We arrived in Arches National Park in early October. I realize this won’t be popular opinion, but Arches didn’t start out being one of my favorite parks. It is beautiful and boasts having the largest concentration of sandstone arches in the world. However, it is a small park with 3 major pull off areas – The Windows, Delicate Arch and Devils Garden – which makes it feel incredibly busy with minimal escape from the crowds.
There is LAVA in IDAHO! And not just a little bit of lava! 750,000 acres of lava! For reference, that’s over twice the size of Grand Teton National Park (GTNP is 310,000 acres)! 🤓 Did you ever have a friend ask you to do something and you are ‘meh’, but then it turns out to be amazing? Well, that is what happened with me and Craters of the Moon! I will back up to bring you up to speed ……
We had an (unexpected) long travel day between Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park. The late-September overnight snow caused a few road closures. The detour provided us with final views of the Lower Yosemite Falls, Yellowstone Lake and the Absaroka Mountains before we arrived in Grand Teton to witness a picture-perfect sunset. Grand Teton National Park is simply beautiful. The mountains are situated on the west side of the park and they glow in the sunrise, are accented…
After our hikes in the Wind River Range, then our adventures continued in Yellowstone National Park. There are an incredible amount of things to explore in Yellowstone. We enjoyed the park for a week and barely scratched the surface in the country’s first national park. From the extraordinary geologic features to the wildlife and the historic lodges … there is so much to see and do. Whenever I thought that I had seen it all, my mouth would be agape…
After our big adventure hike to the Cirque of The Towers, we drove to the Elkhart Park Trailhead for the final destination of our trip: Island Lake and the Titcomb Basin.
The Wind River Range in Wyoming is a true wilderness. The only way to see this beautiful area is to hike or mount a horse, as no roads lead into the mountain range. We donned our backpacks with our dear friend, Anandhi, and spent a few days on the trail. Most of this post will be pictures from our trip, so if you don’t like mountains, glaciers or clear blue lakes, then you can feel free to skip this one! Otherwise, enjoy!
One thing that surprised me during our drive across South Dakota was the sheer number of sunflower fields for as far as the eye could see! I had expected to see ranches, but it was mostly corn, beans and sunflowers. Not a bad view for our drive across the state! You can read about our stops along the way here. After about 5 hours in the van, we were square in the Black Hills of South Dakota. First stop: Mount…
The catchy signs for tourist traps along I-90 began immediately outside of Sioux Falls. We found them so hilarious that I jotted ’em down for your enjoyment!
After a fun day exploring Duluth and camping at a farm outside of town, August 18th had us back on the road heading north to Voyageurs National Park. In short: ‘I love it here’. Voyageurs is one of the least visited National parks and we really started to feel ‘away from it all’.
Tales from the start of our road trip adventure Welcome to those who have recently signed up to receive email notifications to follow our road trip adventure! I hope to generate posts every couple of weeks, but it could be more or less depending on what is going on! When Mark and I envisioned this road trip, one of our main goals is to really BE in a place. Experience it. Relax. Talk to Locals. Explore off the beaten path….