Road Tripping Montana to Yosemite

Our family (my husband and I have 3 kids—12,15 & 17) flew into the Bozeman, MT airport and picked up our Sprinter conversion van by the company Moterra, a luxury camper van rental company throughout the west. We were blown away by this van! It was pristine, the décor modern and cozy, down comforter for the bed…and stocked with everything we could ever want or need on a road/camping trip. It completely exceeded our expectations! We landed at Bodhi Farms, an organic farm complete with Nordic tipis for a little glamping. We relaxed, unpacked, and enjoyed an incredible farm-to-table dinner at their field kitchen.

We woke incredibly rested after a lovely night’s rest in our tipi. The beds were “normal” beds with frames and incredibly comfortable. Although the daytime temps were close to 90 degrees, nighttime cooled off, so we turned on our electric blanket layer. We appreciated the complimentary breakfast at Bodhi and agreed we had the best sleep. We booked a volunteer spot for our family to help at the farm that morning, learning to cultivate marigolds and weed broccoli plants. This particular time, working a farm with my husband and kids, made me realize that there is always some way to give back almost anywhere you go. We ventured up to Big Sky to hike and check out the ski area. Now on our list for the ski season! We enjoyed a beautiful hike (Beehive Basin Trail No. 40) up to Beehive Lake. We stopped in Bozeman for delicious, inventive wood fired pizzas and enjoyed the extensive wine & beer list at BLACKBIRD. LOVE BLACKBIRD! After Blackbird we stopped at Music on Main, a weekly music festival on Main Street in Bozeman. 

We said goodbye to Bodhi and headed for a 6-hour drive from Bozeman to Stanley, Idaho. We headed south from Butte, MT, along the Salmon River, eventually making it to Stanley. We set up camp at Sunny Gulch Campground, a beautiful campground with epic views of the Sawtooth Mountain Range. We headed over (5-minute drive) to Redfish Lake Lodge for dinner, a beautiful old-school lodge with stunning lake & Sawtooth views, fantastic food, and service. We returned to camp for s’mores and our first night of tent & van camping!

We woke up to chilly temps and morning mist and made a big breakfast in our van. After eating by the campfire, we packed up camp and headed over to Redfish Lake for a hike. We took a water taxi across the lake for the Redfish Inlet hike. Stunning. Redfish Lake might be the most beautiful mountain recreational lake I have ever seen. We passed through Ketchum, the cool mountain town near Sun Valley Idaho. Check, another ski town I’ll look forward to visiting! We made it to Boise late afternoon, and capped this wonderful day at our friends’ home, complete with dogs, homemade dinner & cake, and the best company ever.

As we left Idaho, the drive became desolate and arid, and I admired the mellow colors and difference in landscape. We began to see more trees and vegetation, and we knew we were nearing Yosemite. We arrived at our campsite, Aspen Campground, a beautiful campground set along a mountain creek dotted with boulders, around 6PM. We made dinner in our van-kitchen and the kids fought over who would stay in the awesome van bed vs the tent by the rushing creek. I never won, and I was fine with that :).

After a campfire breakfast, we began our 2-hour journey toward the majestic Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite. Aspen Campground is just a few minutes from the northeast entrance to the park. We loved hiking through the pristine Tuolumne Meadows, a stunning mountain meadow surrounded by the Sierra Nevada Mountains. We then headed to Tuolumne Grove and made the 2.5 round trip hike to view a grove of two dozen giant sequoia trees. We drove another 45 minutes into the breathtaking Yosemite Valley, past El Capitan, and arrived at the historic Ahwahnee Hotel. We unpacked in our room with valley views and met our cousins for dinner in the iconic Ahwahnee Dining Room and card games in the Great Lounge.

We packed our van with cousins and headed to the 4-mile hike/Glacier Point Trail trailhead. The hike was challenging but worth the incredible views of Half Dome and Nevada Falls. The younger girls opted for hiking only halfway to enjoy raft time on the Merced River. My sister-in-law was brilliant by bringing along three tubes and one raft. Worth it! We met post-hike on the river's shores for pizza and river floating. We ended our evening on the back lawn of the Ahwahnee, tossing the light-up frisbee and judging our family photo contest.

We bid our cousins farewell as they left to explore Big Sur and headed to the Mist Trail—a moderate hike to view Vernal Falls on the way to Nevada Falls. Everyone decided that reaching the Emerald Pool, just above Vernal Falls, was enough after the challenging hike the day before. Still, on the 4-mile round trip, we were happy to return to the Ahwahnee for pool time, river time, and a leisure bike ride around Yosemite Valley. We had a very up-close view of a momma black bear and her babies as we neared the hotel post-ride. Unfortunately, they ran out from the area rumored to be their home, chased by a visiting family of humans. The “sons” went up into this area along the single road leading to the Ahwahnee to flush out the bears. We could hear the mother complaining that she refused to go home from vacation without seeing the bears. They ran out so quickly (across the road where a car could have hit them) that she missed her photo opp. I was mortified and saddened by what I witnessed. At dinner in the dining room, we agreed to look on the bright side of what we saw—the bears were safe, and although sad to leave Yosemite, we were excited about our Lake Tahoe adventure.

We got on the road for our 4.5-hour drive to South Lake Tahoe. We took the scenic route through the historical Grove City, home to the oldest California saloon. We passed through San Andreas (and prayed) and finally descended into Tahoe. We had lunch at Sprouts Cafe and loved the food, vibes, and view! We then checked into the Coachmen Hotel, a renovated 1960s motel with a modern rustic theme. The hub of the property was a bar/coffee shop with modern furniture and eclectic décor with open sides merging indoors and out. The pool was heated, plenty of seating outside, abundant board games, bikes to rent (free!), and baggo. A super lively atmosphere! We played a bit and headed out for dinner at Toulouse, New Orleans fare, a 5-minute walk from our hotel. Once again, we had a close encounter with a HUGE brown bear, honestly, it looked like a grizzly bear—we watched him amble down the road as we kept our distance. The food was good and came quickly which we were grateful for. After gorgeous sunset views over Lake Tahoe, we headed home.

We awoke to our only rainy day. One out of ten, alright! The boat we had secured to rent was canceled, so after the delicious Coachmen Belgian waffles and breakfast burritos, we set out to tour this spectacular lake. We brought our raincoats and popped out to view various points of interest as we looped up and around the west side of the lake, past Emerald Bay, toward Incline Village. Due to construction and detours, we turned back at Incline and lunched at the Old Post Office Cafe (loved it!) in Carnelian Bay. Francesca ordered a Monte Cristo sandwich, our family’s first exposure to this to-die-for sandwich. After shopping around Tahoe Village for souvenirs, we landed back at the Coachman and ventured up toward the crowded strip near the casinos for dinner. I almost always opt for natural beauty and elegance, especially when visiting any mountain destination. However, we had such a healthy dose of nature over our vacation that we didn’t mind hitting the strip! We ate at Ten Crows BBQ, paper straws (thank you!), and a fantastic female singer/guitarist entertained the outdoor clientele. I wish I got her name; she rocked it.

We had a fabulous coffee at the Coachmen and departed for the 45-minute drive to Reno airport. We were sad to say goodbye to our van-life adventure (and our van!!), perhaps our favorite vacation we’ve ever taken. As sad as we were to say goodbye, we couldn’t help but look forward to getting home to see friends, our pets and enjoy the final lazy days of summer!