Family Takes Unexpected RV Trip To National Parks During The Pandemic

The original plan was Hawaii — a week on the beach to celebrate our 12-year-old son’s “graduation” from sixth grade, and our family’s escape from two months of working at home side by side.

Like so many others, we had to cancel that trip when Hawaii extended its visitor quarantine into the summer because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Our next thought: Let’s get in the RV and head for some open space, any open space. Get out of town and explore.

That led us to South Dakota and Wyoming — and visits to six National Park Service sites: Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Wind Cave National Park, Badlands National Park, Devils Tower National Monument, Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park for the last week of May.

(The Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota was the only place we visited that had an open visitors center. Photo credit: Brandi Cripe)

We left Ada County for the first time in two months unsure what to expect. Here’s what we found:

A REFRESHING WAY TO VISIT NATIONAL PARKS

We have encountered some serious crowds, traffic and parking problems in recent years while visiting national park sites in Wyoming, Montana, Utah, California and Arizona.

We experienced none of that this time.

In fact, Yellowstone on Sunday, May 31, was so empty it was eerie. There were a few others at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone; we couldn’t see another person for much of our time touring the West Thumb Geyser Basin; and Old Faithful was social distancing friendly with the smaller-than-usual gathering (although some folks still randomly sat next to our son).

Parking was plentiful at Rushmore and Badlands, traffic was minimal through Grand Teton, and Wind Cave (where the cave is closed due to a lengthy elevator repair) offered a quiet spot for a picnic even along its main road.

Check out the full article from Idaho Statesman here.