It’s time again for my (seemingly) annual pilgrimage to Washington State to work for the Forest Service.
Somehow I didn’t get swept up in the firings, and I don’t really know what to think about that but I’m glad I have a job!
This year I am doing the road trip with my new (to me) 1998 Jeep Cherokee that I have decked out with all of the bells and whistles. You can read about what I did with the Cherokee here.
I attended to some unfinished business in Wisconsin, and didn’t pay for a single camp site because of my sleeping platform!
I’ll be living in Darrington, WA this year instead of North Bend. It adds about an hour and a half to my total drive from KY, but it’s manageable! It meant that I got to take a new route over the cascades, which I really enjoyed.
The whole drive was about 2700 miles but it went by quickly and I enjoyed a lot of it. So without further ado, here is my road trip post for the summer:
- Day 1: Independence, Kentucky -> Madison, WI
- Day 2: Madison, WI -> Menomonie, WI
- Day 3: Menomonie, WI -> Theodore Roosevelt National Park
- Day 4: Theodore Roosevelt NP -> Bozeman, MT
- Day 5: Bozeman, MT -> Missoula, MT
- Day 6: Missoula, MT -> Grand Coulee Dam, WA
- Day 7: Grand Coulee Dam, WA -> Darrington, WA
Day 1: Independence, Kentucky -> Madison, WI
I started off the trip with a pretty long drive all the way to Madison, WI (or just outside of it). I said goodbye to my parents in Independence and hit the road pretty early in the morning, and kept driving until about 6pm central.
I stopped at the Mars Cheese Castle in Kenosha, WI, somewhere I’ve been wanting to go since I first passed by it on my way to Chicago in 2023. My curiosity has been eating away at me ever since then so I finally took this opportunity to go and try it out!
It was much smaller than I had expected, and honestly they had more merchandise than they did cheese (but they had a lot of cheese!)
I got cheese curds and a pastry called a kringle to try in Missoula with some friends I was staying with.
The cheese curds were really good to snack on and they made your teeth squeak! I had heard for so long about these curds that make your teeth squeak and it was weird to finally experience that. I would definitely recommend trying Wisconsin cheese curds if you’re in the area.
From there I drove to my campsite for the night, which was just outside of Madison. I stayed at a trailhead of the ice age trail, which goes through much of Wisconsin. You can learn more about the trail on their website if you’re interested in hiking it. Because of the length of the trail, I made the judgement call that it would probably be fine if I slept at one of the trailheads overnight – and it was!
I had a lovely evening walking around and hiking in the grassland nearby the trailhead. There were tons of cool flowers and some big trees. It was good to have my first day of driving done too. I was able to relax and fall asleep pretty easily in my setup despite all of the stuff in my car.
Day 2: Madison, WI -> Menomonie, WI
Day 2 was more of a Wisconsin tourism day than an actual driving day.
I went to a few cool places I’ve been saving up for a while:
The House on the Rock is something friends have recommended me to see and a place I’ve read about in a novel. It’s essentially a giant tourist trap with lots of mechanical instruments and interestingly decorated rooms. It is also home to the world’s largest carousel.
I had no idea what to expect other than the carousel. There’s truly a lot to see here that you really need to come in person to see for yourself.
One of the cool parts of the whole experience are these tokens that you get when you first enter. You can spend them to activate automated music machines throughout the house and some of them can get pretty crazy. I made this compilation video of a few for you to check out if you’re interested.
Needless to say, the house was super cool and worth it to go to. I went in the morning during the middle of the week so there was hardly anyone there, but I could see how it would get crowded on holidays and weekends.
I got a few post cards and then headed out to my second location, which was Man Mound. It is less spectacular than the House on the Rock, but I still think it’s interesting. Essentially it’s an effigy mound in the shape of a person that had its legs cut off when Wisconsin was building its county roads.
Finally, I checked out the Aldo Leopold foundation just outside of Baraboo, WI. There, they have some important artifacts from major points in his life.
I won’t get too detailed about the entire biography of Aldo Leopold, but the main points you should know about him are:
- He worked for the US Forest Service as a forester in the southwest for a long time
- He was instrumental in the American conservation movement and helped lay the groundwork of the 1964 Wilderness Act
- He wrote one of the most important works on environmental conservation, A Sand County Almanac (at this location!)
I got to walk around his property in Wisconsin where a lot of conservation work is being done for bird habitat. It was definitely different from the city parks I’ve been in recently and more like national forest land, which I appreciated.
They also had the spot where he passed away fighting a fire on his neighbor’s property.
And here is the famous shack where he spent his summers writing Sand County Almanac. You can do a self guided tour here that gets you a little pamphlet with facts about areas around the shack. On Fridays there is a tour that lets you go inside of the shack, but I wasn’t able to go in since I was there on Tuesday. For another time!
Once I got done with my tour I hit the road to a wildlife management area in northern Wisconsin and had a good night’s sleep after checking out southern Wisconsin.
Day 3: Menomonie, WI -> Theodore Roosevelt National Park
This was by far my longest day of driving, and I only made a few stops so I could get to Theodore Roosevelt NP in time before the sun set.
My first stop was in Minneapolis to see George Floyd Square. I decided to go because of an NPR Article highlighting the area after the 5 year anniversary of his murder.
There wasn’t much to see since it was a small square, but I’m happy that I was able to go and see it. The NPR article does a lot more justice to the place than I ever could!
I hit the road and kept driving until I got to Fargo, ND where I stopped to see the real wood chipper prop that was used in the movie Fargo. Last year, you may remember that I made a stop at the Fargo visitor’s center but it was closed. This year it wasn’t and I was able to go inside! It’s pretty nice in there, so if you ever find yourself in Faro, check out the visitor center.
Jamestown, ND was my second stop. Home to the world’s largest buffalo. My original plan was to camp nearby for the night, but I decided to drive across the state so that I would have more time in the rest of the trip to see more things.
Here’s a description of the buffalo from Wikipedia:
The sculpture is 26 feet (7.9 m) tall and 46 feet (14 m) long and weighs 60 short tons (54 t). It was constructed with stucco and cement around a steel beam frame shaped with wire mesh.
The buffalo itself is located in Frontier Village, which is a wild-west themed tourist attraction complete with a fake dentist and real ice cream shop.
That’s when I hit the road for good and didn’t stop until Medora, ND where Theodore Roosevelt National Park is.
I was able to get a sweet spot in the National Grassland adjacent to the park and stayed the night for free. It was so nice out I decided to sleep in my tent! I didn’t get any photos, but the stars were out really clearly and provided for some great stargazing.
Day 4: Theodore Roosevelt NP -> Bozeman, MT
I decided to spend the morning checking out more of TRNP before heading out to drive for the day.
Veteran readers of my blog will remember my trip there in the summer of 2023 after my first trip back and my brief visit here last year on my way back out west. Well I’m back! And this visit was unique because I had my bike, which meant that I could bike around the park.
I only biked around 12 miles and not for very long but it was cool getting to ride it on the roads in the badlands of North Dakota!
I stopped briefly at the visitor center to get a stamp in my Hobonichi, and as I was walking out I saw something very telling about my Jeep XJ: it’s size. Look at how it compares to modern cars!
Regardless, the next stretch of interstate went by fairly quickly (and not just because the speed limit in Montana is 80). Before I knew it I was at Pompey’s Pillar National Monument (which I presume is named after the Alexandrian Pompey’s Pillar).
This place has the only remaining physical evidence of the Lewis and Clark expedition. It has the carving of William Clark’s name near the top of the pillar, with a precise date: July 25, 1806
It’s kind of hard to see in person, too, but here’s a digital scan of it from Wikipedia:
There are some small trails around the monument, as well as a staircase that takes you to the top. It’s a pretty neat stop if you’re traveling along I-94 and it’s one of the reasons I wanted to take this route this year.
From Pompey’s Pillar NM, I kept on driving until I got to my final stop for the night, which was just outside of Bozeman at a fish and wildlife reservoir.
A bit of rain came in in the evening, but it was pretty short-lived and made for a beautiful sunset. It was a very scenic place to sleep for the night!
Day 5: Bozeman, MT -> Missoula, MT
I spent a lot of time driving through the Lewis and Clark National Forest on this day, with some scenic stops in between.
My first stop was in Helena, the capital of Montana. I wanted to check out the capitol building but as soon as I got close to the visitors entrance, a gaggle of school children approached so I opted to visit another time. The exterior is super cool though! Supposedly, the interior has some interesting paintings.
My next stop was at the recommendation of my friend Tim, whose house I stayed at in Missoula. He had never been to Sculpture in the Wild before, but had heard good things and sent me over that way.
Here is what the organization that puts this on says about what they do:
Blackfoot Pathways: Sculpture in the Wild International Sculpture Park celebrates the rich environmental, industrial and cultural heritage of the Blackfoot Valley. Sculptors have been invited to create significant site-specific works of art using the materials – natural and industrial – that are associated with the community’s economic and cultural traditions.
All of the sculptures were super cool and made from natural materials! Here are some of the highlights:
I spent a good chunk of time there just looking at all of the cool art. My favorite was the trench. You could get up inside of it and understand what fighting was like in WWI (although I don’t think that was the intention of the artist). There were a ton of indigenous artists there and overall it was worth the trip!
From there I headed to see the world’s largest western larch (Gus) also at the recommendation of Tim.
It was really freaking big! Gus is over 1000 years old and nearly 7 feet in diameter. You can read all about Gus here.
Once I said my goodbyes to Gus, I hit the road to go to Missoula and see Tim. We hung out and then saw a cool movie at the Roxy theater: Voyage of the Rock Aliens. It was not a good movie by any means, but it was fun to watch with a group of people in a community theater setting!
On our way out of the house, we saw some paragliders having fun around the mountains.
Day 6: Missoula, MT -> Grand Coulee Dam, WA
On my penultimate day of travel, Tim and I went to the farmer’s market in Missoula. I’ve been to the market before, but it was good to be back! This seems like the main social activity for Missoula on the weekends. My favorite thing that I saw this time was the local Gamelan ensemble performing! Here’s a really short clip I took:
And here’s a longer clip of them from 2020:
After the farmer’s market, I went to the Missoula Art Museum to check out their exhibits this year.
Then I said my goodbyes and hit the road for the Grand Coulee Dam!
I only stopped in Spokane briefly to handle some business at REI. Otherwise, it was a really simple drive through some of the floodzones of glacial lake Missoula (watch that video when you have time because it’s really entertaining and informative about this part of geologic history I didn’t learn about in school in KY!)
I camped at some DNR lands nearby the dam and witnessed an awesome (in the biblical sense) sunset. The smoke from the wildfires in Canada made for a thrilling last sunset of my roadtrip
Day 7: Grand Coulee Dam, WA -> Darrington, WA
The final day of my road trip!
I got to sleep in a bit on this day because my main stop was the visitor center at the Grand Coulee Dam and they opened at 8:30am. I mean this when I say it: if I did not have to go to Darrington, I would have spent the entire day here. They had so many cool videos and activities for everything from how the dam worked to the history of the area to, yes, more information about glacial lake missoula. If you have the time, you should watch their (long) video about the construction of the dam. If you want even more dam content, you can follow this youtube channel, which has historical videos about the dam and how it has affected the native people of the area.
A lot can be said about the Grand Coulee Dam, which is all beyond the scope of this blog post. But my favorite detail about the dam is how the Works Progress Administration paid Woody Guthrie (of This Land is Your Land fame) to write an entire album based on the Columbia River and the Grand Coulee Dam.
Here’s a great video with those song clips made by the Bonneville Power Administration:
My final fun fact is that the dam provides electricity to most of the western US. Here’s an incredible statistic from the Army Corps of Engineers:
Power production facilities at Grand Coulee Dam are among the largest in the world; the total generating capacity is rated at 6,809 megawatts. Average yearly power production is 21 billion kWh with power distributed to Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, California, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Arizona. In addition, Canada receives power under the Columbia River Treaty. Grand Coulee Dam is operated as part of a coordinated federal system of hydroelectric facilities, which provides 35% of the entire power supply of the Pacific Northwest.
The dam itself was definitely not what I expected, and was super large! It’s almost a mile long at the top. It was really impressive to see and I would definitely come back. Maybe for one of their laser shows.
On the other side of the dam, I got to see more evidence of glacial lake Missoula (here’s a final plug for a documentary about the event).
Things got exciting when I hit the cascades along WA-20 and started to go up towards Washington Pass near North Cascades National park (which keen readers will remember my trip there from two years ago!).
At this point I was officially on the west side of the Cascades and in the home stretch! I stopped briefly at the visitor center for North Cascades NP, then hit the road to Darrington. I made it there around 3 with just enough time to unpack all of my things and join one of my co-workers for dinner at his house!
So that’s the story of how I got to Washington in 2025! I hope you enjoyed reading about it. At the time of writing this section, I’ve been here for almost a month and have been utilizing my time very effectively (i.e. doing a lot of things) so expect a post soon about what I’ve been up to.
Thanks for reading!
Mushrooms and Arches 
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