Exploring the West with the Best
Elk, Bison, and Bears, oh my!
The past month has been full of National Parks, wild animals, and a lot of driving! If you missed the first installment of our journey, you can take a look here: We’re Off: Moving Out and Driving Up
Week 4 - 600 Miles
We drove from Washington to northern Idaho to stay at our friends Lee and Dave’s ranch and were welcomed with a dinner party with their neighbors that evening! We got to stay in their Airstream which was a fantastic experience and they were so generous sharing their beautiful property with us. We rode horses and motorcycles, swam in Lake Pend Orielle, and sat around the campfire. We truly enjoyed our stay and agree it has been a big highlight of the trip!
From Sandpoint, ID we drove to Glacier National Park in northern Montana. We got to Glacier in the evening and set up camp near Lake McDonald. Brian fished, and we took a dip in the lake before dinner and bed. The next morning we drove up the entire Going-to-the-Sun Road, stopping along the way. We ended up doing a fantastic hike in the Many Glaciers area. We saw gorgeous wildflowers, snow-capped mountains, and a group of big horned sheep! After a full day in Glacier, we drove south to Helena, MT.
Week 5 - 220 Miles
We stayed in Helena during the week to work and really enjoyed our time in the small capital! Lots of cowboy hats and tie-dye which was a fun vibe. Our Airbnb was close to hiking trails, perfect for a post-work outing.
On Friday of this week, our vacation week officially began!! We took the following week off to spend in Yellowstone and Teton..so we were excited!!
Week 6 - 500 Miles
We arrived in the town of West Yellowstone on Saturday, July 29th where we stayed for two nights. We really liked West Yellowstone! It was fun to go out to dinner and breakfast there, and we even went on a morning horseback ride with a guided group. After two nights in West Yellowstone, we camped inside the park at a lovely campsite in the northern part of the park. During our time at Yellowstone, we saw the Yellowstone Grand Canyon, lots of bison in Lamar Valley, beautiful meadow rivers, incredible geothermal activity, elk roaming, and four bears!! Yellowstone blew us away (volcano pun intended).
After four days in Yellowstone, we drove south to Jackson, WY. Jackson was a funny place. We decided it was a mixture of Aspen and Nashville. Lots of fancy outfits and cars, mixed with cowboy boots and saloons! We had a delicious dinner followed by huckleberry ice cream. The next morning it was the 4th of July! Jackson had a 4th of July parade and band performing so it was a cute way to celebrate the holiday. At noon we headed off to our day’s big adventure, white water rafting! We had an amazing time rafting down the Snake River, it was perfect!
We then drove into Grand Teton National Park, where we set up camp at Colter Bay. The drive in was incredible, so we were thrilled for our hike in the morning! We set out early in the morning for Delta Lake & Amphitheater Lake. We hiked 12 miles up towards the base of Grand Teton and Brian took a dip in the beautiful glacial alpine lake. After the long afternoon, we were pooped and had an early evening at camp. The following day was our last day at Teton and Brian woke up at 5 am to photograph sunrise on the mountains. We had a nice morning making breakfast at camp and packing up, and then we headed out to Taggart Lake for another swim! It was a beautiful way to end our time at Teton. We then drove from Grand Teton to Dubois, WY, a small town a couple hours east of the park. Dubois was a lovely town on the Wind River surrounded by amazing rock formations. The motel we stayed at was owned by the sweetest woman. She gave us a great BBQ restaurant recommendation and made a fire for s’mores in the evening.
Week 7 - 870 Miles
We ended our vacation by driving further east to Gillette, WY where we stayed for three days to work. Gillette was not our favorite place, but our Airbnb had a hot tub and a fantastic sauna. We also did a post-work trip out to Devil’s Tower which was beautiful and unique. We drove from Gillette to Custer, SD early Thursday morning before work and settled into a cute Airbnb outside of town. Custer State Park has amazing rock formations and a beautiful lake which we took advantage of. We also visited Wind Cave National Park just south of Custer, but unfortunately, the cave was closed because of an elevator repair!! However, during our drive, we came face to face with a herd of probably 100 bison walking/walking down the road. It was an intimidating but amazing experience. Overall, we really enjoyed our time in Custer! We drove east to Sioux Falls where we saw Grace’s cousin and spent a night before heading on to Minneapolis…but more on that next blog!
Thanks again for tuning in - here’s an updated map our 3,500 mile journey (so far):
