The Planning Begins!

Planning a vacation is really fun...I think it's almost as fun as taking the vacation.

For planning, you get to pour over maps and choose destinations, read guidebooks and book hotel rooms.

So, the planning begins....

This July, our family embarks on a three week tour out west. We are driving from our house in Ohio to just over the continental divide in British Columbia and Montana and coming back.  We are driving out through Saute Sainte Marie, around the north shore of Lake Superior, to Thunder Bay. We get a day's break to explore the town before going west from there through Winnipeg, Saskatoon, and Calgary to Banff National Park where we will soak up the scenery for five days. 

Our drive turns south to Glacier National Park in Montana, then on to Yellowstone National Park for four days. We head east toward home, but not without a stop at Devil's Tower for a day. We plan a few days the Badlands of South Dakota and want to see the Mall of America in Minneapolis. 

Whew...! That itinerary should keep us busy driving. We will grab the cameras and post our adventure as we go. 

We have already done some planning and I just need to write down everything we have booked and decided. 

First thing was a calendar. We needed to plot out our twenty-one days. How much can we drive in a day? How far do we WANT to drive in one day? Where do we want to stay? Where can we afford to stay? What is on the "have to see" list? What is on the "nice to see" list. How much of both lists can we do? Lots of questions, lots of decisions to make. 

As we made decisions, more sights made it onto the "must see" list and some dropped off. We found we had to make some park lodge reservations quickly or miss them. 

We booked four days at the Mammoth Hot Springs Lodge at the north entrance of Yellostone National Pak. The rooms promise no amenities, no air conditioning or even attached bathrooms. Those are down the hall. But we will be in the park. Funny enough, these "rustic" lodging were all that were available in when we booked in Janauary. One guidebook suggested booking two months in advance for the busy months of July and August. Huh?  How about nine to ten months in advance. No, the book was not old; just published in 2008. 

I started looking at lodging in Banff and was shocked. Hubby and I had been there in the mid eighties and remember a quaint little town. Now this quaint town has become a huge tourist attraction and rooms were quite pricey... like, real expensive. Using a popular "cheap travel" website, I found rooms in the $150 to $250 per night price range...! Yikes..!

I kept looking, trying other websites, AAA, and Entertainment book. Then we started looking at hostels. Even those were pricey. If just one person is travelling, the cost for one bed per night was only $38. But multiply that by four, and for the same cost, you can rent a hotel room. 

Discouraged, I just kept looking every day. For what? A miracle? 

Then a miracle did happen. One of the travel website had a chalet for a great price. Was that real? All day, I kept checking and looking and the price was still there. It had not disappeared. So I booked it. . . !

I am still pinching myself. I have checked back at the same website and now the chalets have gone up $15 per night. My great deal must have been for just that one day. I am so happy I scored them! In the chalet, we will have a kitchen, living room and a bedroom. Upstairs is an open loft with two double beds for the boys.  Plenty of room to relax for the five nights we will be in Banff. 

Last night, hubby and I were driving by Barnes and Noble and he suggested stopping in to buy some travel books. Me pass up a chance to go to BN? Not on your life! We perused the travel section and came home with seven books. One never knows what one will find at BN.  

So now we are more closely looking at the "must see" list. So many sights!

I'll keep you all posted on our planning as we make more decisions and map out our route.