Wild Western Road Trip

MY TWO- WEEK WESTERN ROAD TRIP DIDN’T START IN A CAR.

My boyfriend (brave man) and I hopped on a plane and flew to Spokane, Washington to meet my family who had already made the journey from Knoxville, Tennessee all the way to the other side of the country. Although our trip took a lot less time than theirs, they already had two weeks of adventures under their belt, along with probably a dozen beautiful national parks visited along the way. As if we weren’t excited enough already, the stories that filled that long ride from the Spokane Airport to our next destination made us even more excited to join their adventure and experience our own. We took two weeks to travel from Spokane to Denver, stopping at as many national parks as we could (which wasn’t hard, they’re everywhere out there), and then we booked it through that last mid-western corn-field-filled leg to get back home. We met some awesome people, saw some absolutely out-of-this-world landscapes, and had some delicious food. If you ever find yourself in the area (or many areas), these are some places you don’t want to miss:

RELIC SMOKEHOUSE & PUB

COEUR D’ALENE, IDAHO We passed through Coeur D’Alene looking for something local and tasty, and Relic Smokehouse & Pub did not disappoint. The BBQ was delicious and the bunker-shaped restaurant had a friendly, local atmosphere.

BAKERY LOFT

DIXON, MONTANA I got the feeling that not many people pass through Dixon, Montana, but if you ever find yourself doing just that, you HAVE to stay at this Airbnb. It is the old Dixon Mercantile, which the owner transformed into a quirky art studio/apartment. As a person who has stayed in her fair share of Airbnb’s, I can honestly say this was the coolest one I’ve ever been to.

COUNTRYSIDE CAFÉ

CHARLO, MONTANA The, and I cannot stress this enough, BEST diner any of us had ever been to. Cleverly disguised as a rinky-dink place to pass by in the middle of nowhere, Montana, all it takes is one step inside this place to know it’s special. We each got something different and every single crumb was unbelievably delicious. The most impressive part was definitely the country ham plate because the ham was bigger than the plate and as tasty as can be.

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK

Although the road was still snowed over while we were there… in June… and we didn’t get to see it all, Glacier had the purest, most beautiful north-western mountain landscape you could imagine.

FARMERS MARKET If you find yourself in West Glacier on a Friday, stop by the farmers market held just outside the park and pick yourself up a huckleberry pie or two.

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

Entering Yellowstone was like entering another planet. I’ve never seen such a variety of terrains in such a condensed space. We all had no choice but to agree that Yellowstone was one of the best parts of the trip because of how unbelievable it is. I highly recommend visiting as much of the park as you can.

TRY A BISON BURGER One of the must-try dishes of this area is the classic Bison Burger. It’s on just about every menu in and around Yellowstone, so don’t miss it (unless you’re a vegetarian of course)!

GRAND TETONS

We drove through the Tetons on our way out of Yellowstone and again had our breath taken away. The beauty of the Tetons is absolutely unparalleled and I finally understood the song lyric about “purple mountain majesty”.

THE ROLLING OMELET

AFTON, WYOMING Yep you read that right. This breakfast restaurant in a huge school bus ended up being one of our favorite places we ate because the food was delicious, the setting was very unique, and the owners were so friendly.

CEDAR BREAKS NATIONAL MONUMENT

A missed exit on our way to Zion brought us by Cedar Breaks National Monument right at sunset. It was a mistake we ended up being really glad that we made (even though we did hit a deer a little further down the road, everyone was unharmed and we were still glad).

ZION NATIONAL PARK

Zion marked the beginning of a completely different landscape than we had gotten used to. Instead of being greeted by lush evergreens, lakes, and mountains, we were greeted with the dry, barren beauty of Utah. Keep your water bottles full and your sunscreen layered, but don’t miss this breath-taking park.

CAMPING IN ZION I am a huge fan of Airbnb and the different experiences each individual stay provides, but this was my first time Airbnb-ing in a home of more mobile means. Our rented home for the weekend was a site with a camper, a place for our own tent, a firepit, a covered picnic table, and a composting outhouse. Sleeping under millions of visible stars in the wilderness on the edge of a National Park is an experience I would never trade and certainly one I encourage.

MOAB

While most of these places have been absolute paradise for outdoorsy people, Moab takes the cake. Hiking, rock climbing, river rafting, you name it, you can find it somewhere around this little town or the two National Parks (Arches and Canyonlands) right down the road. I don’t have more information about those activities because we were all dehydrates within 5 minutes of stepping outside AND we wouldn’t want to leave grandma in the car.

BROKEN OAR RESTAURANT We had a birthday to celebrate while we were in Moab so we picked out the Broken Oar. Even though we were a thousand miles away from home, the atmosphere was homey and comfortable as we sat on the patio with a perfect view of the sunset. The food was delicious and, oddly enough, the three-bean salad I had ended up fairly high on my all-time list of favorite foods.

DENVER

I had always dreamed of visiting Denver, and it certainly did not disappoint. Even though we somehow ended up in a torrential downpour when Denver has 300 days of sunshine, we had a blast in that beautiful city.

LITTLE MAN ICE CREAM Lucky for us, we knew some Denver locals. They sent us to Little Man Ice Cream, a busy little ice cream stand on the corner in a building shaped like a giant milk jug. I left wishing I lived closer so I could eat their blackberry honey goat cheese ice cream more often.

As a person whose favorite place to travel in America was always out of it, it was a life-changing experience to see the beauty and variety my own country has to offer. And it’s always cool to find out you can spend two weeks in a car with your grandma, brother, mom, dad, and boyfriend and everyone can come home alive and still speaking!