More Montana pics.....Northwest corner/Kootenai country

Montana

Montana Pictures!

Montana

Montana and Glacier National Park (takes the cake)

Hi Everyone!

We were ready for a hotel room by the time we got to Bozeman. That first day we just lounged around, watched a movie, showered and ordered a pizza from Mackenzie River Pizza Co. which is a chain in Montana but it was super good. The next day we slept in and then decided that we should probably leave the hotel room and go see the town. We headed towards downtown and took the Mountain Trail that led us to the campus (Montana State). It was really pretty and reminded us a lot of Chico with its grass and big brick buildings, made us miss being on a college campus. As Bozeman is a college town it had a ton of good places to eat :) We ate at a burrito spot and treated ourselves to a mid-day margarita. After that we were pretty tired and full so we headed back to the hotel...til dinner. The Montana Ale House was a don't miss so we just shared buffalo pot stickers and a salad. Yum.

Fishing was on our agenda for the next day. We parked our car on the side of the highway and climbed down some rocks to the Gallatin River. The Gallatin is where The River Runs Through It was filmed, so those who have seen it know how beautiful this river is. We fished for about 5 hours that day and Conner cought one while I didn't even get a bite. I blame it on the 50 rafting boats that went by throughout the day. That night we found a campground on the Gallatin and stayed there for the night until early the next morning we went fishing again. Conner kept telling me he had a good feeling that I would catch something that day and I did! This was the first fish I ever caught fly fishing. It was really exciting but of course once I got it off the hook it slipped out of my hands before I could take a picture. Conner found a great spot and caught three beauties. That morning made up for the day before.

The next day we headed to Great Falls, MT to see Conner's great aunt. We arrived in the afternoon and were instantly welcomed by Barb and Lonnie. We got to visit with them a while which was really fun, not to mention it felt really good to be in an actual house! Barb's granddaughter Nikki, who Conner hadn't seen since he was super little, came for dinner. Barb made an amazing meal and we couldn't have asked for a better night! Barb's son Tim also stopped in at the end of dinner so we got to talk to him for a while as well. The next day we set out for Glacier National Park stocked with leftovers from Barb and Lonnie. Thank you SO much Barb and Lonnie!!

We drove into Glacier and headed straight for our campground at St. Mary. Before I say anything, I didn't think I would be able to pick a favorite national park but Glacier, to us, is the best. Giant mountains, beautiful lakes, forgotten glaciers, wildlife and no crowds. It was perfect! So, we got setup and then headed to the Sun Point/ Baring Falls Trail. We hiked down to the falls, which were beautiful and then noticed a path leading down to the lake. This lake ( later we found out all lakes in Glacier are like this) was BEAUITFUL. The water was see-through and yellow and green around the shore and the perfect blue. We took some pictures and hiked up the lake trail a bit. On our way back, we hiked up to Sun Point. This is one of the most beautiful views in Glacier. We stayed up there just staring at the mountains and the lake and then to Logan Pass. There was a boardwalk trail leading up from Logan Pass so we decided to go up. We kept going, walking through the snow, and ended up at the top, passing tons of mountain goats on the way. Again, we just couldn't believe how beautiful this view of the mountains and Hidden Lake.

The next morning we were excited to go on the Iceberg Lake Hike. We got all ready and strapped our bear mace to our chests and started off on the trail. About a half a mile in a man stopped us. About 50 feet away was a mama grizzly and three cubs. I grabbed my mace and got a rush of adrenaline but realized, at that point, the bears could care less about us. Conner told the man we would stay by him. As we stood there watching more and more people starting coming around the corner. Within 10 minutes there was a line of 30 of us watching and waiting for the bear. It was pretty funny looking at everyone because while we were all very calm, everyone was armed with their mace. All of a sudden, the man who we thought could protect us, set off his bear mace accidentally. Instantly, everyone behind him started coughing and running away from him. That stuff instantly burns your throat and if it is strong enough it can burn your skin. The guy who sprayed it was fine, it went behind him so he didn't get any of the effects. Dummy. Finally the bears went on their way and we continued our hike. It was really beautiful and green with views of the mountains on our left. We didn't really know what to expect from Iceberg Lake we thought it was just a lake below a glacier. When we got there we were taken back. It was a huge lake filled with icebergs surrounded by a HUGE wall and glacier. We were expecting to see polar bears swimming around. It was really beautiful and one of the reasons Glacier quickly became our favorite. That day also marked two years for us being together so that was the perfect way to spend the day. That night we headed to the Many Glacier Lodge (we had moved campgrounds in the morning to Many Glacier Campground) for dinner. This lodge is absolutely gorgeous. As we were driving into the lot we saw a few people on the side walk taking pictures of the lake. Turns out a grizzly decided to go for a swim. It just swam across the lake and got our on the beach at the lodge. I'm not sure where it went after that but he seemed pretty happy! The lodge has the best view any lodge has ever had right on the lake looking out to the mountains. We got a couple drinks and sat out on the deck and then had some dinner. Perfect end to a perfect day!

The next day we planned to hike up the Grinnel Glacier. We were all pumped and ready to go but when we got there it was closed to bear danger. We did a little hike to Josephine Lake but Conner decided he wanted to paint so we took it easy that day. We sat on the beach at the lodge for about 3 hours, Conner painting the view and I worked on some hemp jewelry. After that we went hunting for a grocery store to get some stuff to grill but nowhere had meat. We passed Park Cafe which we were told we had to go, so not planning on eating out, we did. It was a tiny, cheap hikers cafe and it was SO good. We were happy with our choice.

The next morning we packed up our stuff and headed back to Logan Pass to do the Highline Trail. This was one of my favorite hikes. The trail was about 3 or 4 feet wide carved out on the side of a mountain with one side a sheer cliff. The Going To The Sun Road winds up to Logan Pass and it an amazing drive, this trail basically lets you hike above it. The first part of a trail had a hose screwed into the mountain so you could hold on. Our original destination was 7.5 miles to the Granite Park Chalet. When we were about a half mile away we decided to turn right and go up to the top of Grinnel Glacier. We figured we missed the hike that took us to the bottom so this would make up for it. Now, I have talked about going really steep up hill on our previous hikes but nothing compared to this stretch. This was actually straight up hill, if you weren't wearing boots with grip you wouldn't be able to make it up, or down (which was harder). It was only .6 miles, but on average it takes about an hour to get up. It was VERY worth it when we got to the top. Grinnel is a huge glacier with little lakes and ponds at the bottom. We had some lunch up there and then headed down and back onto the Highline to go back to the trailhead. The downhill section we were loving on the way there turned out to be way longer than we thought and way steeper up on the way back. The winds started when we were about 5 minutes from the trailhead. 70 mph winds hit us and stirred up all the sand and dirt. It was crazy! We ran for the trailhead and make it out covered in dust. We felt great after a beautiful 15 mile hike and ended it with a can of chili in the car :) We had originally planned on just finding a campground in the national forest but Missoula was only 3 hours away so we decided to just head there. We spent two nights in Missoula, had a drink at a local park and ate at a few good restaurants!

I'm in love with Glacier National Park and just Montana in general. Glacier is definitely the forgotten park but it is WELL worth the trip up.

Hope you enjoyed reading!! Only three weeks left of this crazy adventure, it's hard to believe it's going to end!

Love,
Katie and Conner

3 albums of pictures!

Here are three albums and the text is in the post below!

The Great Plains

The Grand Tetons

Yellowstone

Mt. Rushmore, The Grand Tetons and Yellowstone!

Hey Everyone,

It's been quite a while since we last wrote. We left you in St. Paul MN and headed to Sioux Falls for a night. After Sioux Falls we started our way to The Badlands and Black Hills. Although we were only in the Badlands for a brief moment, it was pretty amazing. It reminded us a lot of Death Valley, except the grass grew right to the edge of the desert rock formations. It looked like a mixture of Death Valley and Bryce Canyon.

After taking some pictures, we went on driving to the Black Hills National Forest. We had heard that the weekend we would be arriving was also the week of Sturgis, an annual biker convention where 500,000 bikers from all over the country ride to the Black Hills. I have never seen so many bikers on one freeway. We decided that our first priority would be to find a campsite so for the first few hours after we got to the Black Hills we drove around the park and landed on a beautiful campsite right on the Deerfield Lake. By the time we got set up, it was already mid-day and we figured Mt. Rushmore would be too packed to handle. We headed to the Crazy Horse Monument which is supposed to be even bigger than Mt.Rushmore. I had read a while ago that the monument was never actually fully finished but I figured it was still well worth it to see. Unfortunately, our national park pass did not get us into the monument so we had to pay $20. When we got up the hill, we could see the face carved into the mountain in the distance. We put on our boots thinking we were just gonna walk up to it. Sadly, we found out it was another $8 to ride a bus to look at it closer so we decided it wasn't worth it. It was cool to see but we were so tired we just took a few pictures from down the mountain and went to our campsite for dinner. We woke up early the next morning, packed up and headed to Mt. Rushmore. We couldn't have timed it better. There were probably two other families and us. It was really cool to see in person because I had seen pictures of Mt.Rushmore my whole life. The faces are much more detailed than I thought, you could even see the outline of Teddy Roosevelt's eye glass. It was still super early when we got back to the car so we started our long awaited journey to Wyoming.

THE GRAND TETONS

The drive to Riverton, Wy (where we stayed our first night) was beautiful. It made us even more excited to reach the Tetons and Yellowstone. We got up early again the next morning because were hoping to get a campspot at Jenny Lake in the Tetons. As we drove into the park, the mountains were almost overwhelming. Beautiful and scattered with snow, our eagerness to start hiking and exploring exploded. We got to Jenny Lake, and of course were 30 minutes too late as the campground had just filled up. We weren't too disappointed because we knew anywhere we stayed would be great. As we drove to Gros Venture Campground, we were held up because a family of bison decided they needed to cross the rode. I had never seen a bison in real life before and was taken back by their size. They are HUGE. One of my new favorite animals. Throughout the next week, we will have seen close to 100. We set up camp and then headed back to Jenny Lake to hike around the lake, up to Hidden Falls and to Inspiration Point. The hike around the lake was beautiful, as Jenny Lake is supposed to be one of the most beautiful lakes in the country. With it's clear blue water and reflection of the mountains, it's a hard statement to deny. We reached the Hidden Falls and Conner instantly went crazy with the camera. They were awesome and truly hidden in the midst of the trees. We stayed there for a little while and then started up to Inspiration Point. If you are afraid of heights, it's probably not the most reassuring walk, as two way traffic travels around a a small trail on a rock cliff, but it's a pretty amazing view on the top overlooking the lake and the valley. We hiked back down to the lake and took the free boat back to the trailhead.

The next morning we headed out to our first big hike in the Tetons. We found out about this hike in one of our trusted guide books. It told us for a 12 mile, 7.5 hour hike, you can get up to the beautiful Marion Lake, and for a less strenuous, more spectacular hike back (the original hike is to just hike back from Marion Lake the way you came for a 17.5 mile hike) you can latch onto another trail that takes you to a tram you can ride into the Teton Village. This sounded perfect for a day hike. We headed out, our bear mace strapped to our chests, and started up to Marion Lake. The first 4 or so, we hiked along and around a creek, making the scenery beautiful and green. About 3 miles into the hike, we bumped into 3 bull moose! They were huge, and intimidating and beautiful. we stood there for a few minutes and then got the sense that one of them had had enough of the audience so we continued on only to run into a female about a mile later. Eventually, we reached some meadows covered in wild flowers with views so beautiful it felt almost fake. We kept going, still feeling really good, hiked through some snow and then ran into a few people who had come from the tram and were heading to the lake as well. We hiked up a steep meadow and finally made it to the lake. The stretch up to the lake was gorgeous, with green meadows and mountains stopped with snow all in one. We ate some lunch at the lake and rested for a while. This was a perfect, beautiful 9 mile hike so far. We finally headed out and started for the tram. The first stretch was all up hill through snow but we made it to the flat top and figured it would all be down hill from there. We were already a bit confused, as we had just hiked 9 miles and the tram was still 6.5 miles away (that does not add up to 12 miles) but the first 9 had been so great we weren't too worried. As we started to descend into the valley, we ran into a guy who told us that the trek to the tram was only 6 miles away but it might as well be 16. We figured he didn't know what he was talking about, partly because we didn't want to believe him. We kept going through these awesome meadows and finally reached the forest again. The guy had told us about switch backs that seemed never ending, so we figured we had reached them. We started hiking up...and up and up. Two miles later, we stopped, tired from walking straight up for 2 miles and Conner turned around and said, I think we just got to the switchback. Ahh. At that point it was like 3.5 miles to the tram. I kept telling myself that its only 3.5 miles, it can't be that bad. Mind you, this isn't our first big hike, we have been hiking a lot the past couple months, so I want to say we are in pretty good shape. This was the hardest, longest 3.5 miles I have ever experienced. The switchbacks were so incredibly steep I felt like my legs were going to fall off. I few miles back, I had stepped into a snow hole and did something to my knee when I fell in. This started to wear on me and I am ashamed to say it, but a few tears were shed come mile 14. Moment of weakness! After what seemed like 200 miles of switchbacks we finally made it above treeline, where we were told we would see the trail up to the tram. We were a little confused when all we could see was another mountain peak. We followed the trail, still trying to figure out where this tram was because it definitely was not on top of this other mountain. Wrong again. Our home stretch was an entirely new mountain we had to hike up. By this time, we were just joking about food and how tired we were. I told Conner that at least this was beautiful because if it weren't so amazing I would be pretty over it. It really was though, even though we were so tired, it still didn't take away from the fact that the landscape was stunning. FINALLY, we saw the tram. Best feeling in the world. We hiked 5000 feet and felt very accomplished. On our way down the tram, we knew we did have a problem. Because our book told us it was only 12 miles, we decided that leaving our car at the trailhead was fine because we could just was the couple miles back from Teton Village. When we got down to the village this seemed pretty impossible. We asked a gas station if there was any sort of transportation and the guy stuck out his thumb and said hitch-hiking is our best bet. We figured if you are going to hitch hike (something neither of us have even done) doing it in a national park is probably the safest you can get. A half mile down the road a nice older man and his wife picked us up and brought us back to our car. We were so beat and hungry, we headed into Jackson and gorged at the Snake River Brewery.

The next morning we slept in and then headed out to Pacific Creek to do some fly fishing, my first time! We didn't catch anything, but it was really fun and Conner said I was getting better at casting so I figured it was a good day. At the end of a long day of fishing the best thing to do is eat. We put some tri-tip and potatoes over the fire and sauteed some veggies. Best camp meal we have had.

YELLOWSTONE

We arrived in Yellowstone around 8 am and again were too late for the campground we initially wanted, however, the campground we landed on actually turned out to be in a great location. The first thing we did was head to the Geysers. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. Not only only were the bubble, spouting geysers awesome, but what really caught my eye were the neon green, yellow and orange hot streams. They were so beautiful and strange. The pools were a blue I had never seen in natural waters before and so see thought it looked like there was a tropical islands under the water. Later that day we drove out to the Old Faithful Lodge to sit outside and watch Old Faithful erupt. I had no idea how cool it would be. It erupts every 90 minutes, give or take 10 minutes. We got there right after it had erupted to we sat for an hour and a half to watch it. Slowly the area started to get more and more packed with people. When it finally went off it was awesome. It went up about 100 feet and last about 1 minute. It was pretty amazing.

The next day we went to Tower Falls in Roosevelt Country. Unfortunately, the access point to the base of the falls was closed but we still hiked down to the river. At the base of the north end of the Yellowstone Grand Canyon, the river was so beautiful. We stayed down there for about an hour and relaxed on the beach. Then we headed to the Brink of the Lower Falls. I know I have said this before, but this was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. Being so close to this huge water was pretty powerful and looking out to the canyon with the river winding through it, it looks like a painting. We were just watching a documentary on national park and someone said that the Yellowstone Canyon is so deep that if you yell into at night you will be woken up the next morning by the echo. We went to various view points, the most intense being Uncle Tom's trail. This was 400 steep stairs down to the view point close to the falls. If that was the only thing we did all day it would have been a great work out. It was getting to be dinner time so we headed back to the site.

Day 3 we went to see some more geysers that from the road you could see the hot streams flow into the river. We walked around to see the different pools and then came to the most magnificent in the park. This was so unreal and beautiful it was hard to take your eyes off the bright blue, orange, yellow and green colors surrounding the large see through blue pool of water. We headed to Artist Point which is supposed to be the best view of the canyon and falls in the park. They weren't lying. We were told we couldn't miss the mud volcano so we made our way over. When we started up the hill there was a bull bison coming down. Us and a few other people got a little hesitant and headed in the opposite direction. When we went on his way we went up the path only to find the hillside covered with bison. It was so cool and a little bit uneasy. They were really close to all of us but they seemed to just be minding their own business. We watched them for a while and then walked a few feet further only to be greeted by a bull standing a food away from the trail. Conner took a few pictures while I immediately walked the other way to keep my distance. Which is not the story of the other visitors. Some people were absolutely crazy and treated these bison like we were in a zoo taking their little kids up to it and taking pictures with them. When this bison went on his way, again we kept going. When it showed up again getting in a fight with another bull, Conner and I got out of there. We were not about to get trampled by a bull fight. So on our way to the lake, tons of people were pulled over on the side of the rode. We got out and could see across the field about 700 yards there was a mama grizzly and two cubs. It was really cool and I was happy that this was where I encountered a grizz, not on a trail. It almost scary how naive some people are when it comes to wildlife. A family, a mom with her baby on her back walked out on the ridge to get a closer look and came about 100 yards away from this mom and cubs. They just don't realize that that bear could get to them in 30 seconds. A ranger had to run out and get them. After that we had tuna sandwiches at the lake and then headed down the river to do some fishing. Conner caught two fish so that was exciting. After 3 hours in the river, we headed back to camp for dinner. In the morning, it was raining and wasn't supposed to stop so we left the beautiful Yellowstone, knowing we did not have enough time there and headed to Bozeman, MT. That's where we are now and are making our way up to Glacier National Park!

I know this was a super long post but if you got through it, I hope you enjoyed it!!

Love,
Katie and Conner

Pictures from the Great Lakes

The Great Lakes

Niagara Falls and Chicago!

Hello hello!

After Connecticut, we headed to Buffalo, Ny to see Niagara Falls. It took us two days to get there because a concert the night before and a 9 hour drive do not mix well. We made our way into the town of Niagara Falls, which really isn't much to brag about, it was almost hard to believe that something so beautiful could be hidden there. We drove into the park and walked to the edge and were instantly taken by the intense rushing river leading down to the falls. The falls are just as awesome and huge as they seem on tv. If you didn't know, the thick mist from the falls hitting the water below could easily be mistaken for smoke. We snapped some pictures of the falls from above and then bought our tickets, ponchos and sandles for the Cave of Winds walk. An elevator brought us down through a cave and out onto a walk way of stairs that led right under the falls. This was one of my favorite things we have done. I have never seen nor been near such strong, intense, crazy water. We winded around the stairs and path and finally made it to the "Hurricane Zone." Conner stayed back a few feet to take pictures but I got right in the thick of it and got soaked! Pretty amazing! After the tour, we headed to Cleveland where we would stay the night. We were pretty surprised by Cleveland, it was actually really pretty and seemed to have some really cool downtown areas. We got there late and didn't really have time to explore so we just headed for the hotel.

In the morning we hopped back in the car and started the 7 hour drive to Chicago. We stopped in Goshen, Indiana, why? Food, obviously. South Side Soda Shop Diner has won best chili seven years in a row, so of course we had to make the stop. We just ordered one chili because we knew we wanted some famous pie as well. When the waitress brought the chili out, we both looked at each other because we weren't really sure what it was. It came in a classic ice cream sundae glass, with a dollop of sour cream on top and noodles at the bottom. Super weird but very very good. A few hours later we were in Chicago. I loved the city as soon as we got there. Two of my really best friends from high school moved there about a year ago and to be honest, I never really understood why...now I know. The lake, which looks like an ocean, boarders the city with awesome beaches packed with volleyball nets and good food. They live in Lincoln Park, so when we got there we made some drinks on their rooftop and then went to a crab dinner down the street. After dinner, we got some drinks at a local bar and met one of my friends I studied with in Spain. Now, what is Chicago known for?? Deep dish pizza, Chicago style hotdogs and italian beef sandwiches. We had a lot to eat the next few days so we decided to be practical and get the deep dish at midnight. 45 minutes was worth the wait. Conner had our leftovers for breakfasts the next two days.

On Sunday, Alli and Jamie took us to the beach which was perfect because it was so hot. It felt like a resort city, it's hard to believe that it get so cold in the winter. After a few hours, we were pretty worn out by the heat so we headed back to their place and hung out for a while. Next came the hot dog. It was actually Jamie's first time eating a Chicago dog too so we were all rookies. If you don't know, Chicago dogs are a vienna beef hot dog with lettuce, pickles, tomato, spicy sport peppers and mustard (I think it's a crime to put ketchup on it). Satisfied, once again, by food.

On Monday, Jamie and Alli went to work so Conner and I headed off to explore the city. Everyone told us to do the architecture tour so that was our first stop. I'm usually not one for tours, but this was actually really fun. We got on a boat and were taken down the river too see all the different buildings and hear about their history. Might sound boring to some of you but it was really interesting, just extremely hot. After the tour, we got lunch at Billy Goat Tavern. This was an experience. Hard to describe, but just imagine an Italian man yelling at the chefs and forcing all the costumers to get double "cheezborgers" even if they just ordered a single. These crazy places are always the best and I'm glad he made us get us get a double. After lunch we headed to the John Hancock building, one of the tallest buildings in the city. We went to the 96th floor to a bar that's walls were pure glass. This is definitely one of the coolest places to have a cocktail, the 40 story apt buildings looked like anthills from this view. We could see the whole city and lake and it was incredible. We met Jamie down on the beach where she had a vball game. The whole beach was packed with hundreds of people playing volleyball, definitely made me miss it. There are so many runners, volleyball players, kids playing in the water, it's just a really fun city. Alli said that if it weren't for the extreme weather, she thinks everyone would live in Chicago and I totally agree. Alli and Jamie, we love you and thank you so much for letting us stay!

We stayed a night in Madison, Wisconsin and are now in St. Paul, Minnesota. We will let you know what happens next!

Love,
Katie and Conner