Sometimes I wonder if I don’t like to plan travel just as much as I like to travel. Which is good, since everyone in America bought an RV during covid and getting into the big parks is nearly impossible. So being a planner is a very good thing right now.

The hardest time of the year to be living in the Pacific NW is late winter/early spring, when you look at the national weather map and realize you’re the only one in the country who is cold and wet (except maybe my pals in Alaska). So last year, having Nonnie’s Diner all ready to go, I booked a trip to Joshua Tree NP, and we had that springtime warmup.

This year, since I’m still working until July, we can’t plan any long trips early in the year, so we thought again we should make a quick jaunt south come springtime. I decided to book a spot at Yosemite, which I’m told is the most beautiful place on earth during the spring.

The national parks hold reservations for this site until 6 months from your camping time, and release new sites on the 15th of the month. So we planned which sites we wanted, woke up early on October 15th, and got our computers logged in. Rob was going to try for one site and I was going to try for a different one, both in the valley. When the clock on the microwave ticked over to 7, I pushed the reservation button and saw ALL THE SITES WERE BOOKED. Well, turns out my microwave clock was 2 minutes off.

Even Google instructions tell you in order to get a site you must: “Set your computer clock to the accurate time by visiting www.time.gov/.”. Shoot. There are hundreds of sites in the 3 campgrounds in the valley, and they were all booked for month of April within 2 minutes. I was so bummed. But I decided it was a lesson learned and looked at other campsites within the park but outside the valley. I found a nice spot at a campground 45 minutes by truck, closer to the park entrance, and booked that. We’ll have our bicycles, and plenty of time to go explore the valley by bike. Besides, I’m telling myself I really don’t want to camp with hundreds of other families! Here is our little campsite called Hogdon Meadows, we’ll be in site #92.

Then the fun began, planning the trip down and back. Our last trip down staying at Harvest Hosts was so much fun, I decided to book in some of those on the way down, and travel north back up the coasts. I have accounts now with the state parks sites for Washington, Oregon and California, so it was just a matter of finding something near the distance we wanted to travel every day. Since I’m not yet ready to tow that trailer, Rob does all the driving and we like to keep the days relatively short (< 5 hours is about enough). The cats are staying with our sitter here on the island for this trip, so we don’t need to worry about them this time. Here is the map of places we’re staying, all ready to give directions to the driver every day.

Besides the big trip to Yosemite, I also booked several spring trips with friends and family. There is at least one trip planned every month, while I gradually ease out of 50 years of working and into retirement! In March we have two weekends to Salt Creek (which opens up it’s reservation site on January 1st, so that day we did have the clock set right). Luckily we can just leave the trailer in Port Townsend and not haul it all the way home and back.

This time I found two sites down in the lower campground along the bluff that will accommodate our little trailer. So we won’t have the great view, but also won’t be exposed to the winds.

In May we’re going to explore and discover Lake Sylvia. It’s on the south side of the Olympic Mountains, and is another Washington State Park. It is about an hour from Lake Quinault (pic above), where there are no campsites big enough for our trailer, but there is a very nice bike ride around the lake. So we’ll camp at Lake Sylvia and take the bikes up for a day trip around the Lake.

Then our last plans for the year (so far) are back at Salt Creek, again with the Grand Nephews and Buddy & Brittney in June. We’ll share that big campsite that we booked last year for Max & Murphy’s first camping trip, and Nonnie’s Diner will be right there for them to enjoy.