what a gift that is! We strive to recognize and thank the Lord for his goodness and grace in using even our family vacations as a way to sanctify us and make us more like himself.
So, friends, if you’ve been wondering IF you should take the trip, buy the RV, schedule the time away, etc…if you ask us, we will always tell you the answer is YES. Don’t ask if it will be hard. It will be. But, as one of my favorite authors says, “hard is not the same thing as bad.” Take the trip, say you’re sorry when you have a bad attitude, expect something to go wrong and trust how God is growing you through it all…and enjoy the incredible memories you get along the way. Is it worth it? A thousand times yes.
And for now, feel free to follow along with us on our adventures. I’ll share the good, bad and ugly along the way, how we cook and eat, how we hike and pack, etc. I pray it inspires you and encourages you to create your own adventures with the people you love. It’s so very worth it.
jami lee gainey 