While a ton of fun, these first few days of travel have left me feeling a bit stressed. 

I’m the type of person who is always evaluating and always striving to make things better. With that being said, I made the necessary decision to deviate from my expected travel goals today. 

My goal has been to make it close to 300 miles a day. We’ve been meeting that goal but at the cost of my stress levels being through the roof because of late night set ups and rushed tear downs. 

Today we were supposed to make it to Hell’s canyon, the deepest canyon in North America at over 7,000 feet! 

However, I decided to break up the drive and spend the night in Payette National Forest instead at a .gov campground. 

Best. Decision. Ever. 

I picked a campground situated along a small creek and the kids loved it! The older ones all went rock jumping up the creek and ended up swiming a bit too, not that it was actually swim-deep, maybe waist deep but in only a couple spots. Little One and I watched them and threw rocks in the creek.

It was a welcome respite after driving through the high desert of Idaho with temps in the triple digits and nothing but barren, flat, almost grasslands.

We’re all settling down for the night and I can hear the creek rushing outside nearby and see the night sky through towering pines overhead. It’s about as close to my favorite things in nature as I can get. I’m looking forward to a peaceful night if the Little One ever calms down and falls asleep after having a few too many marshmallows before bed.