The Coolest Road Trip Anyone Could Ever Go On

 Rocky Mountain National Park is one we had driven past many many times over the years, but never happened to stop by or actually enter the park. So we were very excited to finally cross it off the list!  It was a great relief to see mountains once more, and we began to realize how much elevation is correlated to our enjoyment of a park. So we already knew this park would be a 'high' on our trip!  Our first day in the park we stopped by a ranger station for some hot cocoa and information. It was awfully chilly that morning and we were on the far west side of the park so it was good to hear what hikes to go on. We had to eventually make our way across the park to go to our next camp site, so we did the scenic drive getting out to hike a ways along the Colorado River. It was lovely to be amongst the tall trees and taller peaks.  The next day we hiked to the top of Deer Mountain. It was a short but steep trail that we thoroughly enjoyed. It was great to get one more 'hi...

 Well, we are back in the heartlands! Our drives to and from parks have gotten a lot more Illinois-looking although there are still plenty of hills.  But, the Badlands definitely didn't look like Illinois! We weren't able to spend much time in the park and it was a little hot to do much hiking (97°f 😳) but we really enjoyed the scenic drive. Teddy Roosevelt National Park had some 'badland' areas but it couldn't compare to the real deal!  The beautiful transition between multi-colored rocks and rolling hills was a real treat for the eyes after a long drive. We got out at every pullout to see a new perspective of the unique park.  After we checked out the Visitor Center (ahem, gift shop, ahem) we were back in the road to get to our campsite in Wind Cave.  Surprise surprise, we didn't know much about what to do Wind Cave or why it was even called that. Was there even a cave? Whose to say! Turns out, yes.  Wind Cave is one of the largest cave systems in the U....

 Theodore Roosevelt National Park is a quaint park nestled into the corner of North Dakota, home to rolling hills, badlands, and bison. We did not expect it to also be home to one of our most chaotic campgrounds to date. All of this unexpected hubbub tested our limits as campers in ways we haven't been tested yet.  Our first night in TRNP was taken up by some conflict in the campsite! We knew something was up when we heard from inside our tent a man shouting about being drugged. We were confused and a bit nervous after hearing him shouting at a little boy, so we slowly scampered out of the tent to observe and possibly engage in the situation.  The man was shouting about being drugged (his dog too) with meth, and that he needed an ambulance ASAP!!! Ten minutes later, a ranger, police officer, and a sheriff came instead. And they were asking him to leave.  You may be curious how we learned all of this out, but we have nothing impressive to say. We walked about 75 feet ...

 Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks were two of the very first national parks we had ever been to (and we're old enough to remember). We had some memories of certain areas of the park and some of our favorite things that we did there, mainly eating huckleberry ice cream! As we left Glacier we were excited to hit yet another park that we had been too before.  Since we weren't able to get campsites in the park, we stayed in a National Forest right outside near West Yellowstone. It was a bit of an inhibitor needing to drive through park traffic each morning but no biggie, we had somewhere to sleep at night and that was good enough for us.  We only really had one day scheduled in the park, and so we wanted to hit some new things that we hadn't seen before. We visited the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, viewing both the upper and lower falls, did a couple scenic loops and made a stop in Canyon Village.  The views that stuck out to us the most though, were on the ...

 After we left the North Cascades, we visited with some family for a couple days. We had a great time taking it slow for a bit -- quite literally as our car was up on blocks. It was planned for us to finally fix our car's bearings but it was much harder than expected. What was supposed to be a 4 hour fix turned into a three day job. After stalling out on that project we enjoyed making bread boards as we waited to get some help from our mechanic (Dad). Luckily our mechanic is really good and our bearings were finally fixed, a huge weight off our shoulders! We were sad to say goodbye to our family and missed out on visiting some others, but we eventually got on the road.  This set back meant leaving for Glacier National Park a day late and only having one day to spend in the park. Definitely a bummer, but thankfully we had been there last August and already had a game plan: the high line trail. It was one of our favorite hikes from our previous trip and being 12 miles long we wa...

 Driving into the North Cascades we were as far north as we will get on our trip, and it was our last stop before we left the great Pacific Northwest. We have greatly enjoyed our time up north and our experiences at North Cascades reminded us of some of our favorite things that set this region apart.  First things first, the Pacific Northwest has water. Oceans, lakes, waterfalls, no matter how it flows it's all water. And the North Cascades is marked by several rivers and dams. Our first hike at the park was a short but steep trail up to a beautiful viewpoint over a lake. We loved the view so much it immediately inspired us to go swimming, so we spent the rest of the afternoon by the lake soaking up some rays!  Another feature of the Pacific Northwest is tall peaks and the park isn't called the Cascades for nothing. Although we didn't summit anything, our entire time in the park was spent looking up at the grandiose peaks and foothills. The mountain range dominated surrou...

 Mt. Rainier was one of the parks that we have been looking forward to the most. Although we've never been there, we had high expectations! And we knew it'd meet all of them. Why? Not only was it one of the tallest mountains that we'd be visiting, but the park also has green meadows sprinkled with wildflowers --two of our favorite things. And in this beautiful backdrop we experienced some steep highs and lows.  Our first high is twofold! We camped using some really nice sleeping mats (thank you kind benefactor 🫡) in a really nice campsite (thank you Big Creek Campground). We also got to go hiking again! We hadn't been hiking too much in Annacortis, and it felt difficult but good to hit the trails again!  Unfortunately, we also hit a new low... as in we got our car stuck in a ditch. Oops! It wasn't ideal to bottom out with our back wheel drive completely out of commission. It was even less ideal to have no cell service either! Thankfully, we met some kind folks who ...

 This past week we have taken a bit of a side step from our camping trip to see our family in Washington. A vacation in a vacation - a vaception if you will! We met up with some family members in Anacortes to see the ocean, ride a couple boats and check in with our community!  As part of this trip we visited with some old friends of our relatives which we greatly enjoyed! Although we had never met them before they were every welcoming and it was very interesting to hear about their journeys.  Although we didn't get up to our normal camping shenanigans, it was a fantastic break. Not only were we able to shower and do our laundry regularly, but we were able to talk to some super cool and interesting people! We have written about this before, but things have gotten pretty dry to say the least. So it was great to hear from friends and family and actually get to sit down and have a conversation with them!  But now, we are off our hiatus and back in the road 🫡