Mushrooms and Arches

Jump to a day:

1. Day 1: Louisville to Cedar Rapids
2. Day 2: Cedar Rapids to Sioux Falls
3. Day 3: Sioux Falls to Badlands
4. Day 4: Badlands to Bozeman
5. Day 5: Bozeman to Missoula
6. Day 6: Missoula to Coeur d’Alene
7. Day 7: Coeur d’Alene to North Bend!

Day 1: Louisville to Cedar Rapids

The first day of this road trip went by relatively quickly despite being on the road for the longest out of all of the days on my itinerary. I left my parents’ house at 8am and got on the road for real around 10 when I picked up Johnna.

I was really surprised the quality of the first rest stop in Illinois that we got to. They had a lake, a very well maintained outdoor area, geese, and a guest book!

From there we grabbed a map of Illinois and headed on our way to Cedar Rapids! We ended up getting there around 6pm central time.

We camped at Morgan Creek Park and Arboretum just outside of the city. The whole property is absolutely amazing and Johnna and I saw our first prairie hen in the wild – with a killer sunset to eat dinner to.

Day 2: Cedar Rapids to Sioux Falls

The second day was mostly a trek across the great state of Iowa, which somehow felt longer than the 8 hour drive yesterday. We were reminded of the flatness of western Kansas as we drove 300 miles across the Hawkeye State and were relieved by several travel stops and the world’s largest popcorn ball in Sac City, IA!

It was a beautiful sight! And the town of Sac City, IA was super nice. If you’re in the area for whatever reason it’s a neat detour off US-20 and only adds about 20 minutes to your trip.

Our target this day was Sioux Falls, specifically the Butterfly House and Aquarium, which we wanted to get to before it closed at 4. It listed being able to pet stingrays on its website, which Johnna was particularly excited about. After sitting in traffic for a while in Sioux City, IA, we made it out just in time to see the aquarium, but were disappointed to discover that petting the stingrays was either no longer allowed or just not being done when we got there. Johnna was disappointed but was still excited to see the stingrays nonetheless.

The highlight of the visit was getting to see and feed the butterflies in the butterfly house. We had one that basically stole all of our nectar and stayed with us most of the time we were there, but there were hundreds of butterflies from all over and it was a super cool experience to see!

From there we decided to see the downtown of Sioux Falls and it was really pretty! It was great to see biking and pedestrian focused infrastructure throughout the inner city, but most of the urban sprawl was like the rest of the US and we weren’t as impressed.

In the city we went to Falls Park, which is a gorgeous waterfall right in the middle of the city!

They had a walking trail we did to stretch our legs after driving for so long, which was much needed. For dinner we ate at a Vietnamese/Thai restaurant downtown which was very tasty.

Something I thought was interesting is that the roads in western Iowa and South Dakota are pink! I had a hunch it was from the type of rock they used here, but I guessed the rock wrong. I thought it was granite or something similar, but it turns out it is made of quartzite with iron deposits, which give the roads a pinkish hue.

We stayed the night at Palisades State Park and went to bed pretty much right after we got there. Tomorrow we’re off to the Badlands and hopefully without much rain, which the NWS is calling for at the time of writing.

Day 3: Sioux Falls to Badlands

We started the day off by walking a small trail to a bridge in Palisades State Park. Since we were so tired last night, we waited until today to actually explore! Other than our campsite being on a hill I had a good experience with the park. It’s absolutely gorgeous and I wish we had more time to check it out, but we needed all the time we could get to drive to the Badlands today.

About an hour into our drive we started seeing signs for The World’s Only Corn Palace, which of course we had to stop and see. Johnna thought it was interesting that the town used it as a public place and tourist trap, and I thought it was a pretty neat thing to see out in the middle of nowhere South Dakota. Apparently there have been other corn palaces in the past, but this one is the last that has remained.

It was a long drive to the Badlands as we crossed almost the entire state of South Dakota. The roads were still pink which I am happy to report! There were a few rest stops along the way which were nice, but we mostly spent the time listening to Car Talk and the Science of Birds podcast.

When we got to Badlands I was amazed to see how they just appeared out of nowhere from the highway. Then all of a sudden we were surrounded by mud mountains and it seemed like we were simultaneously on the beach and the moon. We did a few of the trails near the entry and they were absolutely gorgeous! The entire time it threatened to rain so we didn’t stray too far from the car.

We stopped at the visitor center to ask for advice on what to do and to get lunch. Johnna was feeling pretty sick today and didn’t want to exert herself too much, so we tried to take it easy the second half of the day.

I did the Cedar Pass trail on my own while she rested in the car and holy moly was it windy up there. The rain had evaded us most of the day, but the wind was super strong. I climbed up a large mud mountain to overlook the valley below and to get a good view of the plains above. It was a very scenic and short trail.

From there we made the call to change our plans from camping on the plains to instead renting a cabin for the night. Johnna was too sick, our gear was too wet, and the wind was too strong for us to be able to camp and have a good time. The cabins were very nice though! And I’m really happy we decided to get one. I needed a break from sleeping outside for the past few days.

Fires in Canada have been causing a lot of air quality issues for us during this trip. We first noticed it yesterday in Palisades when the smoke was so strong it blocked out the sun. Today it was similar and the sun set behind a cloud of smoke. The weather is supposed to be clear for tomorrow, but there is an air quality alert for the entire state of Montana because of the strength of the smoke.

Day 4: Badlands to Bozeman

Wow what a day for driving. Today we did about double what we did yesterday and almost as much as the first day. Johnna is leaving to go back to Kentucky tomorrow so we’re planning to stay in Bozeman a little longer until her flight leaves.

The views this morning in Badlands National Park were obscured by much of the smoke from the Alberta fires, which was disappointing but also offered a unique view of the park – especially with many of the formations disappearing into the haze of the sky.

It was sad to say goodbye to Badlands, but we had a lot of ground to cover today, and we had to visit the Wall Drug tourist trap just off the interstate. Ever since we started driving within 100 miles of the state of South Dakota, this store has had ads on the side of the road begging us to go there. We had some recommendations from family and friends to check it out at least once, so off we went to Wall Drug.

My take on it is that if you’re passing through the area and you have time, you should at least see it once in your life. It’s a crazy huge drugstore with multiple departments, a cafe, and an animatronic T-Rex which roars every 12 minutes on the dot. They do so many other wacky and strange things it’s hard to capture it in one post.

Their huckleberry ice cream is really good, so if nothing else I’d recommend trying that!

Our next stop was the Geographic Center of the Nation about an hour and a half away in the town of Belle Fourche. We hadn’t planned on stopping here, but it was literally off of the side of the road and it was pretty cool to see the state flags all together in one place.

It was nothing but road for the next 6 hours as we passed through the rest of South Dakota, some of Wyoming, and much of Montana. We stayed on US route 212 for almost its entirety and saw relatively little on the two lane road. Things started getting interesting when we made it to the interstate in Montana, though! The mountains were absolutely gorgeous along side the rivers that flowed next to the highway.

We stayed at a campground I found online close to the interstate. It was a little loud, but it was good to be able to stop driving finally. It has some nice views of the mountains and a few horses even live nearby!

While writing this post, one of the horses got close to our tent and scared us! We thought there was a person approaching us because of the shadow it cast on our tent! 😨

Day 5: Bozeman to Missoula

The campsite I picked was not the greatest for tent camping. It was too close to the interstate and the train tracks, so we had a lot of noise pollution and had a hard time sleeping. Well, I did – Johnna was out because she’s still recovering from being sick.

After packing up, we decided to do the Kirk Hill Trail and it was really beautiful for a preserve in Bozeman. One thing I’m coming to understand about Montana is that everything is just naturally gorgeous no matter where you go.

We saw plenty of wildflowers on this hike up a big mountain, so enjoy the fruits of our labor! My favorite was the white pacific trillium. I didn’t know that they had their own variety of trillium here and that it was a different color from the ones we have in Kentucky. There were also a lot of black pine and aspen around.

One thing I take for granted in Kentucky is the amount of biodiversity we have in our forests, which just isn’t present in the west – or doesn’t seem to be. In one small patch of forest in KY you can have hundreds of different species of trees, shrubs, flowers, and grasses. In the west that number seems to be in the low tens. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still beautiful! But it’s just something I noticed being out here.

For lunch Johnna and I got poke bowl in the city at a place called Yo Poke, which let you make any poke bowl into a burrito. Neither of us were wanting to eat with our hands so we just got the regular bowls. It was really good though and I got one with a sauce that was very acidic and lemony.

Next to the parking lot there was a prairie dog town which was cool to see. I had never seen an actual prairie dog in person and there were just tons of them running around behind the shops we went to.

Johnna and I went on one final walk before I had to drop her off at the airport. She is going to her sister’s bridal shower this weekend and couldn’t make it all the way to North Bend with me 😦

The walk was beautiful, and also goes to show how much people in the west take nature and hiking so seriously.

Dropping Johnna off at the airport was emotional, but we said our goodbyes and I went to get some mid-road trip maintenance on my car in Bozeman.

Then I was on my way and I got to see some fantastic areas of Montana, which were visible, but still partially obscured by the smoke.

At one point there was a major roadblock on I-90 and police were rerouting traffic off the interstate. I ended up taking a very scenic route on Montana Highway 1 around Georgetown Lake. It was absolutely worth it and I got to see some phenomenal views!

When I finally got back to the interstate I only had a few more miles to go until my stop for the night about 30 minutes outside of Missoula at Beavertail Hill State Park.

I saw that the spot reserved had this note written on the post explaining that someone had accidentally forgotten to book that spot and was staying there the whole weekend. They instead reserved me a new spot, which was much nicer than the one I was originally going to stay at. Thanks, Cathy!

It was different setting up without Johnna, but I had a great dinner and even read some to the soothing sounds of the river. It was super warm this evening, and it’s only supposed to dip down into the 50s unlike last night, so it should be a wonderful night to camp.

As the sun set I took the opportunity to do some star photography with my dslr and I got some awesome shots! Here they are:

Day 6: Missoula to Coeur d’Alene

I got to spend some time in Missoula today which was nice since the only thing I had ever really known about the city is that Hank Green Lives there. Now I know a lot more!

As I was coming in I discovered that there was a really cool street fair going on with local artists from the area selling their work! There are also a TON of cyclists in this city which I thought was really interesting.

I stopped for some tea at the Lake Missoula Tea Company and typed up my Day 5 post since I didn’t have good service at my campsite.

Afterwards I made a visit to the Missoula Art Musem to see what exhibits they had. I had found them on the Montana road map I was looking over last night and thought it looked interesting! The admission was free and I had a wonderful time. When I got there I was talking to this guy who had worked for a time at the Speed Art Museum in Louisville and we were chatting about KY. Small world!

They had lots of indigenous art there which was cool, plus there was an exhibition on historical photos of Montana infrastructure and the life work of Willem Volkersz, which you can learn about here. I loved all of the exhibitions and chatting with the staff about things to see and visit!

From there I walked around the town a little more to the riverside park. The thing that stuck out to me the most was that the water in the river was moving so fast people were surfing and paddle boarding! There was also this cool street corner store which had stuff that was all free.

I went for lunch at Catalyst Cafe downtown and got a Thai soup and Georgian sandwich! It was a really interesting combination.

From there I said my goodbyes to the city and headed on my way to Hawley’s Landing, the State of Idaho, and the Pacific Timezone. It was a very scenic drive and I got to my campsite at Heyburn State Park with plenty of daylight to spare.

One thing they don’t tell you about camping next to a lake – which should be obvious to me at this point – is how many mosquitoes there are! I was absolutely devoured by mosquitoes which made it hard to relax.

Luckily there was a nice walking trail around the lake and if I moved fast enough the mosquitoes couldn’t keep up with me. I started practicing my western tree-ID skills since I’ll probably need it for this summer! I have a few basic trees down now, which I’m pretty happy with.

I read for most of the night and got through a decent chunk of Master and Margarita, which I’ve been thoroughly enjoying.

Day 7: Coeur d’Alene to North Bend!

The final day of my road trip started off at Heyburn Lake State Park being absolutely devoured by mosquitoes. It was so bad that I had to eat breakfast in the car 😦

I got up early to go to sight-see in Spokane and was not disappointed though! The service I had at the campground last night was bad again so I had to update this blog from another coffee shop. This one was from Indaba Coffee. I got a white tea and a cream cheese bagel, both of which were very good!

When I finished writing I started walking to the riverside park and stumbled upon a marathon and heard the announcer say that one of the people was finishing from Louisville! Kentucky keeps following me in strange ways.

I appreciated that Spokane had infrastructure in place for cyclists – a dedicated bike lane protected by lanes of parked cars. It’s not ideal, but it is definitely a step in the right direction!

The Riverside park was absolutely gorgeous and focused a lot on the Spokane River, which runs through the city. I have never seen a city with such a powerful water feature running through it. The Spokane river is swift and mighty, and the art surrounding it was really beautiful!

One cool thing about the river park is that they have a cable car you can take across the Spokane river. I’ve seen videos of other people doing this and if you’re in the area it seems cool! I decided not to because of time constraints.

I did go to the gorgeous Manito Park at the recommendation of my friend Dan, and she was right! This place is worth it to come to. It’s a botanical garden in the middle of the city and it reminded me a lot of Eden Park in Cincinnati. There were parts of Manito Park that felt like I was in the gardens of Versailles because they were so well-maintained. Here are some of my highlights:

I said my goodbyes to Spokane and headed to my final destination of North Bend. The state of Washington is a very varied state geographically. On both east and west sides are very wet, diverse ecosystems with mountains and rivers, and in the middle is a desert which is only briefly interrupted by farms in certain areas.

At about the halfway point I stopped at a scenic overlook of the Columbia river which was unlike anything I had seen on this trip. Next to it was Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park, which is something I plan to check out on my way back to Kentucky in August!

The rest of the drive was spent going up and down the Cascades, and it was just as beautiful as the rest of the drive.

I got to North Bend around 4:30 PM and wrapped up my road trip 6 days and nearly 2600 miles later.

This whole trip was one I will remember for a very long time – a perfect start to a summer that is just the same! Keep checking up on this blog for periodic updates from my time in Washington. It’ll be over before you know it 🙂