Wherever You Go, Go With All Your Heart: Canada/US Roadtrip

What's the best way to celebrate being 25 and unemployed? By Renting a car and driving to Canada of course! My best friend Joanne also in the same boat so here we are!

Seattle for 24 hours

So we started this trip by flying up to Seattle and renting a car here. We found a really great vegan restaurant to eat dinner and dessert at. After dinner we went to check out the view on the rooftop of our air bnb and it was spectacular! So we watched the sun go down (@9:30!) and had a couple of beers up here. We stayed in Capital Hill which seemed very gay friendly and there were lots of bars getting crazy for a Monday night. The next day we picked up our rental and started our journey up North. We stopped at a park in Bellingham that my friend had suggested and walked around on some really green paths with creeks and waterfalls. 3 hours later we were in Canada! Everyone was driving so nicely and slow here. It definitely took some getting used to as everyone seems to have road rage in California (yes I'll admit including me).

Waiting for our plane at John Wayne

Our rooftop at our Air BnB

Our rooftop

Plum Bistro- Our favorite vegan restaurant (the vegan Mac n Cheese was to die for)

Pike Place Market

Gum wall at Pike Place Market

Whatcom Falls- A park in Bellingham that we stopped at on our way to Vancouver

Canada

Vancouver, British Columbia

Basically everything we buy here is 30% off because of the $1 to $1.30 Canadian dollar inflation rate. Everything seems suprisingly clean hear minus the crowded bum population. Something interesting i noticed is that there are buckets around the city for needles (I am guessing for Heroin junkies). We had a car but decided we had to rent bikes to check out the city since there are many many clearly marked bike lanes throughout the city and parks. This was a gorgeous ride and we had no issues with biking through the city. There was a really yummy vegan restaurant that we are at twice called Meet. Oh yeah and all traffic signs are in French and English and of course they are on the metric system.

Such a tasty restaurant

Spring is in full effect

Biked around the boardwalk down here

Downtown Vancouver

At the entrance of Stanley Park

Stanley Park

At the Seawall

Resting near the English Bay

English Bay

Stanley Park

Main Street, Vancouver

Main Street

Wine Tasting at Postmark Brewery

Glacier National Park, British Columbia

We only drove through this Park on our way to our hotel in Golden (just West of Banff). Of course there were glaciers everywhere! It was an incredible site. It rained for about half the drive and there was a really bad accident on the main road and we were told it wouldn't be cleared up for a few hours. So we were stuck in the same spot for a while but it seriously couldn't have been a better location.

Fun fact- this is not the same Glacier National Park that is in Montana as if you look on a map they are in no way attached.

Hanging out in traffic

Our car Jerome the Jeep in GNP

Banff, British Columbia and Alberta

We stayed in Golden for a couple of nights since we weren't really sure where we wanted to go because of the constant change of weather on the forecast. We decided we didn't need to see anymore of Glacier National Park after all of that traffic. So we spent the next 2 days exploring Banff. This is the mother of national parks. It truly felt like a dream driving through it. The roads were recently paved and there were clearly marked signs in French and English everywhere inside the park. We drove through rain, hail and snow with no problems and the weather never lasted long. It usually cleared up later in the afternoon giving us some great views of the park with the blue skies.

Because it was supposed to rain the entire first day we were there we decided to visit the hot springs. This was invigorating and had a great view! We got a sneak peak of the park while driving to and from the hot springs on the first day, but really couldn't see too much with all of the rain. Btw our Jeep Patriot rental is awesome to drive on these curvy roads even when it's pooring! Maybe I'll have to get one for my next car someday.

On our last day at the park we decided to check out all the famous lakes since it was supposed to be partially sunny weather.

Emerald lake

The water here was so turquoise and pristine! It took our breath away.

Lake Morraine

This lake had lots of snow capped mountains behind it along with the famous bright turquoise water. There were a lot more tourists here but we were still able to enjoy it

Lake Louise

This is the mother of all sites here at Banff. It was so amazing to see, but unfortunately there were waaay too many tourists.

We also went to the Icefields which was a 2 hour drive off the main highway. The views along the way we're incredible. It rained, snowed and hailed on the way there. When we arrived we had to hike up a hill for about 30 minutes while the wind chill factor felt like -50. I think my face and hands almost fell off but the view of the glacier being right next to it was pretty awesome. We couldn't go anywhere near he actual snow/ice because they had rope everywhere. The last glacier I visited up close was not strictly restricted so I was able to actually walk on it

( even though I really shouldn't have). I'm not sure if the final destination was worth it but the drive was amazing enough to make up for that.

Banff Upper Hot Springs

We got to watch rams graze up close

Very close

The only vegan restaurant in Golden and it was delicious

The view next to our hotel

In the national park

The view from our hotel room in Golden

Emerald Lake

Lake Louise- The lake that everyone knows Banff for

Lake Louise- The water was so unbelievably cold!!

Lake Louise

Morraine Lake

The Rockies on the drive up to Jasper National Park

Drive to the Icefields in Jasper National Park

The Icefields- just inside Jasper National Park

Fernie, British Columbia (2nd favorite town of entire trip)

We had our own studio through Air BnB called a "Bachelor Pad". It was a really awesome place with a kitchen and fireplace. We made dinner here every night and I somehow managed to get a fire going without any gas or fluid (we ended up burning all of our unused AAA maps for kindling. It was very cold at night with hail both nights and nice and sunny during the day. We kept ourselves plenty entertained with our music and the fire. This is a beautiful town surrounded by a river and the snow capped Rocky Mountains on all sides. There are so many people out running, walking, and mountain biking everywhere. It reminded me of Monterrey in CA, but with way less people and tourists.

I went for a run early in the morning and got to really explore the tiny town. Lots of nature and active people out biking and running. It wasn't very built up which I am always a fan of. Joanne and I went for a hike to Castle Mountain later in the afternoon. It was a toy trip of 4 hours and didn't have too much of and incline until about 2/3 of the way up. There were amazing views the whole way up and from the top it was even better of course.

On my run near the river

The view at the top of the "Castle Mountain" hike

Joanne keeping her balance while hiking

Fernie Brewing Company

My favorite beer from the brewery

Our little fireplace to keep us warm

A view near the river in Fernie

Waterton National Park, Bristish Columbia

We drove through the outskirts of Waterton National Park since it was $20 to enter and we didnt have a clue as to what we actually wanted to see inside the park so we opted out of actually entering.

The entrance to Waterton

Waterton

United States

Glacier National Park, Montana

Here we stayed in a cabin through Air Bnb for a night. This park was immaculate and had so many hikes to offer. We spent our first night watching the sunset and eating our dinner on a lake. The next day we tried to get another night at our cabin since it was in a perfect location for exploring Glacier, but we were too late and they were full. We went on a few shorter hikes since Joanne is not as fond of the longer ones as I am. All in all it was a beautiful day spent in the park.

On the hike up to Avalanche Lake

This deer was following us on the hike

Avalanche Lake

Columbus Falls/Whitefish, Montana

So we booked a night in a nearby town called Columbus Falls. Our Air BnB hosts were a little rednecky so it made for an interesting experience. We were out in country and had a pretty big private room to share, but the house smelled a bit funky. It was only one night so we couldn't complain. I got pulled over while coming back from the town Whitefish where we had eaten dinner. I was driving through a speed trap as the speed limit went from 25 to 35 to 45 miles per hour all within a quarter mile. The copy was coming from the other way and there's no way he actually caught me speeding as the car next to me was going faster than me. He said I was going 41 in the 25 even though I was pulled over next to the speed limit sign that said 45. I wanted to argue with him so bad, but Joanne kept me calm and he ended up giving me a speeding ticket for $20! I couldn't believe what I was hearing, but I took it and stopped complaining. I almost thought he maybe left off a 0, but sure enough it was $20 online too. Thats more than half the price of a parking ticket back home!

Enjoying some ice cream at sunset on a lake in Whitefish

Butte, Montana

Do yourself a favor and skip this town. There is nothing, I repeat nothing here. My only photo from here is our homemade dinner. The wifi worked great at our Air BnB so Joanne got me very addicted to Law and Order on Nextlfix and we binged all night. We were essentially driving through here because it was the only place that had accommodations on the way to Bellevue which was our next stop to see our friend Ashley.

Our typical dinner of meat and potatoes that we cooked when we were feeling frugal

Bellevue/Hailey/Ketchum, Idaho

We are finally in Idaho and our first stop is Bellevue since our friend from Orange County, Ashley, had just moved here. We were within a couple miles of her house according to GoogleMaps and yet didn't see a building or soul in site. We thought we must have made a mistake as we were approaching the town. It was no mistake at all... This town's main street was no more than a mile. She lived way off a beaten road deep into the country. I couldn't believe she actually lived out here. It was soooo different from Orange County, but I guess that was the point. There was not much to the town but it was beautiful. She showed us all around Bellevue which took a few minutes. We then got dinner in Hailey and she showed us some cool paths near a river and lake. We then went to her work in Ketchum and saw the nightlife on their main street. Literally every single person we met that night was from California. This was where Californianians who were looking for a change moved to. It was pretty strange, but I could definitely see how it would be appealing to come live here. It was such a change of pace, but prices weren't as low as I thought they would be for being so far out in the middle of nowhere. Needless to say we had a great time here and it was really awesome to see Ashley.

Near Ashley home in Hailey

Hailey

Getting our selfies in :)

Someone made a fence of skis around their entire yard- this was only 1/4 of the skis they had

Bend/La Pine, Oregon (my favorite place)

We chose to stay in an Air BnB on a ranch in a very small town 30 miles South of Bend called La Pine. It was surrounded by the Willamette National Park and was beautiful. You could see Mount Hood in the distance and snow was covering the mountains. We had our very own cabin on the ranch just outside the home of the sweetest couple ever. They had the cutest dog, a couple of horses and lot of chickens on their ranch. They were so welcoming and offered guides and advice on just about everything on that side of Oregon. We were only supposed to be here a night, but loved it so much we just booked another night and decided to skip our plan of driving out to the Oregon Coast to head back up to Seattle.

Our first night here we went out to the river walk in Bend. There were a ton of restaurants along the river and in the downtown area. It seemed like a very modern and active city. There were people just finishing up some type of race and drinking beer near the river.The sun stayed out very late and there were people floating on the river until sundown. We decided we wanted to do some floating the next day since we had a full day and it was supposed to be very hot and sunny.

Our hosts ended up loaning us some rafts for the day and told us about a few good floating options around their place in La Pine. We ended up driving our car to a campground nearby and our hosts picked us up and drive us further up the river at another campground so we could float down the river for an hour back to our car. They gave us lots of advice and do's and donut's. As soon as they left we started floating and Joanne got stuck in a tree that was sticking out of the forest. She ended up getting stuck for about 10 minutes and I was having a hard time stopping since the current was so strong. I tried stopping on another fallen tree, but ended up getting stuck in that and feeling like I was going to drown. It was such a weird experience since I am very used to swimming in the ocean I thought that the current that was pulling me under would stop so I tried waiting it out and as soon as I realized it wasn't going to stop because I was in a River and not the ocean I started fighting it. Needless to say it was a good learning experience and we were both fine after we got ourselves untangled from those trees. The rest of the ride Joanne would not let go of my raft. It ended up being really funny after a while and now we just tell people we were floating to our death.

We also walked along the river in a few different spots and just relaxed. It was such a beautiful day and so hot!! i went into the river up to my knees and could not believe how cold it was!! I was in there for 20 seconds and felt like my legs were going to fall off... It was super painful and way colder than the Pacific Ocean in California even at its coldest in the winter time.

Joanne feeding a horse for the first time ever!

The horses

We had to :) this place was called Pringle Falls

My favorite brew in Oregon

Portland, Oregon

We came here together back in September and had a lot of favorite restaurants. So we simply stopped here on our last night to eat eat eat! We were not disappointed.