Pitshop: Spokane, WA, Living the High Life

I know we said we never wanted to stay in a hotel, but the drive from Denver to Seattle was over 11 hours so we split it into two days and got a hotel for one night. This was a night we were looking forward to SO much, especially during our first night in Yellowstone when it was pouring rain and we could see our breaths. After traveling for nearly two weeks, a hotel to ourselves--beds to ourselves!--sounded so luxurious. We celebrated by hot tubbing, eating all the free breakfast we could get, and using SO MUCH wifi. It's been great, Spokane! 

Yellowstone National Park: Picturesque to the Max

Yellowstone was exactly how we pictured it would be: woody forests, rolling hills, babbling creeks, and beautiful wide-open land! Tons of great animal spottings: moose, buffalo, deer, and thankfully NOT a bear (although we were warmed many times to be Bear Aware). 

Just one of our buffalo spottings! Check that off the bucket list!

 Our first stop was to Old Faithful to see the geyser erupt! It's not the biggest or most frequent geyser in the park, but it is the most reliable. Park rangers can predict nearly to the minute when it will erupt next--so faithful!

Old Faithful doing her thing!

And some other notable natural attractions included natural hot springs and pools:

We also did some hiking in the park: we climbed 1,000 feet to overlook the park and many miles later we found ourselves a scenic lake all to ourselves where we rested on the shore. 

What an amazing view!

And of course, more camping. Fifty percent of the nights were good weather. One hundred percent were an adventure! 

Wyoming: Wide. Open. Land

Our main question after driving through this state for hundreds and hundreds of miles was: 

Where are all the people??

 

It was a bit eerie how empty (most) of Wyoming was--we went 60+ miles without seeing a single house or sign of a person many times. It was a beautiful state, but the vastness was somewhat unsettling. 

On the plus side, we greatly enjoyed this excellently-named diner and a FULL rainbow in the sky:

Denver, CO: Boulder with a Bite

After a long weekend of adventures in Boulder, we were very excited to make it to Denver for some good old fashion relaxing and catching up with old friends. We were surprised (but very happy) with the close proximity of the two cities – only about 40 minutes apart. Our hope for a somewhat relaxed visit was soon diminished once we realized how much the city has to offer. Denver was described to us as ‘Boulder with a bite’ in the sense that it was much more urban, had greater diversity of people and culture, and was all-in-all busier. That type of environment appealed to us as young, nonprofit urbanites.

On our first night, we enjoyed food from a local Denver food truck and a combo jazz and Latin live performance thanks to City Jazz. Despite the constantly changing weather, the band played on and the audience kept their spirits up – very reminiscent of Chicago’s weather.

We spent Monday being full blown tourists, walking around the city with our map and all. The highlights of the day were a microbrewery tour of Great Divide (Denver is known for it's microbreweries) – who knew watching beer brew could be so fascinating?--and dancing in the park with giant sculptures. 

Hope it was OK to play Carol of the Bells in downtown Denver in June!

Dancing Sisters

Enjoying our afternoon of beer sampling and touring

And we loved watching the Blackhawks WIN the Stanley Cup with our longtime (since 1996!) friend and wonderful host, Audrey. Thank you so much Audrey for hosting us, we had a great time exploring the city with you and are so thankful for your hospitality. Here’s to another 15+ years of friendship!

Also, we randomly stumbled upon the Denver IU sports bar. Theresa was thrilled to be among fellow Hoosier fans!

 

Boulder, CO: Detour turned Weekend Adventure

 Listening to advice from friends and family, we decided to make a small detour to Boulder, CO. As luck would have it, the annual Boulder Couch Crash (an event sponsored through CouchSurfing) just happened to be that same weekend. What was supposed to be just a pit stop before Denver, we found ourselves enjoying Boulder so much that our short detour soon turned into an entire weekend adventure. The crew behind Boulder Couch Crash organized an entire weekend of festivities that offered unique looks at the Boulder community. Mountain hikes, bar parties, pancake breakfasts, and a tour of the Celestial Seasonings Tea factory is just a glimpse of our time in Boulder. Thank you so much to the Boulder Couch Crash for arranging such an amazing weekend and welcoming us to your city, we had a weekend to remember!

  

We loved our afternoon hiking outside of the city

We saw REAL LIFE PRAIRIE DOGS one afternoon

New friends and costumes = the best of times

Seessters

Taking a tour and enjoying free tea samples from Celestial Seasonings Tea Factory

(fun fact: all tea is made from the same plant--green tea is from steamed leaves, black tea is from crushed leaves, and white tea is from baby leaves)

What a great place Boulder is!

Way to go Boulder!

Being good old fashion tourists

Burgers and beer at Rubens

Our Couch Crashing Family for the weekend - Thanks Daniel for hosting us!

South Dakota: The Surprisingly Beautiful State

We spent over 11 hours total driving through South Dakota and were consistently amazed by the beautiful (and vastly different) scenery. We encountered everything from grassy prairies to the rocky Badlands to hilly forests. What a beautiful state! Claire and I both agreed it would be worth vacationing here in the future.

We took many a pitstop in South Dakota during our drives. Some highlights include seeing waterfalls in Souix Falls, visiting the Corn Palace, and other random stops along the way!

We HAD to stop in Wall, South Dakota to see Wall Drug. The Wall Drug Store opened in 1931 and survived the Depression by offering free ice water and 5 cent coffee to travelers. It’s most famous for its ridiculous marketing campaign of having billboard signs for hundreds of miles along the road. A bit cheesy (America at its finest), but worth the stop.

We don't really know how this relates to anything about Wall Drug

 We were excited for our first of several bouts of camping. What started off as a pleasant evening, however, turned a bit gusty….

Claire freaked out a bit....

On not quite enough sleep, we trekked over to the Badlands National Park. WOW! Though most people simply drive through, we decided to hike a deserted trail for the afternoon. 

Then popped over to Mount Rushmore before settling into Custer State Park for another night of camping. Some stove-cooked food, a hearty bonfire (yup, we used to be Girl Scouts!), a bit of thunderstorms, and a scenic hike around Lake Sylvan summed up our time in South Dakota.

Until next time, South Dakota!