An amazing road trip doesn’t have to cost a fortune. With a little planning and creativity, you can explore some of the most incredible places in the U.S. while limiting how much you spend. After years of fine-tuning and thousands of miles on the road, here’s how we plan, save, and stretch every dollar so we can keep exploring year after year.

Ever feel like your hometown is “nice” but not exciting? This mini guide shows you how to turn wherever you live into a bucket-list travel destination.

If you’re visiting Yellowstone in winter, Gardiner, MT, is one of the best places to base yourself. While the rest of the park’s interior is only accessible by snowcoach or snowmobile, staying in Gardiner gives you daily road access to Mammoth Hot Springs, the Northern Range, and some of the best winter wildlife viewing in the park.

What if travel doesn’t have to stop just because you’re home? In this post, we share the simple mindset that’s helped us bring travel into everyday life, and how asking this one question just might turn you into a tourist in your own city!

Getting to Yellowstone in winter isn’t hard, but it is different, since flights, road conditions, and where you stay determine how easily you can move around once you arrive. Here’s the easiest and most reliable way to get to Yellowstone between December and March.

Winter changes how Yellowstone works, and where you stay matters more than almost any other decision you make. These are the four places that actually make sense in winter, and why!

Yellowstone in winter is not a drive-through park, so planning your trip gets a lot easier once you understand what’s actually open. Here’s what winter driving in Yellowstone looks like, plus how to reach the rest of the park during the winter season.

We spent the weeks before and after Christmas staying near Yellowstone’s North Entrance in Gardiner, Montana, watching the park transform into a winter wonderland. These are the best things to do in Yellowstone at Christmas, based on real winter access, shorter days, and what consistently delivers that once-a-year holiday magic.

Seeing Old Faithful in winter is a Yellowstone bucket list moment for many. But winter in the park comes with one big catch: you can’t just drive there. Here’s how to see Old Faithful in the winter, plus a realistic look at how winter plans can change (and how to pivot).

As our travels head home, we keep coming back to the one question that’s guided us on the road for years. It’s become our simple way to make space for what matters most, and now, we’re hoping it’ll help us stay focused on travel even while exploring our own backyard.