the road back to seattle

 it's time for my last post about our trip. we arrived home tuesday after 26 days away. it was bittersweet, but it feels good to be back in our own space. we took 6 days to do the drive back and saw so many amazing places. plane rides are convenient, but if you have the time, nothing beats a road trip. we stayed in hotels again along the way, wore our masks a lot, and did nearly all picnics and takeout for meals.

day 1: minneapolis, mn to bismarck, nd

we had thought about driving back through south dakota this time, but changed our minds after we realized the sturgis rally had just ended and covid was likely everywhere in that state. we hit some road construction in the morning, which delayed us a bit. we stopped for fast food lunch in alexandria, mn. then continued into north dakota. i know people make fun of how boring north dakota is, but i think it's really beautiful.

 

 

since we were staying in bismarck, we went to the same brewery we went to on the way out. the bbq and beer were so good! 

day 2: bismarck, nd to great falls, mt

we started the day with delicious coffee from mighty missouri (researching the best coffee shops in each city was really fun).

we were excited to go through montana again because it's such a beautiful state. we stopped for lunch in a tiny, rural town called circle, great social distancing at the park...not another soul was there :) 

it was a long day of driving (8 hours not including stops). once we got to great falls, we stopped at "roadhouse diner" (which has been featured on diners, drive-ins, and dives) to pick up burgers for dinner. we went to a picnic area along the missouri river to eat. we were pleasantly surprised with great falls. it was a cute town!

day 3: great falls, mt to kalispell, mt

more driving through beautiful middle-of-nowhere montana. 

we stopped at a fun place called "sculpture in the wild' which was a sculpture park in the middle of the helena national forest. it was really unique.

 

next we stopped for lunch at beautiful holland lake (well, that was after driving around for over an hour trying to find somewhere with a picnic table). but we lucked out, because what an amazing view! 

our final stop before our destination was the town of big fork, where we walked a path along the river. once we got to kalispell, we ate take out in our hotel room then headed to lake macdonald, which is right inside the entrance to glacier national park. we got to see the sun setting and the stars come out. 

day 4: glacier national park 

the next morning, we packed our lunches and set out for glacier. we took the day off from driving to enjoy the park. originally we weren't going to do any national parks on the trip because we heard they were so busy this summer. a friend of ours was at glacier the week before and he said it wasn't too bad, so we decided to do it because neither thatcher nor i had been to glacier before. it's possible that it was less busy than it was earlier in the summer...but it was still packed. getting into the park wasn't a big deal, but there was hardly anywhere to park if you wanted to pull over to look at the view or to do a hike. it was nuts. thatcher had picked out a couple hikes for the day, but we just had to take what we could get (not that you can go wrong with any of them). 

that night we stayed at a KOA cabin right outside the west entrance of the park. it was such a nice resort, but we were only there for about 16 hours. we made our dinner over the fire and make smores for dessert. it was a fun night. the little cabins were so cute - just a single room with beds and a desk. bathrooms were a short walk. 

day 5: west glacier, mt to spokane, wa

it was 43 degrees when we woke up in the morning. brrr! we cooked our breakfast and warmed up with a campfire, coffee, and hot chocolate. we stopped in the town of whitefish in the morning and the kids got some pre-lunch ice cream. 

we drove to the town of lakeside on flathead lake, where we picked up some lunch from a brewery and ate by the lake. it was a hazy morning, but still a pretty spot. 

we made our way out of montana, and into idaho (across the skinny part). we stopped in the town of sandpoint and walked along the water.

then it was into washington, where we stayed one final night in spokane. 

day 6: spokane, wa to seattle, wa

the last day! we were sad that our trip that we looked forward to all summer was coming to a close, but it also felt good to get back to seattle. 

we're trying to squeeze in a few more fun summer experiences because school starts one week from today! (distance learning).