Road Trip Summer 2026 in our 2020 Freedom Elite 28FE RV. Vancouver Canada, Victoria BC, Olympic National Park

July 10 through July 26 2026

Vancouver Canada, Victoria BC, Olympic National Park

Our third big road trip in our 2020 Freedom Elite 28FE RV – Our Summer 2026 journey begins in Sonoma County California heading north on Highway 5 to Vancouver Canada, then west to Victoria BC, then back down to Olympic National Park. We will then head south on the 101 to revisit a few of our favorite spots along the coast of Washington, Oregon, and California. The trip will be 2433 miles in 15 days.

July 10 Day 1 – From Home to Redding California

As usual our trip started off smooth and easy. LIES!!! ALL LIES!!!! I have been stressing out for two weeks about this trip. Our last camping trip to Collins Lake a few weeks ago started off with our little Honda Element, that we tow behind the RV, catching on fire. FUN! The brakes were engaged for the drive to my oldest son’s girlfriends house 20 minutes away. By the time we arrived at her house there were big flames coming out of both front tires. A wonderful lady in a large SUV came flying up next to us screaming our car was on fire. We immediately jumped into action detaching the car from the RV, calling the fire department, and using every single fire extinguisher that was handed to me. Unfortunately, it was burning so hot that the three extinguishers I used only annoyed the fire.

The good thing was that we were able to leave the car at the girlfriend’s house and continue on to Collins Lake. We really only wanted the car for trips to the ice cream store. No big loss. However it is a huge loss not to have a car on these big road trips. We need it to get to a lot of the fun destinations.

Less than two weeks. That’s how much time we had to work with the insurance company and the mechanic to get the car fixed. This would be a very unreasonable thing to expect to happen in such a short amount of time. However, my friend and everyone in his shop moved Heaven and Earth to make it happen. We were planning to leave at 1pm on Friday the 10. They got the car done by 11am that day. FANTASTIC. Hubby and I rushed down to the shop to pick up the car. On the way home the check engine light came on and it started sputtering. DRATT!!!

Turns out it has been a long while since we drove it on the highway. We had no idea that it was having issues completely unrelated to the fire. We limped home, hooked it up to the RV and took it back to the mechanic. While we were on our way back, they were on the phone getting the parts ordered and delivered.

So, just a little side note here. While hubby was out front hooking up the car to the RV, I was inside filling our water bottles for the drive. That’s when I noticed a rather large puddle of water in front of the refrigerator. I opened the fridge doors to find it way too warm inside. Dead. The fridge was dead. We threw what we could salvage in the garage freezer, told our neighbor to take what she wanted, and threw the rest of the food out. So that’s fun.

We waited in front of the mechanics shop for about 2 hours while the car was being fixed. No complaints on our side. We were so grateful they were working on it so right away, and plus we were hanging out in the comfort of our RV. Hubby even got a little nap in.

We arrived at the Redding RV Park in Redding at about 9pm. They have the easiest check-in and the spots were level. We couldn’t have asked for more. Cheese and crackers for dinner, and then all four of us went to sleep.

After a day like that we were done done. I feel very lucky though. Even with all that had gone wrong or bad, we still came out okay in the end. Had we stuck to the plan of going straight from the mechanic shop to Redding, we would never had known the car had other issues. We also would not have noticed the refrigerator had died. That would have been a mess to come home to. Yuck! I can just imagine the smell.

July 11 Day 2 – Next Stop: Creswell Oregon.

This morning we all slept in a bit. We had another long day of driving ahead of us and the more rested we were the better. We were packed up and were on the road by 9am.

To normal humans highway 5 is pretty easy I guess. Two lanes and not a lot of traffic. To me however highway 5 is the road of hell. Some of you may remember I have a huge fear of riding in cars. I also have a fear of hills, cliffs, and sharks. I also hate vastness. That was a new fear unlocked in Montana. I spend pretty much the whole ride flinching and making brake signals with my hands. I am finally able to not scream “BRAKES” every few minutes, but hubby knows what I am doing in the passenger’s seat pressing the imaginary handbrakes. Brakes brakes brakes. A few times I just went to the back and buried my face in my phone. I did this for a good 2.5 or so hours until we reached the Visitors Center in Ashland.

I have to say the people at the visitors center are amazing. Victoria hooked us up with free coffee, tea, and a lot of excellent information on places to see. We chatted it up with her for a good hour or so. She gave me a good amount of destination reading material to help me keep my eyes off the road and maybe help with my anxiety.

I am so sorry Victoria. Against everyone’s wishes I continued to use my invisible hand brakes and was in absolute fear the whole way. Hubby is an excellent driver, and I know this. Logic has nothing to do with it.

We arrived in Creswell Oregon around 4pm. Alive! Amazing. We pulled into our home for the night, The Meadowlark RV Park. Another super easy check-in and set up.

We were advised at the Ashland Visitors center to visit the Creswell Bakery. It was an absolute must. Best sweet and savory pastries in the world. How can we argue with that. They closed at 6pm and by the time were were all set up at the RV park it was 5pm. No time to waste. It was about .4 miles from where we were and we were determined to get our treats!

SUCCESS!!! Treats have been acquired. We would have to wait until the morning to enjoy them though. Hubby went right to work making us a delicious Manwich meal before a rather offensive game of Cards Against Humanity. I really don’t think I will ever look at my sweet boys the same way again. I lost as you can probably tell. Off to bed. We have an early day tomorrow.

July 12 Day 3 – Cresswell to the Portland Japanese Garden.

Hubby has talked for years about building a koi pond in our backyard, and this past October his dream was finally coming true. Currently the pond is finished, and the deck next it is 99% done. So a trip to the Portland Japanese Garden was an must for inspiration for our own little Japanese inspired backyard.

We left Cresswell around 8am and made it into Portland around 11 or so. We parked our RV at a Walmart and jumped into the Honda Element for the 20 minute drive to the gardens.

Hubby asked that I drive since he needed a brake and he was much better at being a navigator than I am. Fair enough. I was a bit of a nervous wreck though. We hadn’t test drove the car yet since it came out of the shop the second time. Add to my anxiety the fact that I was driving in a place that was completely foreign to me. UGH! I am such a pain in the butt to travel with. I kept my mouth shut and jumped in the driver’s seat. Act cool! Off we went, and it wasn’t nearly as bad as I pictured it would be. We found parking and made our way into the gardens.

I walked super slow. Every step I took I took the time to just be in the present. Breath deep. That and I took a bunch of pictures. My sweet hubby and boys did not complain once. I think they appreciate all the pictures as well. Hubby and I spent a good amount of time pointing out all the cool features that we might be able to recreate in our yard at a much smaller scale.

A quick trip through the gift shop to pick up a few souvenirs and then off to the little cafe for lunch. The Portland Japanese Garden was the perfect first real destination of our trip. I felt like we finally started our vacation.

Around 2pm we headed back to the RV at Walmart, hooked up the Element and were back on the road to our next spot for the night. This night we are at Angle Lake RV Park in Sea Tac. We are literally parked about 50 feet from the lake. This was no easy spot to get into. A few times we bottomed out trying to back into the spot. Hubby always seems to make it work though, so I just stood back and let him know I was there if he needed me. He didn’t. Not only did he get the RV parked level, he hooked up all the utilities and then went inside to make dinner. El Pastor on corn tortillas. I wasn’t going to, but after all that, I shared a few pieces of dark chocolate bar from Trader Joes with him.

I can’t believe we are already in Seattle Washington. Didn’t we just leave Sonoma County? Time is really weird on trips like this. What happened just a few days ago feels like weeks. I love spending this time with the boys and hubby. It’s like we are in our own little world and we get to reconnect.

Tomorrow we are taking the Link light rail to downtown Seattle. The rail is just a 10 minute walk from our campsite, so that’s pretty nice.

July 13 Day 4 Seattle

This morning we woke up, and headed out the door around 9am. we had a full day planned and I wanted to do it all. A quick walk to the Link light rail and we were on our way. The trip was about 35 minutes. Not long and it was a heck of a lot better than trying to find parking. It may have been a Monday, but it was still pretty crowded downtown. First stop: The Chilhuly Garden & Glass. OH MY GOLLY!!! Hubby wasnt too sure about the price we paid to get in, but that quickly left his mind at the very first exhibit we saw.

This is the first thing you saw when you walked in. I can’t remember the exact demenions, but certainly over 8 feet tall, maybe 15 feet wide??? Huge! And Stunning. The boys were absolutly mesmerized as well. All four of us spent the entire time taking a million pictures of everything we saw. WOW!! CLICK CLICK CLICK!!! WOWEEEE!!! CLICK CLICK CLICK! We werent alone either. Everyone around us was doing the same thing.

That was just the inside of the exhibit. Then we went outside into the garden.

Amazing as that was, we still had other places to visit. Next on the agenda was walking past the Space Needle. There is no way in heckadoodle I am going in there. No. No no no no. I will stand next to it though.

Right next door was the Museum of Pop Culture. The museum is dedicated to anything that is part of popular culture. Everything from music to movies and television. It was a nice way to slow down the pace and walk leisurly through the many exhibits. It had more stairs than I would like, but well worth the pain.

What would be a trip to Seattle without visiting Pikes Place Market. Hubby was dead set of watching fish fly. He was not disappointed. I didn’t take any pictures because the large crowd made it next to impossible to get a good angle, but I assure you fish did in fact fly, and it was delightful. The fish may argue with me on that one. Or not.. they were dead. We grabbed a few small baskets of fresh berries and made our way around the market. Pretty crowded for a Monday. I am sure the perfectly sunny weather had something to do with it. Stopping at Salt & Straw for ice cream was the perfect ending to our day in Seattle.

After all that we limped and crawled on to the light rail and made our way back to the campsite. It was a beautiful night to enjoy a little quiet time outside and watch the action on the lake.

Tomorrow we pack up once again and head across the border to Canada.

July 14 Day 5 Seattle to Vancouver