Roadtrippin’ Across America & Canada

This is the year of the wedding.  Between the two of us, we were invited to a total of 11(!!) weddings this year all across the US and in Europe.  While we consider ourselves very lucky to have such a great network of friends, and love celebrating these big moments in their lives, it was impossible to attend them all.  With that being said, we made our best efforts to make it to as many as possible (nine of them). With many of our weekends booked, we had only about a 3-week span in between weddings at the end of August and beginning of September. With that time, we decided to take a road trip across the US and back through Canada.  It gave us a chance to see some friends we hadn’t seen in a while as well as hit up some places that had been on our list.

Midway through the Tea House hike at Lake Louise

Montana is impressive

Our trip started off with one-night stays in Rochester, NY and Cincinnati, OH, visiting college friends of ours and catching up.  We then made our way to Minnesota to take part in the Minnesota State Fair. If you ever want to experience everything great and wrong with America at the same time in one place, look no further than the Minnesota State Fair.  This 12-day extravaganza is the largest state fair in the United States taking place in St. Paul every year and we decided to get in on some of the festivities this year.  We had one full day to sample a fraction of the deep-fried goodness (Mars bar, cheese curds, pickles), ride the rides, and explore the sights and sounds.  It was fantastic and completely over the top. We also reunited with some friends we met while working at the Elephant Nature Park in Thailand who are locals and showed us a great time.

Reuniting with friends at the Minnesota State Fair

Our travels then took us through South Dakota where we toured the Badlands National Park and checked out Mount Rushmore. Both are impressive and worth seeing at least once in a lifetime.  We continued heading out west and stopped in the beautiful state of Montana for four days, staying close to Flathead Lake in the Northeast corner. Montana was simply stunning – a word we’ve probably overused in our blog posts but truly warranted here.  It’s a place filled with crystal clear lakes, massive waterfalls, and magnificent mountains that very much reminded us of our time in New Zealand. We spent our time touring Glacier National Park, hiking and enjoying the lake with perfect weather at the end of August. If anyone wants to experience otherworldly natural beauty, you don’t need to travel across the world, head to Montana!

Some Presidents in South Dakota

Taking in the Badlands

Stunning Hidden Lake in Glacier National Park

Views of Glacier National Park

Mountain goats in Glacier National Park

Hidden Lake Overlook

We spent another week or so visiting our friends and family in the Seattle/Olympia area and in Portland.  In Washington we enjoyed hiking along Lake Washington. In Portland, we had a chance to FINALLY check out this city that we had both been anxious to see over the past few years.  It did not disappoint.  It’s unlike any other city in the US and has one of the most impressive food and beer scenes we’ve come across in our travels. In fact, we spent so much time eating and drinking our way across the city, that we barely took any photos! You’ll just have to take our word for it that we were there.  Despite having so much to offer, it still has a quaint feel to it, although it seems to be growing rapidly.  It’s a very bikeable and walkable place with close access to nature and does not feel overwhelming like New York or Chicago. We spent four days with our friends Sami & Lydia who graciously hosted and showed us around. We left believing that it was a city we could absolutely see ourselves living in at some point.

Exploring Olympia with family

Delicious food in Portland

Our last week on the road took us to Banff National Park in Canada.  We had seen the countless photos of the unreal blue lakes and waterfalls and decided that we had to see it for ourselves.  It was another place that ranks up there with Montana and New Zealand in terms of natural beauty and confirmed to us that there is no shortage of that in this world. It’s also a great time to visit Canada as a budget traveler as the USD continues to be very strong. This trek across Canada, unfortunately, also signified our last trip to a foreign country during our travels.

Shot of Emerald Lake in Banff National Park

Rainbow over Emerald Lake

View of Niagara Falls from the Canadian Side

Surreal Blues

Lake Louise from above

As we wrap up our time on the road, having traveled to 32 countries over these past 14+ months, it has become clear to us that the world is filled with amazing places.  However, you don’t always have to travel very far to find what you’re looking for, especially here in the US.  Onto our final stop – Hawaii!

– The Morts