Road tripping

Grand Teton National Park, United States

Wed, 03 Aug 2016 20:00:00 -0600

Bad news - phone died a catastrophic and unexpected death via highway pavement today, and as such we won't be able to update this blog again until we get back to MA on the 15th - major sadface!!! Not to worry, we are taking lots of splendid pictures in the meantime, and enjoying our trip to the fullest. Thank you for looking, and we'll see you when we get back!!!

Jackson, United States

Wed, 03 Aug 2016 17:00:00 -0600

Last night we stayed in a KOA in central MT - it was EXTREMELY windy here for some reason! Thank goodness for tent stakes

Quick stop in Butte to restock our trunk!!!

Our incessant "road trip" diet may warrant the usage of multivitamins to stay in top physical condition!

The Montana countryside

Idaho for a quick sec!

Windows 98 desktop background ?

Idaho has some pretty nice fields!

Missoula, United States

Tue, 02 Aug 2016 20:00:00 -0600

We're off to Missoula!

One thing Missoula is known for is its river tubing! The rivers were a bit quiet when we arrived, and it was almost time for dins, so we decided to skip out on tubing

Downtown Missoula

Dinner time (we both felt too tired to cook tonight)!

A slightly questionable festival at a roadside bar outside of Missoula

North Fork, United States

Tue, 02 Aug 2016 08:00:00 -0600

Back into Glacier to see its Northern (remote) part!

Dirt roads galore (almost none of Glacier's northern route is paved)

Perfection

The glassy lake surface didn't last very long , but we were still early enough to get some fishing in before any other people showed up!

Hiking to "Hidden Meadow"

The quiet meadow, and a couple of swans

A "bearclaw" - a local favorite pastry made from wild huckleberries

A bit dusty from navigating northern Glacier!

Lunch at Home Ranch Bottoms - a terrific local comfort food cafe/restaurant in a dirt road near Polebridge. Their pinto beans were excellent!!

Polebridge, United States

Mon, 01 Aug 2016 20:00:00 -0600

Polebridge is an interesting town that we found on the way up to North Glacier (a remote part of Glacier National Park)

Found an outdoor tent camping area at this quaint hostel and decided to spend the night!

Polebridge is a tiny community only accessible via dirt roads. It has two buildings - a store and a bar - and was mostly full of backpackers and its young shop employees who lived out back - everyone seemed to know each other and we ended up playing a game of volleyball with everyone on the lawn outside over dins! Also pictured: when you're this far North, you start getting "Alaska syndrome" (the days start getting longer) and the sun doesn't set til 10pm! Pretty cool.

Glacier National Park, United States

Sun, 31 Jul 2016 19:00:00 -0600

Back to the US (and being able to research things on our phones)!!!

Big sky country

A random cow (there were lots of cattle here that didn't seem to pay any attention to fences or roads)

Tons of buffalo!!!! A refreshing sight after the herd we saw in Canada

Set up camp at Two Medicine Lake, a off-the-path part of Southern Glacier, and a favorite from a past trip!

Using our fishing poles!

Bliss

Dins on the lake! (snagged another lucky campsite cancellation - this time with a view!)

Entering Glacier's famous highway!!!

Going up!

Fun fact: At the rate of environmental decline, Glacier National Park will be Glacier-free by the year 2020 (!!!), so be sure to visit the park soon!

Snow!

Trail to Logan Pass

Mountain goats!

A highly photogenic goat!

This little guy made funny noises and had no fear of humans (not a good thing)!

Apparently it's wildflower season in Glacier!

Overlook of the road!

Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, Canada

Sun, 31 Jul 2016 12:00:00 -0600

Early exit from Banff due to bad weather!

Quick picnic of leftovers on a park bench in Kootenay (another park attached to Banff and Jasper on the South side)

No thanks! (though i guess springs with radium in them are supposed to be great for relaxation)

Megan gets some ice cream

Megan pumping some old-fashioned gas! (most confusing part of Canada: converting CAD/Liter to USD/Gallon, and having to decide how much to pump in advance)

Some more bighorn sheep!

This was possibly our worst campsite selection of the trip so far: the bee-infested pavement of the full overflow section of a provincial forest without bathrooms (and then having to pay $30 for it). It did the job though and we left early the next day!

Alberta!

More crazy-looking weather here in mountainous Canada!

Quick stop for some homemade breakfast bagels in Coleman, Canada!

For some reason this cafe also sold lures for fly fishing, so of course we bought two for later

More weather

An old landslide

Alberta can be pretty green, too!

Finally made it to Waterton National Park! (this is the tiny central village)

Waterton

Megan in a meadow!

Found the (far away) bison. Kind of sad because apparently there used to be many thousands of them here before the area was settled, and these are now the protected few that remain in this part of Canada.

Wildflowers

Banff National Park, Canada

Sat, 30 Jul 2016 12:00:00 -0600

Up early to head down to Banff - a beautiful 2 hour drive down the Rockies, through Jasper!

Banff is full of glaciers and lots of picturesque icy-blue meltwater!

This glacier almost came down to the road!

Quick stop to cook a breakfast omelete by the roadside (seemed to get a lot of weird looks whenever we did this!)

More beautiful waters

The weather here apparently changes really fast. Pictured: hailstones on the car as we prep for a hike

The hike was definitely worth it, and we got to see Banff's bluest glacial lake!

So blue

Jasper National Park, Canada

Fri, 29 Jul 2016 16:00:00 -0600

We're off to Jasper!

Turns out there's tons of wilderness between Vancouver and Jasper!

Stopped in this town to find camping for the night, as it was the only one for many miles. Pictured: a huge lumber yard!

Much wood

Last night we camped in a somewhat sketchy "campground" that turned out to be an abandoned lot with what looked to be a bunch of RVs squatting there permanently. No one gave us any trouble, and hey - free campsite!

We're off to Jasper (again)! Pictured: evidence of an exciting road ahead for Derek

Megan with some farmstand produce, and a train!

And then THIS happened...

Quick stop for poutine, Canadian style!

Entering Jasper

Jasper is beautiful!

Glacial meltwater mixing with a normal stream... cool!!!

More of Jasper's crazy mountains!

Out of nowhere... bighorn sheep standing in the roadway!!!

This little guy discovered something delicious on our car!

"Hay can I have some too??"

I think they were probably eating all the little squashed bugs off of the front of the car, but I'm not really sure since they tried to lick literally all four sides of it clean.

Hi there! Nothing to eat here!

By now there was a crowd of tourists gathering to take pictures of us. We're famous!

Om nom nom

Our car had little lick marks all over but hey- free car wash!

Now the real car wash began...

...and resulted in this ridiculous double rainbow!!!

Grabbed a lucky campsite for the night (apparently it was the start of a holiday weekend in Canada, but it turns out you can work miracles by acting desperate and waiting around for cancellations)!

Vancouver, Canada

Thu, 28 Jul 2016 15:00:00 -0700

Quick stop to write some postcards before we leave the US!

We're off to Canada to see Vancouver and Banff! Will update the blog when we come down to Montana in a few days...

...and we're back! Vancouver was mostly apartment buildings and good food

Apparently Boston is known for its pizza in Canada!

All this food for $15 USD!!!

Vacouver is apparently also known for its plentiful asian food selection. We decided to go with some hearty udon ramen!

Looking across the Puget sound

Seattle, United States

Wed, 27 Jul 2016 18:00:00 -0700

Ferry to Seattle!

Mt. Rainier looking ridiculous and dwarfing downtown Seattle!

Seattle!

Biking to see some friends!

Randomly ran into one of Megan's old friends on the street! Crazy

Obligatory Space Needle pic

Seattle is hilly!

Drinks with Jeb and Amanda!

Megan on Christina's couch. Thank you Christina for putting up with us and showing us a good time out on a Wed night!!!

Megan sitting on the Fremont Troll!

Gas Works Park!

Goodbye Seattle!

Olympic National Park, United States

Tue, 26 Jul 2016 17:00:00 -0700

Off to Olympic National Park

A big "Douglas Fir" tree!

Quinault Rain Forest!

More ridiculously big trees

Rain forest walk

Off to find a campsite!

The official campgrounds were all full, a random dirt road led us to this overlook, where we made neighbors with a friendly cyclist who let us share the plot (hi Marshall, if you are reading this)!

Dinner with a view!

Sunset

Good morning!

This friendly neighbor crawled into our tent last night and shared my pillow. Woke up with little snail trails all over our tent!

Derek and Marshall

Rialto Beach was very mystical and had TONS of huge driftwood trees lining the shores.. super cool!

Megan takes a dip (the water was FREEZING here)

Megan takes a nap

Giant tree stump

Ridiculously clear water!!

Most successful spider ever

Portland, United States

Mon, 25 Jul 2016 19:00:00 -0700

Getting foggy!

Mt. Hood

Dinner and drinks in Portland (this place had all sorts of cocktails for $8)!

Last night we stayed at an AirBnB that was basically some dude's backyard where you could set up your tent. To our surprise, there were actually many people here from all walks of life!

As the locals kept reminding us, Portland has two types of weather: cloudy and rainy. Here's the cloud front rolling in already at 7am!

Multnomah Falls, in "The Gorge" outside Portland

Trees galore!

Back in Portland in time for breakfast!

Chinatown

Rose gardens in Washington Park

An old reservoir

More food

Even more food (apparently Portland is known for its dungeness crab)!

Bend, United States

Mon, 25 Jul 2016 14:30:00 -0700

Leaving Crater Lake!

Megan likes cherries!

In Bend, OR, they like to float down the city's central river on tubes. There's even a public shuttle specifically for carrying you and your tube back to the start!

Derek gets a random cheesecake

Crater Lake National Park, United States

Mon, 25 Jul 2016 10:30:00 -0700

We caved and stayed in a KOA last night since we were feeling a bit grungy and wanted showers

Oregon!!!

Wait for it...

O_O

Fun fact: Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States, and the water is almost completely pure, which is why it looks so blue!

The snow at Crater Lake gets THIS high!

Quick picnic lunch! I could get used to this..

Redwood National Park, United States

Sun, 24 Jul 2016 18:30:00 -0700

Megan found some sunflowers!

This winding forest took over 4 hours to get through, but came with our first redwood sightings!

Pacific Ocean, we meet again!

Big Tree (with Megan for scale) - 1,500 years old and growing!

Redwoods galore - very peaceful and silent here

Tree hugging

Made to feel like ants

Ancient giants, old and new (if you look closely, the tree in the center is growing inside the GIGANTIC shell of a dead tree)

6pm on a Sunday is apparently the perfect time to see the redwoods!

We drove through a tree! (NOT part of the state / national parks but decided to give it a try)

There are indeed plenty of elk here!

South Lake Tahoe, United States

Sat, 23 Jul 2016 21:00:00 -0700

Quick stop for food on the way to Lake Tahoe

Hands-down randomly the best corned-beef sandwich we've ever had

#cows

Tesla, make your mark!

Made it to Lake Tahoe too late to cook - Italian dins it is!

Camped in another non-campground spot last night (and got yelled at), but it did the trick and we left bright and early!

Leftover breakfast on Lake Tahoe!

Mammoth, United States

Sat, 23 Jul 2016 14:00:00 -0700

Grabbed a questionable clearing next to a campground in upper Yosemite last night - the host didn't bother us and we managed to donate our site to some other MA locals that came through in the morning!

A quick stop for fishing and a picnic on our way out of Yosemite!

Meadows (if you look closely you can see Megan lying in it)!

Exit road to the Cali/Nevada desert!

Found some natural hot springs in the Mono county desert, courtesy of a good friend!

Megan enjoying the view

Derek enjoying a victory iced wine! Carried all the way from MA to be enjoyed in the hot CA desert

The source (an underground hot water spring)

Bliss

Downtown Mammoth

Yosemite National Park, United States

Thu, 21 Jul 2016 23:00:00 -0700

Off the grid for a while but now back in action -- off to Yosemite!!!

We managed to win the Half Dome hiking permit lottery for tomorrow which meant being at the trailhead by 6am - this is us trying to hightail it over to Yosemite at rush hour and find a bootleg camping spot despite everything being booked solid for months... (finally found one around 11pm)!

4:30am wakeup call and cold pasta

We followed this sign and it was not enough!! (ended up using a LifeStraw in one of Yosemite's many streams - haven't gotten sick yet!)

Vernal Falls

The hike to Half Dome hike includes a 4,800ft elevation gain over 8-9 miles, including lots of cool stairs and switchbacks!

Nevada Falls

The trees here are NOT small!

The "neverending forest"

First glimpse of Half Dome (and also the smaller sub-dome, whose sole purpose is to destroy your knees before the final ascent)

Here we goOo!

Mounting the subdome

Almost there!

First view of the cables

Let's do this

A pile of gloves left by other well-meaning hikers so that you don't destroy your hands on the cables, in case you forgot your own!

We did it!!! (not pictured: climbing the cables, for obvious reasons)

Yosemite Valley

The descent (much easier and more fun than the way up!)

The dome (+cables) in all its beauty

Megan's blisters from the cables (ouch!)

Our 9 mile descent (not quite sure how this happened since the trail is only supposed to be 7 or 8 miles) seemed like forever, and felt even more difficult than the climb if possible. I also ran out of water about halfway through this part. Ugh

Yosemite is gorges!

Finally back on the bottom, blisters and all!

We climbed this

Victory pizza! (now for finding a campsite on a Friday night in Yosemite in July...)

San Francisco, United States

Wed, 20 Jul 2016 19:30:00 -0700

Up with the sun!

Megan makes a quick stop at her favorite pea soup factory!

We're off down the PCH!!!

Big Sur!

Crossing over Bixby Canyon Bridge (for all you Death Cab fans)!

Let it be known that on this day Derek tackled a 4x4 burger (4 patties and 4 cheese slices) from In N Out!!

Megan's mere 2x2 burger

A stop for strawberry shortcake at Megan's favorite berry farm!

San Francisco!!!

Joner getting ready for his big day

Spent the night at Jonah and Sarah's new apartment - thanks Jonah and Sarah!

Off for a quick hike! Courtesy of Hannah and Zak

Overlook of the Bay area!

Meadows

More meadows, and the Pacific ocean!

At the end of this hike was a beach!!

Los Angeles, United States

Tue, 19 Jul 2016 12:30:00 -0700

Packing up!!! Special thanks to Sara for letting us stay at her house the past 3 days!!

Driving down Route 101 - we're off to LA!!!

Entering the PCH!!!

The houses in Orange County are ridiculous, and ridiculously expensive!

Up-close shot

Entering Hollywood!

Hollywood Walk of Fame!

Entering Mulholland Drive!

Hollywood sign!

As we stood there, a random brush fire broke out at legit engulfed an entire hillside!!! Apparently there were no injuries, and it was also cool to side the LA fire helicopters dump water on it

Dumping water!

Venice Beach

Back on the PCH!

Camping on the beach tonight, to the soothing yet also slightly concerning sounds of the Pacific at our doorstep!