Niagra Falls and Wells College, New York

   

Photo By: Elaina Keegan

Photo By: Elaina Keegan

Creeeeeeeepinnn

    The original plan was to go from Toronto to Montreal until the Red Sox made it to the World Series... Toronto to Boston it is!!!

     The first stop on our new detour was to Niagra Falls on the border of Canada and New York. As we were driving over a beautiful bridge toward the border to enter back to the United States the falls appeared to our right- we actually almost missed it if you can believe that. We were able to stand a few feet away from the edge and see how truly powerful and incredible the waterfall is. 

     Driving through upstate New York we got our first taste of east coast fall foliage. We spent a night with Elaina's cousin, Marshall, who goes to Well's College. Such a beautiful campus! He had an amazing soccer season and it was great to see him all settled in his new home. The next morning we were off to Boston... For game 6!

Toronto, ON, CA

     Back to Canada!!! The border control was a little bit more skeptical about us crossing than they were in Vancouver- I guess they don't see people road tripping from California to Toronto all too often. We had a two hour drive to Toronto without the assistance of cell phones(gasp!!) but had fun doing it the old fashioned way. We drove in and found an awesome hostel located right downtown. We got a good nights sleep and the next day after hanging out in the hostel we got to explore the city a little bit. There was such a variety of accents- it seemed like everyone was from somewhere different. The main street largely resembled time square with all the big TV screens, shops, and people bustling around. We walked around and checked out the University of Toronto campus which was gorgeous. Overall a very cool and beautiful city. 

     Now back to the states most likely for the rest of our trip- we love Canada and hope to be back soon!! 

Chicago, IL

                     

                     

      As we drove in, the sun had already set and the city was lit up in pink lights for breast awareness month. We ended up getting a hotel because all the hostels were completely booked. Probably the first and last, just because of price, but we felt very classy in our own room. Of course we got our authentic Chicago deep dish at what we were told was the best place in the city, Lou Malnatis. The cities architecture and building were so unique and beautiful. We walked through Millennium park, and of course got our multiple selfies in "The Bean" (a very large mirror sculpture shaped in a bean). Later that night we met up with Charlotte, Brooke's friend, and went to navy pier. We rode the Ferris wheel which was an incredible view of the city at night and had a delicious Italian dinner. The next morning we said goodbyes and started our drive to Toronto!!

Madison, WI

Downtown Madison

Nurses struggling to take off all the necklaces

Cheese!

     Over the span of a few days before the Badlands Elaina had been having pain in her abdomen. Our plan was for her to see a doctor in Madison the day after next, but when we woke up after our first night in the Badlands it was apparent we needed to get some medical attention ASAP. That day we drove 11 hours straight to the University of Wisconsin ER. The worst pain occurred when she would laugh which just made everything ten times funnier...which made everything ten times worse. All of the symptoms lined up with gall bladder- she even started fasting because we thought she would be getting surgery when we got there but thank goodness that wasn't the case. It was a quiet Wednesday night at the ER and after an ultrasound and chest x-ray it turned out to be inflammation in the connective tissue between her ribs, which would get better with time and extra strength Advil. Woohoo!! Elaina's cousin met us in the hospital and stayed with us the whole time. We stayed with her for 2 nights and it was so nice to do laundry and snuggle and watch movies. Christina took us out to dinner at a place called old fashioned that had delicious food and we got to try fried cheese curds for the first time! So good!! 
     On our way out the next day we went to a fancy cheese place and mooched on candy that was for trick or treaters. Next stop Chicago!!!! 

Badlands National Park, SD

The drive from Mt. Rushmore to the Badlands was pretty entertaining- South Dakota has a lot of random stops made with road trippers in mind → for example we saw signs for a Flintstones Park, Old MacDonald's Farm, a drive through- wildlife excursion and millions of billboards for this place called Wall Drug. Well, when the signs said "YOU FINALLY MADE IT: WALLDRUG NEXT EXIT" we decided there's no way we could pass up this so called awesome town. When we entered the town, were confused to say the least. It felt like we were driving through a movie set, everything looked fake.. It was the strangest little town filled with everything yet nothing at all.

Immediately when we drove into the park it was an instant dramatic change- went from plains to weird alien like mountain formations for as far as the eye could see. Right away we freaked out, whipped out our cameras and started to explore.

Our campsite for the night was right in the middle of all the beauty. It was only us, and two other separate campers. Our camping neighbors were incredible. A couple in there twenties driving across the country to move in together. They invited us over for dinner and we had an amazing time sharing stories of our adventures, laughing, playing games, and eating some delicious lentils they had made and some good ol' jiffy pop. (Mason and Rebecca-If your reading this good luck with the rest of your trip!) And now the big drive to Madison, Wisconsin!

Mt. Rushmore, SD

Found us some real mean in South Dakota

Mt. Rushmore- a classic road trip stop. The drive to it was filled with anticipation and a little fear that the faces would pop out of no where and take us by surprise. We turned a corner and there it was- so strange yet crazy seeing something in person that you have seen countless pictures of. Always felt like it was a cartoon but to actually see it carved into the side of a mountain in person was spectacular. We walked around, took pictures, and saw mountain goats that were questionably polar bears. We'll miss these guys!

Boulder, CO

From Montana State we had our 15 hour drive to Colorado to visit my sister at University of Colorado, Boulder. Driving through Idaho and Wyoming was hours of absolutely nothing. Then randomly out of no where we drove through a Mountain pass, which we now call, Winter Wonderland, that looked EXACTLY like we were driving through cartoon pop up book! We then meet up with Ari, my sister, for the weekend. We did a lot of eating college food, which neither of us complained. 

Unfortunately, Brooke got the flu, the days Ari's friend, Tucker, was taking us out climbing. Luckily she had a bed to sleep all day to help fight it. On Saturday, Tucker took me to a climbing spot right near Lily Lake, a couple hours from Boulder. We didn't end up climbing, but instead photographing and watching some of Tucker's friends highlining. It was my first time watching highlining in person, and getting to photograph when they were rigging it and walking. The wind would get up to 60mpr, yet they were still able to stand up. It was incredible. On Sunday we went to another spot in Golden, Colorado. The climb was pretty difficult just to get to the spot we were rigging the line. This one I got to try and I really just wanted to get the feel for it, so I sat on it. All I can say.. is that its indescribable and I just want to try it again. Then the rain and snow kicked us off the mountain.

It was so great to be in Colorado, hopefully we will get to visit again on our way back to California!

~Elaina

Bozeman, MT

 

Wild Joe's Coffee with Luke :)

We arrived with absolutely no idea where we were staying so we hung out at a coffee shop and randomly/luckily got hooked up with a place to stay through a mutual friend back home in an all boys dorm on campus.Downtown Bozeman is something special… cute little shops and a 360 view of mountains all around. (It's not called big sky country for nothing!) Got to see Luke from back home who lives in Montana now which was so much fun! Probably one of the hardest states to leave, Montana was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. A secret gem that we will both be back in whether its for college or not. Off to Colorado!

Flathead Lake, Montana

Tent right on the water 

Sunset on the Dock

Sunrise

      After having to say goodbye to the beautiful city of Vancouver, we were off to cross back over into the United States and trek 14 hours to Montana.The drive wasn't too bad until the last couple hours when we both were so exhausted. We knew our next spot would be Flathead Lake, and when we got to the campground around 1 AM.. We decided to wake up early enough to sneak out of the campsite so we didn't have to pay for the night, and went into the local town. (Smallest town both of us have ever been in).
      From there we went to the local little diner for a good ol' hardy lunch and then went off to go back to the campground. Along the way, we decided to take this small dirt road turn out that led us to docs along the lake. We stayed there and watched the sunset. It was remarkably peaceful and we were able to reflect on the incredible adventure we have had so far. It felt like time slowed down and we were so grateful of the exact place we were in that moment.
      After the wonderful sunset we headed to set up camp and make our delicious quinoa and vegetable dinner. We set up our tent right on the lake which made it the most stunning camping spot we've had so far. Waking up to the sunrise across the lake the next morning only added to the beauty of our first stop in Montana.

Lolo Hot Springs, Montana

   

 So much leftover meat- no veggie pizza in Montana :(

photo by: Elaina Keegan :)

     We stumbled upon Lolo Hot Springs when we were looking for places to climb near Missoula. With the help of some locals we found the spot right as the sun was beginning to set- it was a little late in the day to climb but the view was absolutely breathtaking. The trees were just starting to change colors and the whole landscape was speckled with yellow and red- just one more reminder of how incredibly beautiful Montana is. We spent the rest of the night at the local bar devouring pizza... it was fun to experience a small town hangout where everyone was locals but us. The next morning, looking for a warm and cozy spot, we wandered into the nearby resort lobby. They offered us breakfast and we hung out watching movies until they awkwardly realized we weren't guests... oops.
     Lolo was a lovely, low key stop- now off to Bozeman!!!

Vancouver, BC, Canada

Photo by: Elaina Keegan

     Crossing the border was quite exciting and a lot more intense of an experience than we expected!! We got grilled with questions from border control and got our pepper spray confiscated :( but at least they didn't rip our car apart- we were so thankful for that!
     We drove over the bridge into Vancouver as the sun was setting and everything was a shade a pink- the most dramatic view of a city we have ever seen. You can only imagine how excited it got us for the days ahead! We stayed with a friend of my sister's and his family and we could not be more thankful to have people who lived in Vancouver to show us around. We got to go out at night and see the city and the nightlife-we even took the bus in one night!
     Our favorite spot in the city was Stanley Park which gave us a huge sweeping view of the city. Such a stunning view- we had an amazing time playing around with our cameras for a few hours.
     Overall we had an unforgettable time in Vancouver and it was a place that was very hard to say goodbye to...

Seattle, WA

Kurt Cobain's Memorial

Fremont Troll

Pikes Place Market

So we have realized we have been lagging a little bit… As excited we are for all the places we have ahead, it is hard to not get attached to the places we are at in that moment. In the past 3 weeks our 2 night stays have very easily turned into 3 and sometimes even 4 nights. We got to Seattle knowing we had to do it in one night(because of time and hostel cost!) Right when we got into the city we started busting out tourist attractions like nobody’s business. Traditionally we started off at the Space Needle. It actually looks like it could be an alien invasion! From there we paid a little visit to the lovely fremont troll. (what a strange sculpture). Then we headed off to see Kurt Cobains house and memorial. The gate was boarded up but from what we could see the house was beautiful. There was a bench next to the house dedicated to him, that people have written incredible things all over. After that we went to the very famous Pike’s Place Market, where we got our fill of samples. Such a lively market with so many different types of artists and food. We could have stayed for days! We stayed at a hostel on pike street a few blocks up from the water. Both of our first hostel experience and it was so exciting. We stayed in the cheapest room possible which ended up being a nice queen bed in a co-ed room. The next morning we got free breakfast which we did not pass up. We then headed off and checked out the States first indoor climbing gym….It was huge! Wished we had more time to have gotten the chance to climb, but it was time for Canada!

Tacoma, WA

Sunrise as we drive to the coast!

Commencement

      Since the government has shut down national parks, we had to do a little bit of spontaneous changes. Even though we are both so bummed we didn't get to see Olympic and Rainier National Parks, it was a  blessing in disguise because we have been able to spend more time in the latest stops. The day we arrived in Tacoma, Washington the sun came out after being hidden the whole week  before. We had the most beautiful weather the whole weekend. Nick Cochran was so generous with letting us stay with him at his house..got a whole room to ourselves! 

     Nick, his friend Pete, Brooke and I did so many things in the few days we were there. Saturday we drove out to the Washington coast and Nick and Pete took us surfing. Cant even express how incredible it was. We will never forget commencement, the best pathway through campus for skating...did it only about a thousand times. The last night we were there we went to a look out onto the Sound called Point D, and watched a perfect sunset over the water. 

    We feel so incredibly lucky to have been able to have had such an amazing weekend with Nick and Pete, they definitely made a mark on our trip.

Portland, OR

Theater and Pub

As touristy as it gets!

 

A little behind on our blog posts, so were sitting at a dinner in a small town in Montana catching up. Portland was such a funny city. One of the days we went on this free walking tour and learned about all the strange things in Portland...Portland is actually very weird. (In the best way possible.) Portland is the number one city for Pampering your dog. People will actually travel from all over to come to Portland for their dogs birthday. Voodoo donuts was unbelievably delicious. Donuts sent from heaven. But of course for Portland, they weren't normal donuts, they had maple with bacon, fruity pebble, and Voodoo doll donuts with red jelly for blood.

Of course we had to stop at the worlds biggest independent used and new book store. Powells City of Books was a dream. We spent hours in that place. Four floors of different rooms. Went into the rare book room and got to look through books over $14,000… so crazy.

Portland is the beer capital of America, and there was the coolest old Theater and Pubs- we had to experience it and saw The Kings of Summer! Also a special thanks to Hope for letting us stay at her house. It was so lovely :)