There are so many fun and unique things to do in Haines Alaska! One of our biggest takeaways from our time there is that it’s a really underrated Alaska destination. Haines has all of the small, authentic port town vibes with way fewer tourists (and tourist traps!). We loved the week we spent there during our summer RVing Alaska.
Here is a list of our favorite things to do in Haines Alaska.
1. Chilkoot Lake State Recreation Area
This small state park right outside of Haines Alaska has SO much to offer. First, it has a beautifully scenic boat launch where you can kayak around the lake with alpine glacier views. You’re also allowed to fish for salmon there (make sure to have a permit!). But maybe the most fun part of this park is that you can observe bears fishing for salmon from less than 100 feet away. This was the best bear viewing we got all summer because we didn’t shell out multiple thousands of dollars for flightseeing to Katmai National Park.
2. Chilkat State Park
Despite the similar name, this park is on the opposite end of town. We hiked the Battery Point Trail, which was an easy 4 mile family-friendly trail through gorgeous old growth forest that offers multiple scenic beach views along the way. My kids loved all of the unique fungi we spotted, too.
3. The Hammer Museum
I maintain that you cannot make a trip to Haines without visiting the Hammer Museum. It’s one of the quinntessential things to do in Haines Alaska. It’s really a cabin style home converted into a museum that you can visit in under an hour. I expected it to be hokey and a tourist trap, but it was actually pretty fascinating to see how many different industries rely on hammers. Even my kids were really into this stop.
4. The American Bald Eagle Foundation
This is another one of those must dos in Haines. How often do you get to see a bald eagle up close? Haines is absolutely packed with Eagles and you’ll likely see one if you spend any time outdoors, but getting an up close look is pretty special. And you can feel good about supporting these rescued animals while you’re at it.
5. The Haines Sheldon Museum
This tiny museum surprised and delighted me. The upstairs features absolutely gorgeous indigenous artwork and some hands-on opportunities for kids to engage with it. It also gives historical context for Haines and features a special apple tree outside in the courtyard. We were lucky enough to visit on a September day when apples were being harvested and were offered a big bag to bake with!
6. The Haines Borough Public Library
Maybe visiting the library isn’t high on your vacation bucket list, but I’d encourage you to reconsider. This library has a gorgeous facade featuring indigenous art, and it’s the perfect place to rest, recharge, and use some free wifi or read a book underneath the big, beautiful windows. It has a cute children’s section that my kids adored.
7. Try to Catch the Northern Lights
Southeast Alaska isn’t always the first place people head when trying for Aurora Borealis sightings because it can be very overcast. But it is possible to see them there! If you find yourself in Haines from September to May, it’s worth a shot to check the Aurora chances with an app like My Aurora Forecast. We saw them twice in one September week!
8. Window Shopping
Haines only has a few stores, but they are delightful! Our favorite was The Bookstore. It’s absolutely adorable and has an incredible curation of Alaska books. Plus, employees there *volunteer* their time to keep the public library open on weekends. How amazing is that?! That reason alone is enough to land this bookstore on the best things to do in Haines Alaska list in my book 😉
9. Take the Ferry
Haines is an Alaska Marine Highway hub, so it’s a great place to catch a ferry to anywhere else in Southeast Alaska! We met folks who had day tripped to Juneau, and you can also head to Gustavus if you’re wanting to visit Glacier Bay National Park without being on a cruise. We opted to drive to Haines and then take the ferry to Skagway on our way back south. We loved this choice, as the ferry trip alone felt like an excursion.
I hope this post with things to do in Haines Alaska was helpful!
If you’re looking for where to park your RV in Haines Alaska or for more information on how to have an amazing Alaska RV trip, check out our RVing Alaska e-book:
If you’re looking for Alaska vacation ideas, you’ve come to the right place! This guide features 20+ pages of what we learned throughout a summer RVing Alaska with Kids.
I did a lot of research into DIY RV exterior paint before finally committing to painting our fiberglass 5th wheel RV. We actually lived in the RV for almost a year before we painted the exterior, both because RV exterior paint prep is a BIG job and because I was worried about how it would turn out.
I’m happy to report that we all adore how it came out. I’m also really happy with the paint we chose and how we transferred the designs. So I’m here to share everything I learned with you today! Let’s get into it, and hopefully you’ll leave with some RV exterior paint ideas.
First, I feel like we need a before photo to really appreciate how worth it this was:
Sure came a long way, huh?
DIY RV Exterior Paint vs. Hiring Professional Painters
So the first choice in any paint job is deciding whether to DIY it or hire professional painters. As you all have probably noticed, I prefer DIYing everything I can. A professional RV exterior paint job can easily cost $10,000, which might make sense if you have a newer or very expensive rig whose value you want to maintain. For our 2007 Keystone Raptor, that kind of investment didn’t make sense.
You might be intimidated by painting on such a large scale, but I’m here to tell you that if you can paint a room and have a tall ladder, you can do this.
Choosing RV Exterior Paint
I also spent a lot of time hemming and hawing over which type of RV exterior paint to use. There are a lot of options. The professionals might use marine epoxy or automotive paint, which are the longest lasting options. The downsides to these are that they’re very expensive and come in limited colors.
Honestly, the lack of color options to suit my vision was my primary reason for choosing what I did: Behr latex exterior house paint. I was very worried about whether exterior house paint would hold up on a fiberglass RV exterior. We’re almost a year in (and we put our rig through a lot in Alaska!), and I’m happy to say that there are only two quarter-sized high-use spots that are chipping.
We used two gallons of paint for the base coat and several quarts or paint samples for the decorative colors. Did you know you can use those tiny paint sample pots for colors you only need a tiny bit of? Here are the RV exterior paint colors we used:
Not counting painting supplies, we spent about $300 on our RV exterior paint colors.
Tools for Painting your RV Exterior
A professional looking paint job requires good tools, so this is not a place you want to skimp. I considered renting or buying a paint sprayer, but ultimately decided to stick with paint rollers and brushes because I’m more comfortable painting that way. It was a good decision because the finish came out just fine the way we did it. Plus, we saved a couple of hundred dollars on the paint sprayer.
Here are the steps you’ll need to take to complete your RV exterior paint job. Don’t skimp on prep, it’s the most important part.
Remove old decals if your rig has them. I won’t lie to you, this is by far the worst part. It took us probably 40 hours of heating decals that weren’t cracked with a hair dryer and peeling them off. Decals that were too sun baked needed to be buffed off with the decal remover wheels we bought.
Clean the exterior thoroughly with your favorite RV cleaner.
Replace any exterior fixtures that are due (we did our stove exhaust vent!). Re-caulk any seams that need it. Get your surface as even as possible.
Lightly sand the entire exterior. Just the lightest of scuffs, don’t take layers off. Vacuum and wash away the dust carefully.
Tape off any fixtures or trim with painters tape.
Roll base color on and brush the edges. We didn’t need to prime separately because the paint we chose was 2-in-1.
If you’re doing fun designs on top, set up the projector and trace the designs onto the RV. This can be tricky because it needs to be dark for you to see the projections. Go slow and come back to it the next day if you have to. Just don’t move the projector until you’re done!
Paint over your beautiful designs! This is the most fun part.
How our Paint is Holding Up One Year Later
Okay, so how is it holding up? This was my biggest concern with this project, so I want to share real life photos! One year later, and I’m very happy with how the paint is holding up. There are two tiny spots with chips: the front door and the hinge of our most-used storage door. You can see the tiny chips on the door (it’s also VERY dirty from Alaska mud, but that’s washable!):
I really tortured myself trying to decide whether to paint our RV exterior, and I am SO glad that we did. I LOVE it, and we get so many compliments. The way we did it might stress out the RV exterior paint purists, but I would 100% do this again.
It really makes every picture of our home more joyful, right?
And I love that the outside finally matches the inside.
We spent six months renovating our whole 2007 fifth wheel from drab to fab. To see how the inside of the RV turned out, check out our complete RV Renovation Ideas post.
Interested in learning how to RV camp for totally free? Check out our Boondocking 101 guide!
This 10-page guide will assist RVers in learning the basics of boondocking, or camping off-grid! We share everything we’ve learned as a family living off-grid and boondocking in our RV.
Disclaimer: Product links in this blog post may be Affiliate links, and I will earn a small commission for each purchase made through these links at no extra cost to you. Affiliate income helps fund our family travel and allows me to keep creating inspiring family travel content for you. I so appreciate when you use my links to make purchases you would have made anyway.
For more RV renovation, here are some other posts you might like:
I’m so excited to officially launch our Alaska RV Trip travel guide! We spent an entire summer and part of fall RVing all around Alaska with our small children, and I’ve packed everything we learned into this e-book.
There is a sample 7 day itinerary, 14 day itinerary, month long itinerary, and whole summer in Alaska itinerary. There is a city-by-city activity guide with kid-friendly Alaska activities, and each city has a recommended camping in Alaska spot (one RV park with hookups and one boondocking spot). I’ve shared free activities in Alaska and bucket list splurge worthy excursions. There are tips about driving in Alaska and a packing list with everything you’ll need to stay warm, dry, and safe in Alaska.
I really believe that this travel guide will save you hundreds of hours of research when planning your Alaska RV trip. I also know from talking to other RV friends that it has insider activities that many tourists miss. Whether you’re driving your own RV up or renting an RV in Anchorage, this guide will make your trip so much more memorable.
Keep scrolling below for more Alaska blog posts, too!
If you’re looking for Alaska vacation ideas, you’ve come to the right place! This guide features 20+ pages of what we learned throughout a summer RVing Alaska with Kids.
And if you need more personalized planning help for your Alaska RV trip, you can book a call with me here! I can almost guarantee it’ll be worth the cost with the money you’ll save from having insider advice on how to approach an Alaska trip.
For all of the free tips I’ve shared here about our Alaska RV trip and an amazing summer in Alaska, head to my Alaska highlights on Instagram and check out these posts:
Frequently asked questions about this Alaska RV trip travel guide:
Will I receive a copy of this in the mail?
No, this is an e-book which will be available for download straight to your computer in PDF form. You won’t receive a physical book copy, but you can take the e-book to a print shop and have it printed and bound for just a few dollars if you like!
Do you recommend campgrounds in Alaska?
Yes! For each destination, I’ve included my top pick of RV park and boondocking spot for those who prefer to be off-grid.
Will this be helpful for travelers without children?
I think so! There are only a handful of kid-specific recommendations that aren’t also fun for adults (like special playgrounds!) and a whole lot of information that will be applicable to everyone (like easy day hikes!).
Can I use this guide if I don’t have an RV?
Absolutely! I recommend campgrounds to stay at, but you can also buy a cheap tent and use that instead. Or just use the itineraries and activity guides and choose your own hotel / short-term rental!
Were you paid or compensated in any way for any activities or campgrounds in exchange for your recommendation?
Nope! We paid for everything out of our own pockets.
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In our years of full time travel, finding RV gift ideas for our kiddos has been a challenge! Those of us who are living tiny know how carefully we have to think about every item that comes into our home, so I’m extremely careful about what we buy. In the past, I’ve searched for RV gift ideas lists for the kiddos and come up pretty empty! So today I’m sharing a list of RV gift ideas that have been tested, tried, and true for our family.
December is a wild ride for us, with three kid birthdays (!) and Christmas all within a few weeks. I save gift ideas to wish lists all year long and hoard extra money for months so that everyone has a magical December. Last year, our oldest told me unprompted that I make Christmas magical, and it was just the sweetest thank you for all of the effort. I know you’re putting in so much effort to make this time of year special for the kiddos in your life, too. From fall clothes shopping to Halloween costumes to holiday gifts and seasonal parties. I see you!
Hopefully this list will give you some RV gift ideas that you haven’t already considered. I’ve separated gift ideas into categories for easier reading, but if you want to see my whole list of recommendations, head here.
Indoor Toys
Our kids own about a quarter of the toys that they did when we lived in an apartment, and they are totally satisfied. But when you have fewer toys, you want to make sure that they’re open-ended toys that can be played with in many ways. That’s always our goal when bringing in new indoor toys, and these are our favorites:
Our kids are big into crafting, so we dedicate a fair amount of our storage space to craft supplies. Craft supplies are the perfect RV gift ideas item because they’re consumable and won’t take up space forever!
We have way expanded the number of outdoor toys we own since living in apartment. We’re outside so much more thanks to RV life that it makes total sense! Plus, these items ride in the bed of the truck or toy hauler room on travel day. So they don’t take up too much inside space!
We spend so much time hiking now that hiking gear had to make the RV gift ideas list! Plus, kids are always outgrowing their gear. I resisted getting our kids fancy hiking boots for a long time, but it has been totally worth the investment (have you read our hiking with kids tips?).
When you’re traveling and out in nature all of the time, there’s so much to learn (even for grownups!). These are some of our favorite books for learning about the world around us.
Traveling kids spend long days in the car. So items to help pass the road trip days are the perfect RV gift ideas for kids! These have made our travel days so much more enjoyable. Especially the Yotos. Worth every penny.
Traveling families can take incredible advantage of museum memberships that have reciprocity agreements. We have visited at least a dozen science museums with one science center membership, thanks to the ASTC reciprocity program. This makes a membership the perfect addition to the RV gift ideas list.
I should probably add that if you’re buying a gift for someone else’s traveling kids (how sweet!), you should always check in first. Space really is so limited, and you want to make sure their kids need the same things that mine do. I also want to note that it’s totally okay and maybe even necessary to scale down how much you buy for RV living. Don’t let this RV gift ideas post make you feel like you need to buy all the things. Your kids will be totally happy with less, as you’ve probably already learned <3
Don’t miss our RV gift ideas for grownups post, too:
Disclaimer: Product links in this blog post may be Affiliate links, and I will earn a small commission for each purchase made through these links at no extra cost to you. Affiliate income helps fund our family travel and allows me to keep creating inspiring family travel content for you. I so appreciate when you use my links to make purchases you would have made anyway.
The first step of an Alaska road trip is getting there! It took us 6 driving days to travel 1,257 miles from Dawson Creek, BC to Tok, AK on the Alaska Highway (or the Alcan Highway!). We drive slower and for shorter days because we’re towing our 37′ fifth wheel RV. You could definitely do it faster in a car.
One of the things that we learned was that only 5% of visitors arrive to Alaska via the Alaska Highway. After driving it ourselves, we can see why! We had to replace all 4 truck tires, a leaf spring on the RV, 2 cabinet door hinges, and some screws! You also can start your Alaska road trip by flying into Anchorage or taking the Alaska Marine Highway to Haines.
But it truly feels like an accomplishment to have made it on the Alcan. Even if we saw nothing in Alaska, the drive was so gorgeous that it wasn’t a wasted trip. Not to mention the many bears, moose, bison, bald eagles, foxes, and caribou we saw!
I’ll talk more about these places in future posts, but here are the major sights we visited along the way:
Mile 0 sign Dawson Creek
Tetsa river lodge’s famous cinnamon rolls
Toad River bridges
Folded Mountains viewpoint
Muncho Lake
Liard River hot springs
Welcome to the Yukon Sign
Watson Lake Signpost Forest
George Johnston museum
Teslin Tlingit Heritage Center
Whitehorse’s Miles Canyon
Haines Junction’s Village bakery
Kluane Lake
I found planning our Alaska road trip to be really challenging because there are very few resources on doing this with kids, the itineraries I found tended to be for just a week long trip, and the typical tourist activities are ridiculously expensive for a family of five.
So I wrote a travel guide for an Alaska road trip with kids that includes everything we’ve learned!
If you’re looking for Alaska vacation ideas, you’ve come to the right place! This guide features 20+ pages of what we learned throughout a summer RVing Alaska with Kids.
Now, on to the Alaska Highway recap! We started our Alaska road trip in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, which is the official start of the Alaska Highway!
It felt like a real accomplishment just to make it to mile 0, after traveling thousands of miles and overcoming passport hurdles. Dawson Creek is kind of a strange place, with what felt like half irritated locals annoyed with the other half of irritating American tourists.
Dawson is the last place for major supplies for a looooong time, and we took advantage of a few days to stock up and rest. That was a good call because the trip up the Alcan was a real journey in every sense of the word.
Alaska road trip day 1: Dawson Creek ➡️ Fort Nelson
It was an easy drive, minus a few long, steep grades. But it also wasn’t scenic, and we spent our only night in Fort Nelson figuring how to get our shredded front truck tires replaced, so I have no pictures from that day. The Fort Nelson visitor center is a great place to stop if you want information about the next section of the drive, plus it features free wifi and a free RV sani dump big enough for any size RV if you need it. Definitely make sure you fill up on gas here because you won’t see anything resembling affordable gas again until Watson Lake.
Alaska road trip day 2: Fort Nelson ➡️ Liard Hot Springs
This was when our Alaska road trip started getting gorgeous. We drove through fog so dense on Summit Pass (the highest point on the Alcan) that I couldn’t see the lines 😬 Summit Lake was absolutely beautiful when we drove back down, so your experience of it will really vary based on the weather. But then the area around Muncho Lake was stunning, and I would camp in the provincial park there were I to plan the trip again. If you have your own kayak, I highly recommend launching your kayak on Muncho Lake!
Liard River Hot Springs was pretty amazing. The hot springs were deliciously hot and relaxing and in a stunning setting. The boardwalk to the springs is a moose habitat. We got to watch a beautiful moose munching on a dinner of aquatic plants with fog rising over the marsh as we headed back from our soak.
Word to the wise: although the Liard River Hot Springs campground is convenient and allows RVs our size, I would not rate it as big rig friendly. I fit ours in there, but it took me circling twice. The neighbors even came out to say they were impressed 😅 You can, however, camp in the overflow lot across the street, which would be my advice for anything longer than a class C. Also, the gas in the Toad River / Muncho Lake / Liard River area is SO expensive. I don’t even want to talk about how much we paid haha.
Alaska road trip day 3: Liard River Hot Springs ➡️ Watson Lake
Watson Lake’s main attraction is the infamous Sign Post Forest. But this day was the day we crossed from BC to the Yukon, and that felt like a huge deal! Yukon is so so so remote that traversing it feels like an accomplishment. It made me realize how “remote” places in the lower 48 just really aren’t the same type of remote 😂 We were so excited to make it to a new part of Canada and to one that is so legendary.
The Watson Lake Sign Post Forest was started by a homesick guy helping to construct the Alaska Highway. It now contains over 90,000 signs from all over the world! We even found one from where we left — Huntsville, Alabama! It also has rusted out vehicles that actually helped build the Alcan, which were a kid fan favorite. The whole site is surprisingly large and really special feeling.
Visitors are encouraged to leave their own sign, and we did! Dan made a sign that said The O’Phalens out of Lego, which is very on brand for our family. People have made signs out of anything they have on hand. We found this stop to be even more interesting than we’d expected.
My advice about Watson Lake itself, though, is to gas up and keep on driving somewhere else to stay. There’s nothing wrong with Watson Lake, but there are so many more scenic options.
Alaska road trip day 4: Watson Lake ➡️ Whitehorse
We broke up the driving on this day with one of my favorite Alcan stops: Teslin! Teslin is a small town, but an excellent place to learn about the indigenous people of the area, the Tlingit (pronounced Klink-it).
The Tlingit are known for many things, including this beautiful style of artwork featured in a giant mural painted on the George Johnston Museum. This was a small but excellent stop for learning about how the building of the Alcan impacted the indigenous people of the area and what traditional lifeways looked like before the road system.
There was also the Teslin Tlingit heritage center, which had gorgeous totem poles out front, cultural artifacts inside, and an absolutely stunning display of graduation dresses as a temporary exhibit. We learned that local indigenous high schoolers often get two graduation celebrations. One is with the high school in Whitehorse where they have to leave to attend and one is at home with their community to celebrate their return.
We took a “break” for a couple of days in Whitehorse, the capitol of the Yukon. Most of our time there was spent replacing the rear truck tires (are you noticing a theme? 😂) which now looked bad after being told they were fine in Fort Nelson. One of the things that’s hard about the Alaska highway portion of the trip is that if you need anything, it’s hard to find! Even in Whitehorse, the biggest city on the road. Our tire saga included having to buy tires at one shop and drive them to another 🙃
Dan did take the kids out to the Miles Canyon hike, which was pretty but not a must-do for us. Although to be fair, our standards for beautiful views have gotten outrageously high! There is also a hot springs we didn’t get the chance to try out because it’s not kid-friendly, but it looked nice.
Alaska road trip day 5: Whitehorse ➡️ Destruction Bay
This leg of the drive was unbelievably scenic, as we drove alongside the dramatic mountains in Kluane National Park. We also spotted a grizzly right alongside the road! Kluane National Park also makes for great stargazing and aurora spotting in spring and fall because it’s a Dark Sky park.
We stayed in Destruction Bay at Congden Creek campground, which is first come first served with no hookups. Lakeside spots fill up fast, but the wooded pull-through are peaceful, too. No cell service though! I planned to do some hiking in the area, but our late start due to tire drama meant we had to skip it. We played by the gorgeous (but chilly) lake before dinner and then rested up for the last couple of hours of driving before Alaska!!
Alaska road trip day 6: Destruction Bay ➡️ Tok, Alaska
This was the toughest part of our entire Alaska road trip by far. We drove for hours not able to go above 40 mph, sometimes averaging 15 mph for miles. This is probably much easier if you’re not towing anything, but was a long, tough stretch in our RV. Consider splitting this up into two days if you’re towing and not in a rush.
Beaver Creek is a tiny town, but the visitor center has adorable free endangered animal coloring books. Our kids have been working on them for weeks! Highly recommend a stop if you have kids who would appreciate that. Otherwise, there’s not much on this stretch to stop for except the Alaska welcome sign!
That feeling you get when you make it to the Alaska part of your Alaska road trip after 8 days on the Alaska Highway!
Alaska road trip: Timing
If you don’t want to drive in snow, you have approximately from late May until mid September to do an Alaska road trip. That’s no guarantee, but it means you’ll likely not encounter any snow. I *highly* recommend driving the Alcan in mid-September for the incredible foliage. I mean, take a look at this forgettable stretch of road in June that was stunning in September:
Alaska road trip: Alaska portion!
Head here for my 7 day Alaska itinerary or buy the e-book with longer itineraries here. I’ve done all the planning for you!
For more posts about our adventures in Alaska, check these out:
We spent four months turning our hideous 2007 toy hauler RV into a gorgeous tiny home on wheels, and I learned SO MUCH! Here are my best RV renovation ideas from everything I researched and learned on the job!
First, I want to share with you a little before picture to give you hope that no matter what your RV currently looks like, you can make it beautiful. Check out what I like to call grandma hunting cabin chic:
Isn’t she a beaut? Don’t panic, this is fixable. I knew this RV could be a beautiful home because the layout was good and the bones were solid.
Cost Breakdown
I always appreciate when folks are transparent with their costs, so I did a renovation cost breakdown for you! This includes absolutely everything, including tools we needed, closet organization from IKEA, and a brand new set of 6 tires.
I also logged hours worked, including the hours others spent helping me. I tracked 820 hours, not counting the hundreds of hours I spent googling things and watching YouTube videos 😂 I definitely think I could cut that by at least a third if I did another RV. It also includes unexpected water damage repair to the bedroom slide floor.
We spent more on this renovation than you might want to, and that’s because we wanted to buy an older RV so we could own it outright and we knew we’d be living in here so it would be worth making it feel like home. The money we spent was WAY worth it to us because even with the renovations, we spent about a third of what a new toy hauler would cost.
If your budget is lower, though, you can still make a MASSIVE difference with just a few DIY modifications. If I were limited to just three RV renovation ideas, I would choose painting the walls, installing vinyl click flooring, and replacing the window treatments with curtains and/or blinds.
List of RV renovation ideas:
Paint the walls
Paint the cabinets
Install vinyl click flooring
Replace the window treatments
Consider a wallpaper accent wall
Swap lighting fixtures for residential ones
Glue lace or fringe to existing LED lighting fixtures
Switch room divider or closet curtains
Change drawer and cabinet hardware
Replace dinette and couch
Recover benches
Paint and epoxy countertops
Add a peel-and-stick backsplash
Add hanging kitchen storage
Create a flip-up counter with a cutting board
Paint or replace shower
Update ceiling fans
Replace slide trim
Replace door trim
Buy new appliances or bathroom fixtures
Add shoe storage under the stairs
Add faux wainscotting to walls
DIY a new fabric headboard
Add custom storage organization
Hang wall decor
Replace stock door locks with keypads
Consider adding a washer and dryer
Update safety features like smoke detectors and tires
Paint the exterior
O’Phalen RV Mood Boards:
One of my best pieces of advice for anyone considering more than minor RV renovations is to create a mood board before purchasing a single thing!
Here are the ones I created for the different spaces in our RV to give some inspiration:
Keep in mind that an RV is a small space and you will likely see your various rooms from anywhere in the RV, so make sure they coordinate well and don’t clash! I pulled every color used in the whole RV from the livingroom wallpaper so they all would match.
If creating your own RV renovation mood board feels overwhelming — good news! You can hire me to create one for you. Click here!
O’Phalen RV Renovation Ideas Results
Here are a few pictures of how our RV turned out! If you want to see more of the RV, click through to my Instagram reel or take a look at my RV Reno highlights that detail the complete process. Links to the products we used below these pics.
O’Phalen RV Room-by-Room RV Renovation Ideas and Links:
For more details on each and everything we did in every room during our RV renovation, click through to the room-by-room details. If you’re interested in the products we used, the links will be in these posts:
Disclaimer: Product links in this blog post may be Affiliate links, and I will earn a small commission for each purchase made through these links at no extra cost to you. Affiliate income helps fund our family travel and allows me to keep creating inspiring family travel content for you. I so appreciate when you use my links to make purchases you would have made anyway.
When you’re brand new to RV life, there is a whole list of must have RV accessories you’ll need to be comfortable and safe! It’s an expensive investment up front, but skipping out on these items can end up costing so much more in damage and repairs. After a year and a half of living in our fifth wheel full-time, I feel much more confident about what gear is a must have and what you can do without. We’ve also product tested all of these items and know which ones are built to last! So today I’m going to share our favorite must have RV accessories for full-time RV life.
Power
You’ll need all these items to get power into your RV and monitor it. If you buy new, it may already come with a power cord! Our used RV needed a new one, so I’ve linked it here. Your RV is likely either 50 or 30 amp, but you will want adapters to be able to plug into the various types of plugs you encounter. Newer RVs may have fancy battery monitors included, but if yours doesn’t like our vintage fifth wheel, I highly recommend adding one.
Getting water into your RV seems simple, but it actually has a bit of complexity. Beyond needing a drinking water safe hose, you’ll likely want an interior and exterior water filter. I also highly recommend using a water pressure regulator to protect your RV from high water pressure and a hose elbow to keep the weight of your hose from damaging your valve.
Draining your black and grey tanks is a bit gross, but relatively straightforward. These sewer hoses aren’t indestructible, but they’re the best we’ve found. Having a sewer hose support helps it drain thoroughly, and treating your black and gray tanks regularly is a must.
You’ll want to be prepared for anything that comes up in a far-flung national park, and that includes sealant and heavy duty repair tape. X chocks and a leveler kit will help you park safely. Inflating your tires adequately is a safety essential, and a king pin wheel plate saves you from lubricating the king pin frequently. A bottle jack and multi-meter will help you make some of your own inevitable repairs.
You may not need these items if you’re planning you always have full hookups, but if you have off-grid plans, you’ll need a way to replenish your water supply and empty your tanks.
This 10-page guide will assist RVers in learning the basics of boondocking, or camping off-grid! We share everything we’ve learned as a family living off-grid and boondocking in our RV.
None of these are absolute must have RV accessories, but they’re at the very top of our nice to haves. When your home is tiny, it’s really nice to have the comfort items that make the outdoors feel like an extension of your living room.
Stay safe and organized with our adorable printable RV checklist for travel days! Checklist is broken down into four categories: day before, morning of, ready to go, and set up.
Disclaimer: Product links in this blog post may be Affiliate links, and I will earn a small commission for each purchase made through these links at no extra cost to you. Affiliate income helps fund our family travel and allows me to keep creating inspiring family travel content for you. I so appreciate when you use my links to make purchases you would have made anyway.
An action-packed 7 day Alaska itinerary filled with bucket list adventures like glacier hikes, dog sledding, and gorgeous Alaska views!
One of my superpowers is travel itinerary planning, and today I’m sharing some of my superpower with a sample 7 day Alaska itinerary! I took my in-laws on a trip to Iceland back in 2017, and my father-in-law recently confessed that when he learns someone else has been to Iceland, he immediately feels bad for them because their trip can’t have been as amazing as the one I planned for us. Hilarious and sweet.
Even I found planning a trip to Alaska to be a challenge, however, and I learned so much spending a whole summer here that I want to share with you! So I’ve put together this 7 day Alaska itinerary for those of you thinking about planning a trip up here. If you want more details on how to plan the best Alaska trip ever, please feel free to check out my e-book about RVing Alaska! It has longer itineraries for those of you with more time, 20+ pages of activity ideas, a thorough packing list, and more! You might also like my blog posts on our favorite camping in Alaska spots and the best hikes in Alaska with kids (or without!). Now, let’s get to the itinerary!
7 Day Alaska Itinerary
Day 1: Fly into Anchorage and head to the Palmer/Wasilla area, where you’ll spend the next two days. Visit the Iditarod Headquarters museum in Wasilla and take a short dog sledding ride for $10 a person (or a longer, pricier one if you can!). Grab a picnic at the grocery store and drive up to Hatcher Pass for a sunset hike and picnic. I recommend the April Bowl trail.
Day 2: Get an early start and rent ATVs from Alaska Toy Rentals for a trip out to the Knik Glacier if you’re comfortable driving off-road. If you’re not, an hour drive out to Matanuska Glacier offers glacier hiking tours or ice climbing.
Day 3: Stop at Alaska Chicks in Wasilla or Palmer for a cute hoodie. Then start the drive south through Anchorage on the scenic Seward highway. Stop at every viewpoint on the Turnagain Arm, including Beluga Point! It’s breathtaking, and you might catch a tidal bore coming in if you time it right. Drive up Portage Road to hike Byron Glacier or take a boat tour to Portage Glacier. Sleep for the night in Alyeska if you don’t have an RV, Moose Pass if you do.
Day 4: Finish the drive to Seward, stopping at Bear Creek Weir on your way if it’s summer and the salmon are running. Have a more relaxed day walking the waterfront park, scoping out the local murals, and taking a walk on Fourth of July Beach. Then get to bed early for the next few days of big adventures because you’re more than halfway through your 7 day Alaska itinerary!
Day 5: Spend the whole day on a kayaking tour to Bear Glacier Lagoon with Liquid Adventures. If you don’t love kayaking, take a wildlife boat tour. Have dinner at one of the cute local restaurants and head to bed for an early start tomorrow.
Note: This 7 day Alaska itinerary assumes you’ll be flying in and out of Anchorage, as most people do. It also assumes you’ll be staying on the road system. If you’re comfortable driving something as large as a U-haul truck, I’d recommend renting an RV for this trip because you’ll be able to camp in gorgeous spots. If not, there are plenty of hotels and airbnbs available. This itinerary also does something somewhat controversial and skips Denali National Park. I know, I told you it was controversial. Denali is gorgeous, and you should go there if Denali is on your bucket list. However, it wasn’t my favorite part of our summer because of the crowds and the plethora of amazing views and wildlife elsewhere. I think heading to Kenai Fjords National Park in Seward is better if you only have a week.
If you’re looking for Alaska vacation ideas, you’ve come to the right place! This guide features 20+ pages of what we learned throughout a summer RVing Alaska with Kids.
After three years of almost weekly hiking with kids, we’ve learned a few things about how to have an enjoyable family hike! After I wrote my last post about the best places to hike in Alaska with kids, I realized that we’ve only been able to enjoy Alaska hiking so much this summer because we’ve practiced and re-practiced how to keep everyone in the family enjoying themselves. So I thought I’d do a little series with our best tips and tricks for hiking with kids.
1. Start Small
We hiked 8+ miles and 3000 feet of elevation at Exit Glacier a few weeks ago, and our kids did So well. But we sure didn’t start that way! Our first year hiking with small kids, we aimed for 2 miles or less for a good hike. Even just last year, I was only aiming for 4 mile hikes! There are so many incredible short hikes, that I would recommend starting very small if you and your kids are new hikers. That way, you can build success and confidence in their stamina and your preparation skills. Plus, their little legs will just get bigger each year!
2. Tailor Hikes to their Interests
My kids are so much more likely to be cheerful and motivated on a hike if they know the payoff includes a feature that they’re excited. This might include a tidepool, a waterfall, an abandoned vehicle, or a likely animal sighting. So one of my best tips for hiking with kids is to choose your hike wisely according to their interests and get them hyped up about what you’ll see!
3. Pre-game the Flora & Fauna
No matter where you are in the world, there are interesting plants and creatures to observe. Hiking with kids is so much fun when you’ve prepared ahead of time and can identify what you find! We’ve started collecting field guides (the Peterson Guides are among our favorites — starting with this birds guide and this reptiles and amphibians one would be fun!), and the kids get a real thrill every time they correctly identify something as small as a moth or type of fungi. If you’re visiting a National or State Park in an unfamiliar area, the visitor’s centers will often have posters displayed or field guides available for purchase in the gift shop.
4. Make It a Game
In this picture, my middle is hiking with a giant stick between his legs because he was pretending to be a quidditch player in Harry Potter (we’ve been reading the books out loud together lately!). This kept him from complaining that his legs were tired on a hard hike for almost a mile. We play silly games while hiking with kids alllll the time. Some ideas: pretend you’re cars that need to take gas breaks or visit the mechanic every few hundred feet, hike like a local animal that you love and make their silly animal noises, or act like that water crossing is actually a lava crossing and you can’t fall into it! This can turn a hike where we’re on the struggle bus into a fun family memory.
5. Bring More Snacks
This is one of my number one pieces of parenting advice no matter the location: bring more snacks than you think you’ll need. This is especially true while hiking with kids and burning extra calories. All the snacks. Alllll the snacks.
6. Invest in Good Shoes
It’s less important if you’re new to hiking with kids and learning to love shorter hikes, but as you hike longer distances as a family, good hiking shoes are a must. Our kids have these Keens hiking boots this year in Alaska, and we’ve been so happy with them. Investing in quality hiking gear can be expensive, but we bought the big kids their hiking boots on sale around Black Friday. Our youngest got hers from a thrift store since her feet grow so fast as a toddler. My boots also are thrift store finds since my feet grew after every pregnancy. I’m hoping to upgrade for Christmas this year, though! Your local Buy Nothing group might be another option for finding hiking boots if budget is a concern.
7. Grab Fun Hiking “Toys”
Our honorary Aunt Clare introduced a bunch of fun hiking toys last winter that have proven to make our kiddos much perkier on hikes. Some of these are dollar store finds and inexpensive, but they are often only available there seasonally, so I’ve linked similar ones here:
Sudden temperature changes, an increase in the wind speed, or an unexpected drizzle are all extremely common on a hike. And nothing ruins a fun trip hiking with kids faster than a kiddo being uncomfortably cold. Unless it’s literally 85 degrees out, we always hike with our favorite Columbia fleece jackets rolled up in the backpack or tied around the kids’ waists. If there’s any chance of rain whatsoever, which has been like all summer in Alaska, we’ll also pack a lightweight rain jacket. Those Columbia fleeces can be spendy multiplied by more than one kid, but they take a beating and absolutely everything we’ve thrown at them across multiple years of hiking with kids has washed right out. Pro tip: get jackets in colors that look nice together in photos like the ones above!
9. Take More Breaks
There are a lot of hikes that feel too daunting when hiking with kids if you power straight through like an athletic grownup would. But we’ve found that a great many challenging hikes can be accomplished with kids if you just slow way down and take as many breaks as you need (sometimes every ten minutes!). Pack a lunch and take one long break whenever it’s needed. Then use snacks and hiking toys and the other (plentiful) breaks you may need, especially on trails with elevation or in very hot weather.
10. Let Them Help Choose
Another general parenting tip of mine that translates well to hiking with kids is to let them help you choose what to do. I’ll often pull up my AllTrails app and Google Maps reviews and let them see a couple of hikes I’m considering and what the most appealing features are and give them a say in what we choose. My kids appreciate a beautiful view now and will often agree to push themselves to get to it or another fun feature (like I mentioned above!). But sometimes they’re honest about their capacity that weekend and we take it easier. Just giving them options helps them feel like active participants in the experience, instead of being grouchy about something they’re being forced to do.
What do you think about hiking with kids — love it or loathe it? What’s been your favorite hike with kids? What are the hiking with kids tips I’m missing? Let me know in the comments!
And if you’re considering a trip to Alaska — absolutely DON’T MISS hiking with kids there! Here’s my list of the best Alaska hikes with kids and a travel guide for your time here.
Disclaimer: Product links in this blog post may be Affiliate links, and I will earn a small commission for each purchase made through these links at no extra cost to you. Affiliate income helps fund our family travel and allows me to keep creating inspiring family travel content for you. I so appreciate when you use my links to make purchases you would have made anyway.
When you google search “best Alaska hikes with kids,” there are literally no search results for that exact phrase. And that’s exactly why I decided to start my travel e-book collection with RV Alaska with Kids! Alaska is an AMAZING travel destination for families, but there isn’t a whole lot of information online about how to take an Alaska trip with small children. So I made one!
And now I’m setting out to be the first google result for “best Alaska hikes with kids!” So after a whole summer of unbelievable hiking, here are the best Alaska hikes with kids (in our opinion!). I’ll link to the AllTrails listings where possible, because it’s especially important to check trail conditions in Alaska! If you’re in need of suggestions for hiking gear, check out my post Alaska Packing List Summer.
1. Savage Alpine Trail
This hike is located within Denali National Park and I would classify it is moderate. If you do the trail as AllTrails suggests, it’s a 4-mile, 1500 feet of elevation gain point-to-point trail, which means you’ll park at the Savage River Trailhead and need to catch the free Denali shuttle bus back to your car at the end. What we did instead was start and end at the Savage River Trailhead and skipped the last 200-300 feet of switchbacks at the top of the trail to make it a bit easier for our kids who were already tired after a long day. The views were absolutely worth it as soon as you get out of the vegetation and onto the alpine slopes. We loved this trail!
2. Byron Glacier Trail
This hike is located in Portage within the Chugach National Forest, and I would classify it as easy. It’s just a bit over a mile (and relatively flat!) to the point at which an avalanche has made the trail impassable unless you’re a serious scrambler. But it’s totally worth the short hike to a fabulous view of Byron Glacier that even small toddlers can hike themselves.
3. Exit Glacier Trails
These trails are located in Seward, and there is the easy version and the very challenging version. The easy version is the Exit Glacier Overlook trail, which is a 2-mile gentle walk. The challenging version is the Harding Icefield trail where the photo above was taken, and it is 8+ miles and 3,000 feet of elevation gain. There are several stopping points along the way on this trail that make it worthwhile if you don’t want to complete the whole trail, one of which is Marmot Meadows and the other is Top of the Cliffs. Our 5 and 7 year olds made it to Top of the Cliffs with this incredible view, while my husband wore our 2 year old. I won’t lie, this trail is only for intrepid families, but it.is.worth.it.
4. Tonsina Creek Trail
This trail is located in Seward, and I would rate it as moderate. It has mild elevation changes, but it’s not a terribly long trail. It starts off in beautiful Alaskan rainforest foliage and passes several stunning beaches that make the perfect spot for rock throwing or a picnic.
5. Beluga Slough Trail to Bishop’s Beach
This trail is located in Homer, and is really more of a gentle 1 mile walk down to Bishop’s Beach. What makes it special is that the beach views are gorgeous, with mountain ranges and glaciers in the distance, and that you can find amazing tide pools there at low tide. Combine this hike with a trip to the Alaska Maritime Wildlife Refuge visitor’s center, where the kids can become Junior Rangers or Junior Biologists (ask the rangers!).
6. April Bowl Trail
This trail is located in Hatcher Pass, which is one of our absolute favorite places in Alaska. It’s only 2+ miles, but straight up switchbacks to gain almost 1,000 feet. You can stop at the lake to make that just half the elevation, and stopping there is still totally worth it. We think this hike is massively underrated and was one of our summer favorites.
7. Gold Cord Lake Trail
This trail is also located in Hatcher Pass, and I would classify it as moderate if the snow is completely melted, hard if not. It’s only 2 miles and 500 feet of elevation, but snow on the trail makes it way more difficult and can linger until July, so check the trail conditions! This alpine lake is absolutely stunning, and the hike can be combined with a visit to Independence Mine State Historical Park.
8. Thompson Pass South Trail
This trail is outside of Valdez in Thompson Pass and can be as easy as you’d like to make it. You can walk 50 feet from your truck or walk for miles into the pass. The views are some of the most breathtaking we’ve seen in Alaska. The photo above totally doesn’t do it justice because we had professional family photos taken there and didn’t bother to get too many iPhone photos because of it.
9. Iditarod Trail to Rapid’s Yurt
This trail is in Eagle River at the Eagle River Nature Center, and I would classify this as easy. It’s 4 gentle miles, but you don’t have to complete the whole trail, and it’s perfect for letting young children walk it out. The mountains are stunning, and your chances of wildlife spotting are high! Plus this trail is super convenient from Palmer/Wasilla or Anchorage.
Honorable Mentions:
These are the trails that we didn’t personally do (so I don’t feel comfortable recommending!), but come highly recommended as amazing hikes in Alaska with kids.
If you’re looking for Alaska vacation ideas, you’ve come to the right place! This guide features 20+ pages of what we learned throughout a summer RVing Alaska with Kids.
We drove just about everywhere you can drive in Alaska and spent all summer RV camping in Alaska, both in paid campgrounds with full hookups and in roadside boondocking spots.
The views everywhere were incredible, but these two spots had some of our favorite views, combined with other benefits like usable cell service (with AT&T) and solid overall camping experience.
I mean…come on…look at this view from our yard:
It was honestly really challenging to pick just two camping in Alaska spots, but here they are:
Favorite campground: Paradise RV Park in Palmer, Alaska
Paradise RV Park in Palmer, Alaska is appropriately named! This park has unbelievable 360-degree mountain views in an idyllic farmland setting. The owners are super friendly, and the park is immaculately maintained. The price is right, too! Campgrounds in Alaska are definitely on the pricier side, but this campground was more affordable than some of the other Palmer, Alaska campgrounds and it was definitely the nicest.
Check out this drone footage that Dan put together of Paradise RV Park on his Instagram.
Favorite boondocking spot: Upper Trail Lake in Moose Pass, Alaska
Upper Trail Lake is Alaska camping at its best (and most authentic!). It’s a big gravel lot with room for dozens of big rigs that’s right off the Seward highway, but not visible from the road (so the road noise is basically non-existent!). Every spot has mountain views and many are lakeside, which makes for AMAZING early morning kayaking. I even just sat in my kayak one morning floating and drinking my coffee. The other cool perk is that you can watch float planes from nearby Moose Pass taking off and landing. Our kids loved that the Alaska Railroad train to Seward was visible, too. Locals love this spot during the summer, which can be a fun way to meet some new Alaskan friends. Be aware that Alaskans like to take full advantage of the summer midnight sun, and this spot may be noisy until later in the evening.
The photo of our RV at the top of this post was taken in this boondocking spot, and so was this picture of me kayaking Upper Trail Lake literally steps from our front door:
Disclaimer: Product links in this blog post may be Affiliate links, and I will earn a small commission for each purchase made through these links at no extra cost to you. Affiliate income helps fund our family travel and allows me to keep creating inspiring family travel content for you. I so appreciate when you use my links to make purchases you would have made anyway.
If you’re looking for Alaska vacation ideas, you’ve come to the right place! This guide features 20+ pages of what we learned throughout a summer RVing Alaska with Kids.
Alaska is the land of epic adventures, but it’s also the land of needing to be epically prepared! With that in mind, I thought I’d share an Alaska packing list summer must-haves for any RV family planning to make the journey! This isn’t an exhaustive packing list, just some of our most important gear for staying warm and keeping our RV functional in Alaska. If you want the complete packing list (along with Alaska RV itineraries and money-saving hacks!), please check out our RV Alaska with Kids e-book. If you want to skip the chatter and get a quick link to my Alaska packing list gear, head to my Amazon affiliate storefront Alaska list. Otherwise, read on!
Kid Clothing
Summer in Alaska is probably colder and wetter than you expect. At least, it was for us! Here are a few Alaska summer packing list kid must-haves:
Quality rain gear (we didn’t have rain pants, but they sure wouldn’t have hurt to have!)
Keens hiking boots (Alaska is one place where it’s worth splurging to make sure everyone, even the kids, has good hiking footwear)
Adventure Gear
Nowhere is it easier to have a bucket-list style outdoors adventure than in Alaska. There is some gear that we either brought with us or bought up here to take advantage of all of the fun.
Inflatable kayak (I’ve been raving about mine because it’s affordable, packs up small, and has allowed me to see so much more in Alaska!)
Drone (if you want amazing footage of giant landscapes, this is the place to nab some drone footage, and this drone is AMAZING)
Alaska field guides (for identifying all of the flora and fauna on your adventures!)
Fishing rod and tackle (when the salmon are running!)
RV Supplies
An Alaska RV trip is worth all the hassle, but your RV will take a beating in Alaska. Be prepared to “rescue” yourselves because you might have RV trouble miles from cell service or a sizeable town. For these reasons, I’ve included some emergency supplies we actually used on this Alaska summer packing list!
Bottle jack (we’ve had to jack up our RV twice on this trip)
I hope this Alaska packing list summer RV trip essentials guide was helpful to you! I know I spent a lot of time researching what we’d need, so I thought I’d pass that knowledge on. Don’t forget to check out our guide to RVing Alaska:
If you’re looking for Alaska vacation ideas, you’ve come to the right place! This guide features 20+ pages of what we learned throughout a summer RVing Alaska with Kids.
Disclaimer: Links in this blog post are Amazon Affiliate links, and I will earn a small commission for each purchase made through these links at no extra cost to you. Affiliate income helps fund our family travel and allows me to keep creating inspiring family travel content for you. I so appreciate when you use my links to make purchases you would have made anyway.
For more of what I’ve written about our adventure in Alaska, head here:
After three years of being on the road, I’m excited to finally have a website to share all of the travel wisdom we’ve learned. I’m looking forward to having a place to write longer form work than Instagram allows and to creating travel guides with the (literally) hundreds of pages of notes that I’ve kept about where we’ve been and what’s been fun! Now instead of copy and pasting from my Notes app whenever someone asks me a question, I’ll be able to send them a link to this blog. Please feel free to ask questions and leave comments about what you’d like me to share more of here. Thanks for following along!
