Seven Weeks Roadtripping the Northern USA

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Overview

My husband and I took an epic 7-week road trip in the summer of 2024, through the North of the United States. Our cross-country trip took us from New York all the way west to Washington State. We saw incredible scenery and hiked 100 miles, all for less than $500 per week.

Prior to deciding on a destination for this trip, we were faced with a dilemma. We knew we had approximately seven weeks- from after Shavuos til the 9 Days- but we did not have an unlimited budget. Europe was out since it’s way too hot and crowded in the summer, Asia was out since one part experiences their rainy season, and the other is way too hot in summer, Africa was out since it was not within our budget, and South America was out since I had visited a large portion of it already, and my husband wanted us to stick to something new. That left us with North America, and more specifically the USA. We were excited about the idea of exploring more of the country we live in but had seen so little of, yet how could we explore the US in peak season, when hotels were expensive, and more importantly often sell out weeks in advance? We didn’t want to have a rigid schedule with each night’s stay planned weeks in advance, which would take away from our flexibility. After spending a few days researching and thinking about all the options, we decided that car camping would make most sense for us, both in terms of flexibility and budget. We weren’t ready to tackle traditional camping, as we had never done that before, and didn’t want our first foray to come with a 7-week commitment.

Our next issue was food- we couldn’t possible schlep that much food and keep everything fresh for 7 weeks. On previous shorter trips we hadn’t schlepped any food either and had managed well, so we were feeling confident about making it work for a longer stretch. We purchased 50+ small Cholov Yisroel shelf milks, froze them solid prior to heading out, and stuffed them into our Polar Bear cooler. This acted as a sort of fridge throughout the week- each weekend when we checked into a hotel/Airbnb/Chabad for Shabbos we would refreeze the remaining milks. We then purchased regularly grocery fare each week- while we had no chicken or meat for most of our trip, we had delicious fish, which stayed frozen or cold in the Polar Bear cooler throughout the week. We also purchased a mini-Betty Crocker, a hot water cooker, an electric pot, a small toaster oven, and a large battery, so that we cook on the go. You can read more about our cooking equipment, the foodstuffs readily available, and our menu on the go here.


CY Milk for the duration of our trip

We finalized our decision to take this trip just a few days prior to heading out. We did not do a huge amount of advance planning, since we wanted to be as flexible as possible. I did some basic research and jotted down points of interest in each state, along with roughly how long we would need in each place. We also made sure to leave one off-day each week in case of inclement weather (we ended up experiencing a total of three short rain showers lasting less than an hour on our trip- the rest of the time we had glorious weather…), and so that we could take a breather and not get burnt out. Since we wanted to spend Shabbos in a Jewish atmosphere, we narrowed down six cities on our route where Chabad has a presence and ensured that each week, we covered what we felt was most important to us between those two cities, so that we could make it to the next one by Friday and spend Shabbos at Chabad.

While we didn’t have a single negative interaction at us being visibly Jewish, we did have several people come over to us in the National Parks, either to tell us that they’re Jewish, or to tell us that they stand with the Jewish people. It was heartwarming to be on the receiving end of positive interactions at being visibly Jewish.

Some of the invaluable tools we used on this trip:

• America the Beautiful pass- This pass costs $80 and can be purchased at most National Parks, as well as online. This allows you free entry into most National Parks, as well as a host of other NPS sites.
• Offline Google Maps- We downloaded offline maps for each park in advance, which saved us from getting lost countless times, as internet connectivity in national parks is usually nonexistent.
• Offline NPS Parks- NPS has an app, which allows for offline viewing of each park if downloaded in advance. We found this less useful than anticipated, as we found the NPS paper maps preferable.
• AllTrails- This app is invaluable if you’re doing longer hikes, especially if the trail is not properly marked.
• More- See my Car Camping post on many more tools we used to make that happen.

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I highly recommend reading this trip’s Overview, which explains more about our planning, sleeping, and eating arrangements.

We set out on our journey on Motzei Shabbos- we had originally hoped to leave by 10:30PM, but our goodbyes to family took longer than anticipated, and we couldn’t dream of setting out before stopping for some pizza, so it was well past 1AM when we pointed our car west and started driving.

After just a few minutes we hit our first state- New Jersey- yay! Our goal for the night was to drive 3 hours, well into Pennsylvania, but when we got to the rest area we had hoped to pull into, it was closed for construction.

We continued onto the next rest area on the I-80, which was 45 minutes further west, in Snow Shoe, PA. It was past 4:30AM at this point, so we quickly set up the car, and attempted to get some sleep in. While my husband was out like a light, I did not sleep a wink. I couldn’t find a comfortable position, it was too hot in the car, there was too much noise, too much light, etc. Thankfully this was the only night when these issues arose, as the remainder of our trip when we car-camped it was blessedly cool, quiet, dark, and comfortable. At 10:30AM we freshened up in the rest area’s bathroom, davened shachris, had a hearty breakfast, and continued on our way. At 8 hours and 572 miles of driving, that Sunday was our longest driving day on this trip.

Luckily for us it was Walmart+ Week, which meant that for the rest of the week when filling up at Exxon/Mobile gas stations (something we were mindful about doing), we received a discount of .20¢/gallon, instead of the usual .10¢/gallon. We proceeded to drive into Ohio, past Indiana, and then into Illinois.

If you plan on visiting Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, consider exploring Detroit, and in the north, Traverse City, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, and Charlevoix. Continue reading for Upper Peninsula recommendations.

Since we passed from EDT to CDT, we gained an hour and were checked into our hotel by 6PM. We stayed at the Hilton Chicago/Oak Brook Hills Resort & Conference Center, which was free with the Hilton Aspire $200 semi-annual resort credit. Our room was spacious and clean, although the shower could use improvement.

There was a heat wave in Chicago at the time, and the temps were in the triple digits, so we were thankful not to have to spend time outdoors. We watched a brilliant sunset from our room and called it a night.



The next morning, we set out bright and early for the 2-hour drive to the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. My husband is an avid fan of anything mechanical, so this was a highlight for him. We purchased tickets via Viator for $22/pp (tickets are $24/pp at the ticketing desk) and spent 1.5 hours exploring the museum.





Temps in Chicago and Milwaukee were brutal, in the high 90s, so we were glad for the indoor activity.

If you’re planning a trip to Milwaukee, the city has lots do, such as an art museum, science museum, natural history museum, zoo, brewery, botanical garden, public market, beach, riverfront walkway, American Family Field stadium, and more.

The remainder of our day was spent driving 5 hours and 419 miles to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. While the drive through Wisconsin was beautiful, with dairy farms on all sides, the last three hours of the drive was tough, as it was mostly on small county roads. At the 3.5 hour mark we passed into Michigan- this part of Michigan is not connected to Michigan’s “mainland”, but since it is part of Michigan and not Wisconsin, the time zone switches back to EDT. This means that we lost an hour on the clock and were in for one of the latest sunsets on our trip.

Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is an underrated gem, with numerous places to explore. To name just a few places of interest: Mackinac Island is a romantic, pedestrian-only island, and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore boasts dramatic multicolored cliffs.



We pulled into Houghton, Michigan, a beautiful lakeside town, at 8:30PM, and headed to the East Houghton Waterfront Park for a shower and dinner. The delivery of our 1600W battery that we had ordered prior to the trip had been delayed, and we were now scrambling to find a way to get it to us. In the meantime, we were without mobile power and had to rely on city parks and the like to power our appliances for breakfast and dinner. Thankfully this park had showers, along with picnic tables and plenty of outlets- the only difficulty was that the wind was howling, and the temps were in the high 50s. This was one of the least palatable showers we had on our trip, as it is intended for beachgoers. The water temperature was comfortable, but it was not the cleanest, and did not feel private.

After eating a filling meal and watching a stunning sunset at 9:52PM,



we headed to the Walmart Supercenter nearby to bed down, since overnight parking is prohibited in the park. We inquired with the manager on duty to confirm that we can park in the lot overnight- he was accommodating and had no issues with it, if we parked in a spot farthest from the entrance. That suited us, as we preferred a spot away from the noise and the light. We noticed several other campers in the lot, and settled down for a comfortable night’s sleep.

Monday morning, we were up bright and early for our 8AM seaplane ride to Isle Royale National Park via Isle Royale Seaplanes.

A word about Isle Royale National Park: The park is only open seasonally due to extreme weather and consists of huge swaths of lake, and over 400 islands. Isle Royale is the largest island, at 45 miles in length. The island has two points of access, Rock Harbor, and Windigo. There are two primary ways to access Isle Royale- via boat, or via seaplane. We spent a lot of time researching this park and all the practical options on how to access it, since we only wanted to spend one day in the park, and all options have some pretty big downsides for such a short trip. Boats are available seasonally from Michigan and Minnesota, cost between $100/pp and $160/pp, but since the boat rides are long, they either don’t allow for a day trip at all (the first arrival is after the last departure) or allow for very little time on the ground. Additionally, they sell out early in the season, and no boat tickets were available for our return on our desired date. That left us with just one option- the seaplane. While this allows for a few hours on the ground, it weighed down our budget immensely at $360/pp (without this expense our trip would have cost us less than $385/week). We decided to go for it, since we really hope to cover all 63 National Parks, and were unsure if we would be back in the area. If you do not have a goal of visiting all National Parks, I would not recommend going through the hassle of visiting Isle Royale- there are plenty of beautiful spots along Michigan’s UP that are more accessible and many times less expensive.

If you make plans early enough in the season and don’t want to splurge for the seaplane, the boat option with the most time on the ground is Isle Royale Boats from Grand Portage, MN. The boat ride takes 1.5 hours, and you can spend about 4 hours on the ground- they are the cheapest as well, at approximately $100/pp. Another point we had a tough time deciding on was should we fly into Rock Harbor or Isle Royale? After reading countless blogs we decided that we would head to Windigo, since it is the quieter portion of the park, and has some hikes that appealed to us.

Back to our trip: we landed in Windigo on schedule at 8:45AM (the pilot informed us that we were lucky since planes to the Rock Harbor side were grounded due to extreme fog). Entry was free with our America the Beautiful pass.


Landing at Isle Royale


Our seaplane



The sky was overcast, but the temperature was a cool and comfortable 60F. Our first stop was at the tiny Visitor Center and the nearby shop. The shop was ridiculously overpriced, and before we realized it, we spent $20 on water and $30 on souvenirs… We also realized at this point that we had forgotten our bug spray in the car- a crucial item on a trip to Isle Royale, since mosquitoes here are abundant. Thankfully, we realized before heading out on our hike, so we purchased bug patches- I think they actually worked since at the start of our hike I was constantly swarmed by bugs, but by the return portion it was blessedly peaceful.

We headed out on the Minong Trail at 10AM, in the hopes of hiking to the Minong Ridge Overlook, where you can spot Canada across Lake Superior. Based on our research the overlook is 3 miles from the starting point, but after hiking close to 4 miles, and with no overlook in site, we turned around and started making our way back.





We must have been pretty close though, as my phone started roaming and connected to a Canadian carrier.



Even though the temperature peaked at 70F on the island, it felt much hotter due to the humidity. We made it back to the shop after hiking 7.8 miles, and got into a longer conversation with a park ranger who informed us that the overlook is 3 miles from the official start of the Minong Trail, and not 3 miles from the starting point of the starter trail, which based on our calculations means that we probably turned around at the 2.7 mark… oh well.

While Isle Royale Seaplanes has departures til 5PM, we opted for the 3PM back since we were all sweaty and hiked out- humidity is a real killer here- we often hike longer and rarely feel such intense exhaustion.


Departing Isle Royale

As soon as we landed back in Houghton, MI we realized how lucky we were- the temps were well over 90F, and the humidity was even worse. Had it been this hot on Isle Royale we would not have managed a mile, let alone eight… We headed back to East Houghton Waterfront Park for a shower and an early dinner, but this time the park was crowded with teenagers swimming in the lake, which made for a less appealing experience.

Since there was still hours of daylight left, we decided to put in some more driving miles, with a slight detour to Lake of the Clouds Overlook in Porcupine State Park.



After drinking in the views at Clouds Overlook, we realized that there was zero cellphone connectivity in the park, and we did not have offline maps for this region (we downloaded offline maps for all National Parks we visited, but did not have the foresight to include everything in between…). After driving through the park’s main road in an effort to find a live human, we eventually came across a small lodge. The proprietor was accommodating and allowed us to connect to his Wi-Fi, so that we could map our final miles of the day to Ironwood, Michigan. On our way we passed into CDT time zone again, which allowed us to arrive at our destination prior to our departure time. We’ve now added time-traveling to our resume😊. (Ironwood is not too far from Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in Wisconsin, a beautiful lakeshore with islands on Lake Superior).



We pulled into the Walmart Supercenter, went through our regular routine of inquiring with the manager, taking a spot far from the entrance, and setting up for the night.

We visited Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, on a previous trip. See our trip report here.

The next morning, we started our day in Bluff Valley Park, since our battery was still trying to make its way to us, and we needed outlets for a hearty breakfast. After davening and breakfast, we made our way into Wisconsin, and then to Duluth, Minnesota.

We strolled around Duluth’s Historic Canal Park and found it to be a beautiful and picturesque area. The city is on the banks of Lake Superior, and while winters here are brutal, summers are perfect with highs rarely going above 70F. We strolled along Canal Park, walked to the Duluth North Pier Lighthouse, and watched the Aerial Lift Bridge go up and down to allow marine traffic to pass.





Since we still wanted to get at least two hours of driving in before dark, we headed to a campground near Duluth for showers, as we knew that showers would be limited at our destination for the night. The showers were comfortable with great water pressure and temps, and feeling refreshed, we drove two hours further North to Orr, MN. We headed to City of Orr Park and Beach, which thankfully had outlets, and after a hearty supper,





we headed a few minutes down the road to the Orr Welcome Center. We had originally planned to set up for the night at the city park, but it was too close to the road, which would mean hearing cars pass by all night, so we opted for the Welcome Center instead. Several other campers were already set up in the lot, so we got comfortable and settled down for the night.

Thursday morning, we headed back to the city park for davening and breakfast, and then continued 40 minutes further north to Voyageurs National Park.



Voyageurs is a water-based park that spans forests, lakes, and streams, and a large portion of the park is only accessible by boat. To access any campsite in the park a watercraft is required- during winter, the park is accessible to snowmobiles and cross-country skiers, as the lake freezes over. The NPS has several designated “ice roads” in winter, which allows cars to cross over from the mainland to several of the larger islands.

Since we wanted to be in Fargo, North Dakota, for Shabbos, we only had one day available to explore the park. We were hoping to sign up for one of the NPS operated boat excursions (https://www.recreation.gov/ticket/facility/233405) to tour some of the islands (America the Beautiful passholders get a 50% discount, so these excursions are generally affordable), but unfortunately all options were sold out by the time we narrowed down our day in the park.

With overnight camping and a boat excursion off the table, we decided to spend our day on the mainland portion of the park instead. We started at Ash River Visitor Center where we watched a short film about the park, and then proceeded to map out our hiking for the day. (We did inquire about any “standby” excursion tickets, but the rangers informed us that it was not a possibility).



While it was only 70F, the humidity was already climbing, and we could feel the mosquitoes starting to swarm. Additionally, my husband had woken up under the weather, and while he insisted that he was ok to hike, we didn’t want to push it. We chose to hike the very short Kabetogama Lake Overlook Trail, as well as Blind Ash Bay Trail, and Beaver Pond Overlook Trail, for a total of 4.5 miles. The mosquitoes on those trails were the worst of our trip- we stopped every 10 minutes to douse ourselves in Off, and even with that we were more bite than human by the time we left the park…







After getting our fill of mosquito bites and humidity, we set out for Bemidji, Minnesota. In Bemidji we headed to a city park for dinner (still reliant on those power outlets…), but I could see that my husband was struggling to keep his eyes open, so we decided that instead of car camping for the night as we had intended, we would check into a hotel. I booked a room at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Bemidji for 45k points, and upon check-in was upgraded to Lake View room, due to my Hilton Diamond status.



After a beautiful sunset, we turned in for some much-needed rest.



The next morning, we headed to the Mary Gibbs Mississippi Headwaters Center in Itasca State Park. The weather was perfect- 70F with the sun out. Here you can view the headwaters of the Mississippi, where it starts its 2,340-mile journey to the Gulf of Mexico.







We then set out to Fargo, North Dakota, where Rabbi and Rebbetzin Grossman had graciously offered to host us for Shabbos.

During Week 1 of our trip we drove 2,008 miles, went from EDT to CDT time zone, passed through 6 states, spent time in 3 states, and visited 2 national parks.

[cgr]

I highly recommend reading this trip’s Overview, which explains more about our planning, sleeping, and eating arrangements.

Fargo, ND is the largest city in North Dakota, with a population of ~130k (large indeed). The city lies right on the border with Minnesota, with the Red River acting as the boundary line between Minnesota and North Dakota.

We had contacted Chabad of North Dakota prior to our trip, and Rabbi and Rebbetzin Grossman had graciously extended an invite to host us for Shabbos. We pulled up Friday afternoon to their house, which doubles as the Chabad Center, and were greeted by smiles all around.

Since Shabbos didn’t start until 9:26PM (the latest zman on our trip!) we had plenty of time to get our laundry done, stock up on food for the next week, and hop over to the local medical center to get my husband a strep culture since he was still feeling a bit out of sorts (thankfully that came back negative).

Shabbos at the Grossman’s was beautiful, and it was great to slow down and catch up on our sleep. Since Shabbos ended so late (10:38PM rabbeinu tam) we had plenty of time to delve into the Grossman’s extensive library- they have hundreds of books in Yiddish, English, and Hebrew, and my husband particularly enjoyed going down memory lane with the Menachem Mendel books… We also took several walks to the Red River and nearby parks, which are just a few minutes from the Chabad Center, and crossed over into Minnesota as well.

As mentioned in Week 1, we had ordered a 1600W battery prior to our trip, so that we could power our cooking devices on the go. Unfortunately, the delivery had been delayed, which meant that we had to leave home without it and were now relying on city parks or the like with outdoor outlets to get our cooking done, which was a huge annoyance. As soon as it was delivered to our house my brother retrieved the battery, and had it shipped via FedEx to the Chabad Center in Fargo- apparently it was bashert for us to go another week without a battery, because when I checked the tracking on Motzei Shabbos to see if it had been delivered or would be delivered on Sunday, it once again showed a delay with no confirmed delivery date… the saga continues…

Sunday morning, we were in the car bright and early, heading west to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. While the drive from Fargo to the park takes about 5 hours, the route involves crossing from the CDT to MDT time zone, which earned us back an hour on the clock.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park is divided into three sections: the South Unit, the Elkhorn Ranch Unit, and the North Unit. The South Unit has the largest number of visitors, as it is located directly on the I-94. Elkhorn Ranch and the North Unit see much less traffic, as they are both located ~50 minutes north of the I-94, yet not in the same area, and many visitors don’t want to bother with the detour. Elkhorn Ranch’s focus is history, as Teddy Roosevelt spent a lot of time here, while the North & South Units are all about buttes, badlands, grasslands, and wildlife. (There are plans for a Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library to open in the South Unit). We opted to head to the North Unit first, as our goal was nature without the crowds, and if we had time, stop by the South Unit once we were back on the interstate.



Our first stop was at North Unit Visitor Center, a tiny shed/trailer that acts as a visitor center and gift shop. After collecting some maps and talking to the park ranger, we realized that exploring the North Unit is rather easy, since there is just one road, the 14-mile Scenic Drive, that cuts through the Unit, with all the overlooks and hikes branching off this road.



We spent 20 minutes on the first 4 miles of the drive, since we had to pull over constantly to admire the badlands and their various colors. The best part was that we saw no other cars on the road- it felt like we had the park to ourselves!









A few minutes in we spotted a longhorn steer and some bison.





We then stopped at Cannonball Concretions, a section littered with large perfectly round rocks. While touching them is not permitted, we climbed around and above them, to view them from different vantage points. (This was the one place in the park that was ‘crowded’ as there was another family there).









Some more bison…



Next, we headed to the Caprock Coulee trailhead and veered onto the Buckhorn Trail to explore the Prairie Dog town there.





The prairie dogs are adorable, chirping, running, and hiding in their burrows, and my husband spent a considerable amount of time photographing them.







video

While the hike back was less than a mile, the sun was out in full force, and with no shade on the prairie it felt longer. We also had to pause and reroute somewhat, since a bison had taken up residence on a hilly section of the trail, which required us to climb up and down for a bit to steer clear.

We continued driving along the road, with bison and beautiful badlands all around.















Not sure who this is…



We enjoyed the views at River Bend Overlook, even though the wind was whipping, as it is known to do on the prairie, and my husband nearly lost his kippah…







Our final stop in the North Unit was at Oxbow Overlook:



Once back on the interstate, we headed towards the South Unit’s Painted Canyon Visitor Center. The temps were dropping fast (it had been 80F in the North Unit) and the wind was howling, and while the visitor center was already closed for the day, we took advantage of the electrical outlets (alas, still no battery) to cook up some hot water and warm up with instant noodle soups. Once refreshed, we admired the views from the lookout behind the visitor center:



The South Unit has a scenic drive as well, albeit a longer one at 48 miles, but the lower loop was closed for construction, so we were unable to explore that. Since it was getting late, we headed to Boicurt Overlook for a beautiful sunset.





Overall, I found Theodore Roosevelt National Park to be a highly underrated park, especially the North Unit. There are amazing views and some good hikes, and the beauty here is augmented by the lack of crowds. The park also has a population of mule deer, bighorn sheep, coyotes, pronghorns, wild horses, bald and golden eagles, white-tailed deer, turkeys, and elk, and while we did not get to see those during our time here, it was still spectacular.

We headed to the closest Flying J Travel Center and enjoyed an amazing shower (in general we found truck stops to have the best showers- amazing water pressure and spotlessly clean- on par with what you’d get in a 4-star hotel), before setting up our car for the night at the Beach North Dakota DOT Welcome Center. Setting up the car that night was actually a struggle, since we had to fight with the wind to hold onto our stuff. As soon as we were cozily ensconced in the car, a massive thunderstorm rolled in, replete with booming thunder and lightning, which lasted for all of 10 minutes. It was a great experience, as the prairies are known for their bipolar weather and spectacular thunderstorms, but we were sure we would not get to see any of it, as the forecast had been stubbornly predicting sunny skies only.

For Monday morning, the plan had been to drive through Montana til Great Falls, MT, sleep over there, and then continue on Tuesday to Glacier National Park, as we had been unable to secure a campground reservation for Monday night in the park (campground reservations in the popular national parks sell out months in advance).

The drive that day was brutal, with a good portion of the 8.5-hour drive past hilly grasslands- at first it was pleasing, but by hour number three we were over our appreciation of grass, and the steep incline and decline of the hills were starting to hurt our behinds. Additionally, this was all on backroads- we were too far north for the interstate- which were bumpy and potholed, and added to our pain.

At some point while my husband was at the wheel, I refreshed the campground reservation page for Glacier National Park, and amazingly a spot had opened up at Two Medicine Campground- exactly where we had been hoping to find a spot for that night! Thankfully we were in a spot with internet connection- a rarity on those backroads- and I managed to snag the spot. (At this point getting to the park on Monday night was more important than before, since the forecast now predicted rain for Thursday, and depending on how heavy it would be, could mean that we would not be able to spend Thursday in the park, so we wanted to at least have a full day on Tuesday to explore).

After 6 long hours on the road, we finally made it to Great Falls, MT. We pulled into Oddfellows Park for supper (still on the hunt for power outlets…), and then headed over to the local Love's Travel Stop for a refreshing shower. We then continued driving for another 2.5 hours, when we finally made it to Two Medicine Campground well after nightfall. We set a record that night for the fastest car setup on our trip, as we weren’t too comfortable being out in the dark, in an area known for grizzlies and other wild animals. The area was pitch black, and the stars were beautiful. The temps that night were in the low 50s, and we both slept like logs.

Note that Glacier National Park requires a reservation to enter the park during the summer months. We were able to get around this requirement by only utilizing the two less popular entrances to the park, Many Glacier and St. Mary. Many Glacier only required a reservation starting on July 1, so by visiting in late June we were exempt. St. Mary does not require a reservation to enter at all, since it is the least populated part of the park. Additionally, there are no gas stations within the park- we did not find this to be that much of an issue, since there is a gas station in the town of St Mary.



We awoke the next morning to a gaggle of female bighorn sheep surrounding the car- apparently they don’t’ get enough salt in their natural diet, and often lick cars or fire pits for salt.



Since the last few hours of our drive the night before had been after the sun had set, we had not seen the landscape gradually becoming more striking and were in awe at the sheer beauty of Glacier National Park. We had until Thursday afternoon to explore the park, and while three days might seem like a lot, we had to budget our time carefully to make the most out of it, as the park has so much to offer.



After davening, we headed to Two Medicine Lake. We had originally contemplated taking the boat across Two Medicine Lake to hike Upper Two Medicine Lake + Twin Falls (the boat would shave off two miles off the hike, reducing it from 6.4 miles to 4.4 miles), but after discussing it with Glacier expert @Traveler718 he advised us to scrap this plan and recommended hiking to Paradise Point instead. The weather was perfect- in the high 60s, and the views on this hike did not disappoint- the trail runs alongside the lake, and the viewpoint of the mountains are simply spectacular. After hiking for about a mile we settled down near the lake for some breakfast, before retracing our steps back to our car.











We then headed to Running Eagle/ Trick Falls, a short hike that leads to a lovely waterfall.







The drive from Two Medicine to St. Mary Visitor Center is otherworldly:







Our next stop was at the Saint Mary Visitor Center, where we loaded up on information and got our requisite souvenir, as well as bear spray. From here we headed to the ‘Going-to-the-Sun Road’, often considered the most scenic drive in the US. Most of the road is closed in winter due to heavy snowfall, and usually opens for vehicles sometime in June, once the snowpack is cleared. When we left home on June 15 the road was still snowed in, and reports were suggesting that it might not open til early July, due to unusually heavy snow. On Friday, when we got to Fargo, ND, I was starting to get nervous, as they showed no signs of the road opening anytime soon, and taking a trip to Glacier National Park without being able to drive Going-to-the-Sun Road would be rather meh. Thankfully on Motzei Shabbos when I checked for updates, they reported that the road had opened that day, so we were good to go!

Going-to-the-Sun Road is approximately 50 miles long, stretching from St Mary (northeast) to West Glacier (southwest). The portion of the road closer to St Mary is more scenic, with impressive mountain peaks and glacial lakes, but since most visitors enter the park from West Glacier, they tend to do the drive starting with the less scenic areas and ending with the views near St Mary.





We stopped at every lookout that caught our fancy to admire lakes, mountains, glaciers, and wildlife, until we made it to Logan Pass, the highest point on the on Going-to-the-Sun Road. There are many great hikes along this route, but with just three days to explore, we simply didn’t have the time to check them out.











Everyone we had spoken to, including the park rangers, warned us that finding parking at Logan Pass was extremely difficult, but by the time we got there, at about 3:45PM, the lot was mostly empty. For many people the views at Logan Pass are the highlight of their trip, and while it is undoubtedly beautiful, I found that Many Glacier and Two Medicine pulled me more, with their quiet charm.









We headed behind the Logan Pass visitor center to access Hidden Lake Overlook Trail. The trail was completely snowed in, but we decided to hike it anyway. At some point a group of hikers took a detour up a very steep hill, and we followed blindly behind them, which added miles and elevation to the already difficult trail in the snow (in general this is not a difficult trail at all, but with the deep snow it was hard to navigate, especially uphill). At some point we realized that we had gone off the trail, and attempted to head back down to where we could see other hikers. The hillside was too steep and I slipped, which made me realize that we’d get down much faster, easier, and in a more fun way if we just sledded down… we had a blast!





At long last we finally made it to the overlook, and in addition to the beautiful views, we met some mountain goats.









Our return trip was slightly easier, as whenever we were faced with a steep section we just sat down and whee!







We had hoped to hike at least some of Highline Trail, which stretches for several miles, but after the added difficulty of hiking in the snow, we did not attempt it.

Continuing on the Going-to-the-Sun Road, we encountered male bighorn sheep, loads of waterfalls, and more amazing views.









We then headed all the way down to Apgar, to Lake McDonald. We set up one of our disposable grills for supper here and had some of my husband’s signature grilled salmon (best thing ever)! We then watched sunset over the lake- I found this to be slightly overrated and would not have driven the extra miles, especially when it meant driving back the entire Going-to-the-Sun Road after dark and then setting up our car at Many Glacier Campground. Thankfully the temps dropped to the low 40s overnight, which made for a great night’s sleep.



The next morning, after showering, davening, and eating a hearty breakfast, with temps in the high 60s and in the hopes of hiking to Grinell Glacier, we headed to Many Glacier Hotel. Grinell Glacier Trail was one of the longer hikes we hoped to cover on this trip, at 10.6 miles and 1,600 feet of elevation gain. In addition to the spectacular views on this trail, the real excitement for us was to finally walk on a glacier. We decided to head to the Many Glacier Hotel, which has a boat that navigates Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine- by taking the boat and only joining the trailhead later on we would reduce the hike by over 3 miles, to just 7.2 miles.







We were discussing our plans while waiting in line to purchase tickets, and the guy selling the tickets was kind enough to inform us that due to the danger of avalanches, the trail was not open all the way to Grinell Glacier, and we would have to turn around at the trail’s switchback point. While this was a disappointing development, we decided to forge ahead and hike the trail (without the boat of course), to explore some of the views. We headed back to our car and proceeded to the Grinell Glacier Trailhead (the trailhead is not located near the boat dock), to start the 6.8-mile (+1kft in elevation) hike to the switchback point.

The hike was truly amazing, with spectacular views and even a wildlife encounter on the way!







Grinell Lake, far below.







After about 1.5 hours of climbing uphill, we made it to the switchback point, where the trail was indeed closed to hikers.



After resting our legs for a few minutes, we started our descent, and in no time (or at least it felt like it), were back at the starting point.

Our legs were wobbly at this point, so we decided that instead of pushing ourselves to do another hike (there are many great options in the area), we’d head to our campground and set up early for a change.

We had snagged a spot at St. Mary Campground, and after showering and getting a fire going, we set up another disposable grill for dinner. After eating our fill, we turned in early for a good night’s sleep.







The next morning, which was supposed to be our rainy day in the park, dawned with a weird mixture of sun and rain, with temps in the 50s.



Since this was our last day in the park, and we needed to head west to make it to our next stop for Shabbos, we decided to spend the day driving along the Going-to-the-Sun Road, which was along our route to exit the park, and catch one of the hikes along the road (weather permitting). The views along the road with the low clouds and bursts of sunshine was beautiful.





After a while we made it to Avalanche Lake Trailhead, and with no rain and patches of sun, decided to make a go of it. This was by far the fullest part of the park we encountered, and we had to circle several times to find parking. The trail is 5.9 miles out and back and ends at a beautiful lake (we hiked the trail all the way to the end, which continues going along the lake- if you’re not in the mood to hike for that long, you can stop once you reach the lake- the views don’t get much better further in). To our mazel there was a heavy downpour approximately 2 miles in, and while we were able to shelter under a cluster of trees for the worst of it, it was inconvenient. The rain let up after a few minutes, so we continued hiking to the end point of the trail.





By the time we were halfway through the return portion, the sun was out again… on the upside, we were the only ones on the trail as everyone seemingly fled once the rain started.







After changing into dry socks, we headed west, exiting Glacier National Park, with memories to last a lifetime.

Since we still had hours of daylight left, plus we’d be passing from MDT to PDT time zones as we headed west, we decided to drive all the way to Spokane, Washington- our destination for Shabbos. While driving on the beautiful MT-135 scenic byway, which meanders through towns and villages, and where the speed limit drops abruptly from 55MPH to 35MPH, I was pulled over by a cop for going 53 in a 35 zone. This was my first time being pulled over in my 8 years of driving, but thankfully the ticket was limited to $85 with no points, and neither of us were pulled over again on this trip, so I think we did pretty well.

The section of I-90 that passes through Idaho was one of the worst sections of interstate on this trip. Other than being one long construction zone, the road is extremely twisty and required both hands on the wheel. We passed through Coeur d'Alene, a popular vacation spot due to its beautiful surroundings,

and finally made it to Spokane, Washington, where we checked into the DoubleTree by Hilton Spokane City Center for 35k points.

During Week 2 of our trip we drove 1,614 miles, went from CDT to MDT to PDT time zone, passed through 1 state, spent time in 2 states, and visited 2 national parks.

[cgr]

I highly recommend reading this trip’s Overview, which explains more about our planning, sleeping, and eating arrangements.

Spokane, WA, is a city located on Washington’s eastern edge, near Idaho. Even though it was still light out when we pulled into the city, we had driven over 6 hours that day, and hiked close to 6 miles, so we were more than ready to call it a day. We checked into the DoubleTree by Hilton Spokane City Center for 35k points and made an early night.

Friday morning, feeling rested and refreshed, we explored a bit of the city. We spent some time at Riverfront Park and walked along Spokane Falls.







We then headed to a laundromat to get our dirty clothes washed, and from there to Trader Joes & Safeway to stock up on groceries for the week.


The Kosher selection at Safeway

My husband was particularly excited about a bottle of Blanton’s that was on sale for $69.99, but since we were in a rush, and getting an employee to retrieve the bottle for us would take some time, we decided to come back on Sunday for the purchase.



We had contacted Chabad of Spokane prior to our trip, and Rabbi and Rebbetzin Hahn had graciously extended an invite to host us for Shabbos. Rabbis Hahn is an expert in all things relating to Glacier National Park, and we had a great time reminiscing. Additionally, Rebbetzin Hahn is an awesome cook, so with company and food in order, Shabbos passed quickly (even though the 72 zman wasn’t until 10:03PM).

Another exciting development was that Rabbi Grossman from Fargo had finally received our battery mid-week and had been gracious enough to ship it to Spokane for us, where it finally arrived with no further delays (imagine that)! We were finally power-mobile, with no need to rely on stationary power outlets for every meal!

Sunday morning, after a filling breakfast of delicious pancakes crafted by the Hahn girls, we made a quick stop at Safeway to for the coveted Blanton’s. Unfortunately for my husband, they were all out…



We headed on out for the 4-hour drive to the North Cascades National Park Complex, which is home to over 300 glaciers, the most glaciated area in the US outside of Alaska. This park has the second-least number of visitors per year (after Isle Royale NP) of all National Parks in the contiguous USA. The Complex consists of 3 protected areas: North Cascades National Park, Ross Lake National Recreation Area, and Lake Chelan National Recreation Area. The main route through the Complex, and therefore the most accessible area, is Highway 20, also known as the North Cascades Highway, which mostly runs through the Ross Lake NRA. Lake Chelan NRA is known for the Stehekin community, an isolated section of the park that is only accessible by foot, boat or plane. The actual North Cascades National Park is mostly wilderness and is largely only accessible to backcountry hikers. The parts of the National Park that are accessible are a) Hozomeen- either via boat or via a 39-mile drive along gravel road and b) Cascade Pass Trail via the 23.1-mile gravel Cascade River Road.



We had been hoping to explore Stehekin for its untouched beauty, but after looking into the boat schedule (https://www.nps.gov/noca/planyourvisit/getting-to-stehekin.htm ) we realized that we’d have too little time in the area for it to be worth the effort, so we scratched it off our list.

We were also hoping to hike some of the Cascade Pass Trail (either 3.7 miles to Cascade Pass or 5.9 miles to Sahale Glacier each way) which is within the National Park’s boundary, but on the drive from Spokane I checked the road conditions, and the Cascade River Road was still snowed in and fully blocked, making it impossible to access the trail.

This left North Cascades Highway (Highway 20) in Ross Lake NRA as our main area of focus. Our first stop was at Cutthroat Trailhead, where the temps were in the mid-60s. We hiked 2 miles to Cutthroat Lake and back, which took us approximately 2 hours. The trail was mostly deserted and the signage to the lake wasn’t clear, so we veered off course and crossed a fast-flowing stream with no bridge, nearly toppling over several times. Thankfully a hiker saw us from across the stream and redirected us to the trail.











Our final stop of the day was at Washington Pass Observation Point, to take in the views.





Not wanting to set up camp after dark, we headed back to the Cutthroat Trailhead, which we noticed had a secluded parking area and bathroom. Since this is not within the National Park proper, dispersed camping is allowed.

The next morning, after davening and a hot breakfast, we headed back to Washington Pass Observation Point, to see it in the morning sun.



We then headed to Blue Lake Trailhead. Temps were in the low 50s, but the sun was shining, and the sky was a bright blue, adding warmth. There was no parking available at the trailhead, so we parked on the shoulder. At 4.6-miles round-trip, the hike took us just under 3 hours, including a longer break at the lake. The color of the lake is unique, and didn’t capture well on camera.







We met this mountain goat along the way, near some waterfalls.



During our hike we felt a little sorry for ourselves for visiting North Cascades on the heels of Glacier National Park, since we felt that we would’ve appreciated its beauty more had we not timed them back-to-back. That all came to an end the second we caught a glimpse of Diablo Lake. The Lake is a deep greenish blue color, owing to the fine sediment that is eroded beneath the glacier runoff that feeds the lake. The temps were in the low 70s here, and we spent nearly an hour admiring the views.





We made a quick stop at Gorge Creek Falls,



and then hiked the short Trail of the Cedars.



We then stopped by the North Cascades Visitor Center for some souvenirs.

We left the park at about 5PM and headed west to Interstate 5. As soon as we hit the interstate, we stopped at a Pilot Travel Center for a refreshing shower, followed by a stop at a rest area for a filling dinner of delicious grilled fish. We then pulled into a Walmart, confirmed with the manager that we could sleep over (this is especially important on the West Coast near larger cities, because due to rampant homelessness many cities have ordinances that prohibit sleeping overnight in a vehicle), and settled in for the night.

The next morning, after a davening and a lazy breakfast at a nearby park, we proceeded to drive 4 hours to Olympic National Park. The fastest route was to utilize a $32 ferry across Puget Sound instead of driving around it, but the time savings was under 30 minutes, and we would waste at least that much waiting around for the ferry, so we figured driving around would be simpler. That day was our off day, so beyond the drive we planned to relax and do nothing. We were eager to get to the park early though, since we were planning on sleeping at Heart O' the Hills Campground, which is a first-come-first serve campground. We made it to the park by 4PM, and thankfully half the campsites were still open, so we quickly signed up for one.

The campground is located just a few minutes up the road from the Olympic Visitor Center and while the skies were completely clear at the Visitor Center and in the city of Port Angeles nearby, the campground was shrouded in clouds. We spent some time at the visitor center, learning about the park and narrowing down our schedule for the next 2 days.



We then headed into Port Angeles for a shower at the Shore Aquatic Center, and back to the campgrounds for a cozy fire and some dinner.



Olympic National Park is incredibly diverse, encompassing mountains, valleys, lakes, rain forests, and beaches. Most of the park’s roads are around the edges, with 95% being swaths of wilderness dominated by Mt. Olympus. Since it’s impossible to cut through the park to get to the various sections, plan for additional travel time when moving from one area to the next. On the upside, most areas are small, with just one parking lot and all the various trails and overlooks branching off it.

Since we spent the night at Heart O' the Hills Campground, we started our day at the nearby Hurricane Ridge. The parking lot is known to fill up quickly, so starting early is important. As we were davening and eating breakfast, heavy clouds started to roll in over the campsite, and we were worried that our drive up to the ridge would be for naught, with no visibility.



We headed over to the entry booth to check in with the park ranger as to the conditions up top- he laughed at our concerns and informed us that the weather in the valley has no bearing on the weather up on the ridge. He told us to check the Hurricane Ridge webcam (https://www.nps.gov/olym/learn/photosmultimedia/hurricane-ridge-webcam.htm) to allay our fears, but we with no internet connection in the area, we had to rely on his word. We drove through thick clouds for the first few minutes, and suddenly, with no warning, we broke through the wall of clouds to perfectly sunny skies. It was fascinating to look behind us and see the thick wall of fog blocking our view of the road behind. With temps in the low 60s the weather was now pure perfection.



We made it to the top shortly before 10AM and found a parking spot easily.



The sweeping mountain views here are spectacular.





We hiked High Ridge to Sunset Viewpoint, spending a while at the top to admire the views.







Back in the parking lot we saw a rare site- a minivan with a NY license plate! We headed over to say hi, and the guy responded with “I’m not crazy enough to drive from NY to Washington- this is a rental”. Guess we are that crazy…

We then proceeded along Hurricane Hill Road, to hike the steep yet beautiful Hurricane Hill trail. The views from up top make the 700 ft climb well worth it. (A ranger suggested that we walk from Hurricane Ridge to the trailhead- an additional 1.5 miles each way since parking at Hurricane Hill is notoriously difficult, but we decided to conserve our energy for the actual hike, and while parking wasn’t easy, we managed to snag a spot as it was being vacated).











Back in our car, we drove an hour down the mountain to Lake Crescent, a lowland forest area. It was fascinating to see how quickly the landscape changes from dry alpine to wet rainforest. The Marymere parking lot at Lake Crescent was full, but not at capacity. We hiked the Marymere Falls trail, which was mostly flat with steep steps towards the end at the falls.







We then strolled along the lake and through the flat, easy, Moments in Time trail.





Our final stop for the day was at Sol Duc, another lowland forest section of the park. We hiked through the wet and muddy trail, to the spectacular Sol Duc Falls.









We headed over to Sol Duc Hot Springs for a shower and were surprised when they informed us that access was free. It turned out to be gym showers- hence their affability- but they were clean and nice, so we made do.

We’d really been hoping to have time to visit Rialoto and Mora beaches as well, but since we wanted to set up camp before dark, we scrapped those and headed straight to Hoh Rain Forest Campground, where we had snagged a reservation for the night (it’s normally close to impossible to book campground reservations so close to your stay, but by some miracle we managed to snag reservations at each park, just where we wanted).

The next morning dawned bright and sunny, which definitely diminished from our rainforest experience. The rangers informed us that it was exceptionally dry season, and summer is already dry season to begin with. Hoh Rainforest is another area of the park where arriving early is a must, and since we slept over at the nearby campground, this was easily achieved.

We hiked Hall of Mosses Trail, Spurce Nature Trail, and 1.7 miles of the Hoh River Trail. The trails are flat and easy.


Hoh River






Massive overturned tree- human in the frame for scale


A line of trees growing out of an overturned tree


A mother and baby moose





At 1PM we made our way out of Hoh Rainforest for the 1-hour drive to the Kalaloch area, and boy did we have a newfound appreciation for having slept over at the local campground. The road leading into Hoh was at a standstill, with a line of cars snaking for at least 2 miles, waiting to head into the area- it was July 4 that day, which probably added to the overcrowding.

Ruby Beach was fairly full, but we managed to find a secluded spot from where to admire the views. While the sun was out in full force, the temps were in the 60s and windy, so it wasn’t much of a beach weather.





We then headed to 1st Beach, which was completely empty. We hiked the short and easy Spruce Burl Nature trail to admire the weird tree warts.







While it was still early afternoon, and we had plenty more to explore in the park, we wanted to make it to Seattle before dark- a way which took roughly 4 hours. We decided to head out, instead of trying to cram more into our day. After a rather tough drive, with most of it on backroads, we finally checked into the Homewood Suites by Hilton Lynnwood Seattle Everett, which I had booked with 40k Hilton points. The hotel was just minutes from the Boeing factory, where we had scheduled a tour for Friday morning, plus it had a washer/dryer on the premises, so we were able to get our clothes laundered. They were kind enough to waive the $12 parking fee for us in lieu of breakfast, once I informed them that we would not be partaking.

One of the few activities that we reserved in advance was a tour at the Boeing factory, named Boeing Future of Flight. The tour takes about 1.5 hours, and includes access to the Boeing Everett Factory, Gallery, and Sky Deck. While we didn’t do much touring in Seattle, this was definitely a highlight! My husband geeks out at all things mechanical, so him enjoying this tour was no surprise, but even I had an amazing time.





Our next stop was at QFC University Village, to stock up on food for the next week. They have a kosher deli, as well as meat, sushi, and fish. We met several frum Yidden there who came over to introduce themselves, and to make sure that we had where to be for Shabbos. How amazing!

We’d been hoping to stay at the Hyatt House or Hyatt Place for Shabbos since those locations tend to have larger rooms, and are Category 4 in Seattle, which would allow us to use our Hyatt FNCs. Unfortunately, the dates were blacked out for redemption (most likely since it was July 4 weekend), so our remaining options for Hyatt was either the Hyatt Regency, or the Hyatt at Olive 8. The Hyatt Regency involved a bit of a risk since the building is 45 stories tall, and we didn’t want to end up on the upper floors on Shabbos, so we went with the Hyatt at Olive 8 for 23k points/night. Parking at the hotel was painfully expensive, so we opted for a garage a block away, booked via SpotHero, for $18/day.

While Shabbos was hot- in the mid-80s- we had an amazing time at Chabad of Downtown Seattle. Rabbi Levitin was away that week, but the food was amazing, and the company was great. We spent some time on Shabbos afternoon strolling along Waterfront Park, checking out Pike Place Market, and watching massive cruise ships dock and depart. The Waterfront area felt safe, but we did detour onto a side street at some point, and were greeted with some unsavory sites that I’d rather forget… 

On Sunday, after a lazy morning and late checkout, we headed to the Chittenden/Ballard Locks. It was cool to see the small canal in operation, with various pleasure boats making their way to and fro.





There was also a live band in the park that day, so we spent some time resting under the shade and listening to music.



We then headed to Gold Schnitzel Mediterranean for dinner. The food was great, especially since this was our first served meal in weeks…









Unfortunately, Gold Schnitzel has since closed down. For a full list of Seattle restaurants and groceries, see here (https://seattlevaad.org/kosher-portfolio/).

After dinner, we scouted two nearby Walmarts for a spot to set up camp. The weather was pretty warm, so we weren’t sure that car camping that night was the best idea, but one of the managers told us that due to city ordinances he could not allow us to park overnight, and the other manager told us that for our own safety he did not recommend it, due to rampant crime, so we decided to check into a hotel for the night instead (while pulling out of the lot we did notice private security patrolling the area). Not wanting to drive too far from where we currently were, we settled on the Garner Hotel Auburn (IHG) for 11k points for the night, booked via the Chase Portal (Reserve).

While we did not explore Seattle in depth, there is a lot more to do to there. There are several great parks in the area, as well as the Space Needle, Chihully Gardens, TMobile/ Mariners Ballpark, Museum of Flight, and much more.

Monday was another late start, and after a 1.5 drive we made it to Mt. Ranier National Park. Mount Rainier is an active volcano (last erupted in 1450) and is also the most glaciated peak in the contiguous US. The interior of the park is dominated by the 14,410’ mountain and its wilderness, and is inaccessible to cars. The roads in the park are at the outer edges of the park’s boundary, and the park is divided into 4 areas: Sunrise, Ohanapecosh, Paradise/ Longmire Area, and Carbon River/ Mowich Area. The first 3 are fairly accessible, while the Carbon River/Mowich is far from everything and the road has washed out with no plans for repairs, so we immediately scratched that off our list. During high season a reservation is required to access the Sunrise & Paradise areas, but thankfully we managed to snag both of those for our desired dates.



Our first stop was at Tipsoo Lake, where we walked a short and flat trail around the lake. There was still a lot of snow on the trail, but nothing too dangerous, and since its flat it was easy to navigate.







We then headed to White River Campground to grab a spot at this first-come-first serve campground. The place was still half empty when we got there at 3PM, so we had our choice of location and got a nicely shaded spot.

Next, we headed to the Sunrise Visitor Center to check out the park’s layout and to get some souvenirs. We’d been hoping to hike to Dege Peak, but a park ranger warned us that due to the heavy snow they’d had several injuries over the last few days, and that we should not attempt it. We instead settled on hiking Emmons Vista & Silver Forest trail- it was an easy hike with beautiful views, and best of all, the trail was empty.







We stopped at the Sunrise Point lookout for some more great views.





Back at the campsite, we got a fire going and dinner prepped. The temps had been pretty high, about 80F during the day, and the night temp only dropped to the low 60s, which made sleeping a little less comfortable than what we’d gotten used to, but we managed.



Tuesday morning, back at the Sunrise Visitor Center, we headed out to the Mt Fremont Lookout tower via Frozen Lake. The hike is 5.4 miles and took us under 3 hours. There are some steep sections on the trail, but it wasn’t too difficult.







At the trail’s endpoint, near the tower, we spent some time rolling in the snow to cool off…





The views from the fire tower:





The journey back was just as spectacular as the climb had been.







We then spent some time relaxing with cold drinks at the shop near the Sunrise Visitor center, before heading down into the valley to the town of Packwood, in hunt of a shower. We tried an RV park with no luck, so we headed to the Packwood Inn. This is not a place that I would spend the night at, and the shower wasn’t much better… The water was at a set temperature of  ‘burn your skin off’, and to make matters worse it was 101F in Packwood, which made us nearly pass out from the heat. Once we were back on the mountain with cooler temperatures, we appreciated the shower a little more. We had reservations at the Ohanapecosh Campground and made an early night.

This side of the park (Ohanapecosh, Paradise, and Longmire) is generally much wetter than the Sunrise side, and indeed there were some mosquitoes around, but we didn’t get to see any rain- just intense heat and blisteringly blue skies.

Our drive on Wednesday morning was along Stevens Canyon Rd, with our first stop at Box Canyon.





Next up was Reflection Lakes



and Inspiration Point.



We then headed to the Paradise section of the park, and started at the Henry M. Jackson Memorial Visitor Center. We met a frum family from Scottsdale whose kids were super excited about all the snow around😊.

This area of the park was more crowded than Sunrise had been, and the trails were pretty full. The temps were great, at high 60s to 70F, and we started with the easy Nisquilly Vista Trail.





From there our goal had been to hike the Skyline Trail to Glacier Vista, but the upper parts of the trail were completely snowed in, with large danger signs posted.



Not wanting to take the risk, we instead headed to Myrtle Falls, hiked up a bit of the Golden Gate trail, and then doubled back to the Alta Vista trail via Skyline Trail. The trails were all beautiful, with lots of melting snow creating gushing streams. The steepest and most difficult part of this route was up the Alta Vista, which is insanely steep.


Myrtle Falls


Golden Gate trail


Golden Gate trail


A hoary marmot







We then drove along Ricksecker Point, a short scenic drive with multiple overlooks.





Our final stop of the day was at Christine Falls Bridge.



We had reservations for Cougar Rock Campground, so being all hiked out we headed over and settled in for the night.

Thursday morning, we started with a 2-hour drive to the WA Parks Mt Saint Helens Interpretive Center.



It was fascinating to learn about this active volcano, and the destruction the 1980 eruption wrought. We’d been hoping to drive up to the mountain, but the road was partially closed, so we scrapped those plans.



Inching closer to the Oregon border, we came upon the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. The Columbia River acts as a boundary between Washington and Oregon and is full of great hikes and spectacular waterfalls.


Cape Horn Lookout

We then came upon the Washington Shore Visitor Center, and noticed that they have a Visitor Orientation Building, so we decided to check it out. It was a fascinating learning experience! It covers the operations of the Bonneville Lock & Dam, which generates power for the area. They also have fish ladders installed to help the fish pass safely, which was cool to see.






Lamprey Eels

We then crossed the Bridge of the Gods ($3 toll here) and headed into Oregon, to explore that side of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area.

We found Safeway gas stations in Washington to be fairly priced (gas in Washington was much more expensive when compared to other states), but the cheapest gas stations were those on tribal lands, since they don’t pay any taxes- as an example regular gas stations were ~$4.50/gallon, while tribal gas stations were $3.50/gallon.

While we explored a great part of Washington State, we did not have time to explore some really great place such as the town of Leavenworth, the San Juan Islands (great place to see orcas in season), and Mt Baker, which has an amazing glacier hike.

During Week 3 & 4 of our trip we drove 1,538 miles and visited Washington’s 3 national parks.

[cgr]

I highly recommend reading this trip’s Overview, which explains more about our planning, sleeping, and eating arrangements.

We crossed the Bridge of the Gods to explore the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. The Oregon side has over 90 waterfalls, making it the area with the highest concentration of waterfalls in the United States.

Our first stop in Oregon was at Multnomah Falls, which at 620’ is one of the tallest year-round waterfalls in the USA. There is a $2 timed entry ticket required if entering before 5:30PM (seasonal) bookable via rec.gov (https://www.recreation.gov/timed-entry/10089144), but since we pulled into the lot at 5:27PM, we decided to wait 3 minutes to enter, rather than pay.



We hiked up to the fall’s various viewpoints, to see it from different angles.




The Upper Falls

Our next stop was at Wahkeena Falls, located just off the road.



Other popular waterfalls which we did not stop at include Bridal Veil Falls and Latourell Falls.

For our final stop at Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, we chose Crown Point State Scenic Corridor, for magnificent views.





At some point during the day, we started browsing for accommodations for Thursday- Sunday. We narrowed down our choice to Hyatt House Portland/Downtown, because we specifically wanted a suite, since we were planning on eating the Friday night meal at the hotel. Hyatt did not have any suites available on their site, but Chase did. By the time we were ready to book a room we had missed Chase’s cutoff for same day reservations, so our only choice at that point was to book Thursday night via Hyatt (standard room) utilizing a Hyatt FNC, and Friday-Sunday via Chase (suite) utilizing 25k CSR points. At check-in we explained to the clerk that we had a 3-night stay booked, but that the reservation was split in two, and he gladly combined them and made a suite available to us for all 3 nights.

Parking in Portland was a big issue for us, as crime is rampant, and we did not want to park on the street. We ended up finding what looked like a somewhat decent parking garage two blocks from the hotel, and paid $68 for Thursday PM through Sunday AM.

On Friday morning we headed to Café at the J for breakfast,







and from there to Safeway and Trader Joe’s for our weekly grocery run. While Safeway had a large kosher selection (Barbur Blvd location), most of the bakery items were dairy Cholov Stam (see Portland Kosher info here https://oregonkosher.org/locally-kosher-o/).


The price of kosher meat at Safeway

Shabbos night our meal was replete with wine, sourdough loaves, salmon, fresh homemade dips, chicken soup (from the freezer section at Safeway- not very edible), kugel, and farfel. Yum!

We had contacted various Chabad locations in Portland in the weeks prior, and it appeared that none were centrally located in the downtown area. Rabbi Hahn from Spokane put us in touch with Rabbi Wilhelm from Chabad of Northeast Portland, and he graciously invited us for Shabbos morning davening & kiddush. While the walk to shul was 1.5 hours (we could have stayed a bit closer to Chabad, but a suite was more important to us than a shorter walk), the temps were in the 90s, and it required walking through several homeless encampments, we still had a great time. We spent some time on Shabbos afternoon walking along Portland’s waterfront, and relaxing.

Sunday morning, after a lazy start, we headed to Powell's City of Books on Burnside St, the largest bookstore in the US. We spent way too much time and money here, but we loved every minute of it.



There is more to do in Portland, such as the famed botanical gardens, but we were eager to get back into nature and explore some of Oregon’s Pacific Coast Highway. While there are some great stops on the coast further north such as Ecola State Park, Cannon Beach, Devils Cauldron, and Neahkahnie South Viewpoint, we started with Cape Meares State Scenic Viewpoint. The temps on the coast were 30° cooler than in Portland, about 60F, and the sky kept changing from intense fog to bright blue to fog again.


We pulled over at random beaches to admire the views


We pulled over at random beaches to admire the views

Note that there is almost no cellphone reception along the coast here, even when passing through the ‘bigger’ towns.




Cape Meares State Scenic Viewpoint

We then stopped at Devils Punchbowl Arch.





It was getting rather cold, so we headed to South Beach State Park’s campgrounds for a shower. We then headed to the Recreation Center in Newport, which allows overnight parking. After a hot filling meal, we settled down for the night.

The next morning, after davening and breakfast, we headed to Devil's Churn Viewpoint. The sky was a perfect blue, and with temps at 60F, it was perfection itself.





We then headed up the hill to Cape Perpetua Viewpoint.



Next up we stopped at Thor's Well and Sprouting Horn, but the tide wasn’t too strong, so the horn wasn’t too sprouty…





The wind along the coast was punishing, and there were several instances where I felt close to being blown away- literally.

We then headed to Heceta Head, but the beach was rather crowded, so we headed to a nearby overlook instead.







Our final stop of the day was at the Oregon Dunes Day Use Area, where we hiked at some of the dunes.





We then headed to the Jessie M. Honeyman Memorial State Park Campground, where for $23 we secured a campsite and access to great showers. The campground was almost fully sold out, but thankfully we snagged one of the last spots available for that night.

Wanting to see a proper Pacific Coast sunset, we headed to the campsites H Loop to climb over two massive dunes, where we were told there are great sunset views.



The hike was short but incredibly steep, and hiking dunes is harder than snow (taking off our shoes helped a bit), but while the sunset views were nice, they were not otherworldly.





We did get some great moon shots though…



Tuesday was our off day, so we left the campgrounds late and started our first intentional drive east on this trip, towards Crater Lake National Park. The drive from the coast to the park is about 4 hours, mostly along state and county roads, with many areas seemingly under drought, as the landscape was completely yellowed. The drive was incredibly hilly and at some point, the temps went from 60F to 95F in under 30 minutes! The temps then dropped a bit as we got closer to the park and settled in the high 70s.

Planning a visit to Crater Lake National Park is rather simple, since most of the parks hikes and overlooks are along Rim Drive, which encircles Crater Lake.



We entered the park from the North and stopped at Cleetwood Cove Overlook and Watchman Overlook for some great views.





We kept pulling over at random points to observe the views.







We then headed to Rim Village Visitor Center for some souvenirs. Here we also learned that some of the Rim Rd was closed for repairs, which meant that some of our intended hikes were inaccessible. Additionally, this prevented us from circling the road in one direction the next day, and instead we had to double back and pass over some sections twice (not a huge inconvenience with those beautiful views everywhere).



We had hoped to snag a spot at Mazama Campground, but they were all sold out for the night. They allowed us to use their showers (hot water was to be imagined), and directed us to the Thousand Springs Sno-Park, outside the park’s proper, for free overnight camping. On the way over to the sno-park an intense hailstorm suddenly hit- while it only lasted for 2 minutes, the temps dropped from the high 70s to below 60F, which created comfortable conditions for the night when temps dropped even further.

We caught a quick glimpse of a bear in the woods.



The next morning, we started our day by hiking the Godfrey Glen Trail, which has great views of volcanic pinnacles. We were the only hikers on the trail, so it was relaxing and quiet.





From Godfrey Glen we headed to Vidae Falls.



With the Rim Road closed ahead, our last stop on this side (which was blessedly quiet and empty) was Sun Notch Trail, which has great views of Crater Lake’s “Phantom Ship”.












Phantom Ship

Across the lake, up in the mountains, we could see a large wildfire burning.



We had to skip Kerr Notch, Plaikni Falls Trail, Pinnacles Overlook, Pumice Castle Overlook, Mount Scott Trail, and Cloudcap Overlook due to the road being closed, and instead circled the park all the way to where the road was closed from the other side.






Getting closer to the wildfire…

We then headed back along the open portion to Cleetwood Cove Trail, which drops 700 feet, all the way down to the lake. I had expected the trail to be exhausting, due to the steep climb on the return, but it was a lot easier than anticipated.



The entire 2.2-mile trek, with the 700 feet down and then back up, and us spending over 30 minutes down by the lake, took us under 1.5 hours.



We then drove 1.5 hours to LaPine State Park Campground, where we got a campsite for $21. There were plenty of free camping options available on this route, but we figured that since a truck stop shower would cost us $17, we might as well pay $21 for a campsite with showers, a picnic table, and a firepit. Unbeknownst to us, this would be our last night car camping on this trip…

We could have easily driven all the way to Smith Rock State Park, where we planned to start our day the next morning, but the temps were inching closer to trip digits, and LaPine, even though it was close to 90F when we pulled in, showed temps dropping to the high 40s for the night, while anything in lower elevations was showing 70F or even 80F for the night, which wasn’t an option for us when car camping.

There was an extreme burn hazard in the area (this would continue to be the case until a week later when we hit Nebraska), so campfires were not allowed. We made do with a hot dinner, and our new squirrelly friend (I did not approve of my husband allowing him to eat our leftover mini marshmallows).



The next morning, we awoke to crispy temps in the mid-40s, but as soon as we started driving towards Bend, OR the temperature started climbing, and it was well over 80 by the time we made it to Smith Rock State Park. The conditions were rather hazy due to several wildfires burning in the area, and with the hot temps we weren’t too sure how smart it was to take on a longer hike, but we decided to schlep along plenty of water and give it a go. We opted for Misery Ridge as a loop, which is 3.7-miles and 900 ft elevation gain.



We hiked the trail in the counterclockwise direction, and did the steep section of trail extremely slowly, as I was worried about the heat. Thankfully we did not suffer any adverse effects, and the views were incredible and definitely worth the effort.








Monkey Face

The trail took us a little over 2 hours to complete, although in better weather it should take much faster.





By the time we made it back to the car, it was well over 90F, and we stopped by a local shop in town for some cold drinks.

Back on the road we drove 1.5 hours east towards the Painted Hills Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument.



The Monument is comprised of 3 units- the Clarno Unit, the Sheep Rock Unit, and the Painted Hills Unit. The Sheep Rock Unit also seemed interesting, but due to the heat we focused on exploring just Painted Hills.



Google Maps’ route to the Painted Hills Unit sent us on a private drive with no access to the park. We decided to continue driving along the road, in the hopes that Google Maps would eventually reroute us to the actual park entrance, which was indeed the case. The Unit is easy to navigate as all overlooks and trails branch out of one dirt road, but we were forced to keep hiking to a minimum since it was 105F here.









That day turned out to have the largest temperature jump on our trip, with the morning starting at a cool 46° in LaPine, and hitting a toasty 105° in Painted Hills.

At about 4:30PM we had had enough of the heat for the day, and started our drive east towards Boise, Idaho. The drive took nearly 5 hours (plus we lost an hour driving from PDT to MDT) and involved numerous detours due to intense wildfires in the area. In some areas the interstate was covered in pink fire-retardant substance that had been dropped by firefighting planes.

We found Oregon to be a beautiful state, and highly underrated!  There are many more beautiful spots to explore that we did not get a chance to, including Wahclella Falls, Mount Hood, 3 Sister Volcano Peaks, Hells Canyon, Alvord Desert, Timber Gulch, and lots more!

During Week 5 of our trip we drove 1,037 miles and visited Oregon’s only national park.

[cgr]

I highly recommend reading this trip’s Overview, which explains more about our planning, sleeping, and eating arrangements.

After a 5-hour drive and crossing from PDT to MDT (which put us at 6 hours on the clock) we arrived in Boise, Idaho. We checked into the Hyatt Place Boise/Meridian for 9.5k Hyatt points- we were really hoping to have less of a drive, but there were no decent hotels between Painted Hills, OR and Boise, ID. Thankfully the hotel had a laundry room on the premises, so we were able to get our laundry done for the week easily. Another surprise was the three NY cars in the lot! We did not get to meet any of the owners, but by the looks of it they were not rental vehicles.

The next morning, we had a very important errand to get done, as many of you who were following our trip in real time will remember. We had hit the 5k-mile mark on this trip and were now due for an oil change! After completing our food run for the week, we headed to a nearby Valvoline to get the deed done. The attendant was not impressed with the color of the oil and said that it was not overly black for the number of miles we had driven.

We had been thinking of doing some touring around Boise, such as the Botanical Gardens, State Capitol, and Anne Frank Memorial Park, but the temps were already in the high 90s, with the highs predicted to top out 107F, so we decided to head over to the Airbnb we had booked for Shabbos, instead of spending time outdoors. Heat like this is not necessarily the standard for Boise in summer- there was an excessive heat wave in the area at the time. We made a quick stop at the Capitol building, just to view the exterior.



When we inquired with Chabad in Boise as to options of where to stay for Shabbos close by, the nearest option was a Hyatt hotel 1.5 miles from the Rabbi’s house. Originally this seemed to work for us, as we don’t mind walking longer distances. As we got closer to Shabbos and saw the heat index, we realized that this would not be a possibility, so we started looking for Airbnb’s closer to the Rabbi’s home. Nothing was available in the immediate area, and we had almost given up at spending Shabbos amongst Yidden, when at the last minute, an Airbnb about 20 minutes away opened up. We figured that we’d drink plenty of water before and after to make it work. We stayed at Luna and Devin's Cozy Home Stays (https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/53510620), which was clean, comfortable, and roomy.

We had an amazing Shabbos with the Lifshitz’s and met some amazing people.

Sunday morning, we drove 2 hours from Boise to Shoshone Falls. We started at the Twin Falls Visitor Center which has some great views of the Snake River.



We then headed to the actual falls, where there is a $5 entry fee.

Shoshone Falls is often referred to as the “Niagara of the West”. It is 212 feet in height- 45 feet higher than Niagara Falls.





The falls were nice, but not life altering. Since it was well into summer, the water level was medium- in early spring when the snowpacks are melting the water levels are much higher, creating a stronger and more spectacular flow.



At the Twin Falls Visitor Center I had picked up a brochure of interesting sites in the area, and the one that caught my eye was the Minidoka National Historic Site Visitor Center. Approximately 13k Japanese Americans were interred in Minidoka during WWII on suspicion of being loyal to the Japanese Emperor. There were 10 similar internment camps throughout the US, and I had always wanted to visit one to learn more about it. The site is just a short 30-minute drive from Shoshone, so we decided to go for it.



While very few of the original buildings remain, the visitor center is informative, with a 30-minute film that summarizes all the informational items displayed throughout.



We spent some time walking through the area and exploring the few remaining buildings, which are only open once a year during a remembrance ceremony.





Our final stop of the day was at Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve, approximately 1.5 hours from Minidoka. This is a massive preserve, with just a very small portion accessible to visitors. There is a small Visitor Center at the entrance, and then an easy-to-follow route that takes visitors to all hikes and overlooks. If they provide access to more of the remote regions, I can easily see this becoming a National Park.







The area provided essential field training for the Apollo 14 astronauts- they traversed the forbidding landscape to familiarize themselves with what the moon might be like.







We hiked various trails,







And enjoyed the overlooks.









We also hiked Indian Cave, a fun underground hike through a series of caves. Thankfully the bats gave us privacy, so we didn’t meet any of them. We got a free cave hiking permit at the visitor center- they basically ask you a few questions to make sure that you weren’t near any possibly invasive species recently, and then you’re good to go.



It had been in the 90s all day, and the temps weren’t expected to drop too much, so we decided to drive 1.5 hours and check into the Home2 Suites by Hilton Idaho Falls for 35k points.

Other great places in Idaho that we didn’t have a chance to explore include the Selkirk Mountains, Bear Lake, and the Sawtooth Range/Sawtooth Scenic Byway.

Our original plan for Monday had been to drive 10 hours from Idaho Falls all the way to Hot Springs, SD. Tuesday would be an off day/fast day, and on Wednesday & Thursday we’d tour the parks in South Dakota. Monday morning, realizing that we’d be passing through Grand Teton National Park, and that we’d be oh-so-close to Yellowstone National Park, we simply couldn’t resist the temptation, and decided to scratch our driving plans and spend the day in the parks instead. This visit was very different from our visit in June, as it was a lot hotter (high 70s to low 80s), and conditions were very hazy due to the various wildfires in the region.




June 5, 2024 (pictured) vs July 22, 2024 (below)


June 5, 2024 (above) vs July 22, 2024 (pictured)

We had been on the lookout for pronghorn on our last visit, but hadn’t seen any, nor had we seen any pronghorn in the various parks we had visited on this trip that usually do have occasional sightings, so we were really hoping to see those… additionally, we had not gotten to explore Lamar Valley in Yellowstone on our last trip, so that was another push for us to give this a go.

Our first stop of the day was at the Homewood Suites in Jackson, to pick up our bear spray that we’d left there in June- the drive from Idaho Falls to here meant driving on the newly opened Teton Pass Road which had washed out in the spring.

We then headed into Grand Teton National Park, and stopped at the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center, where we met another frum family. We spent some time enjoying the views and driving through the hordes of buffalo in Antelope Flats- the Flats had definitely not been as full of wildlife in June.



We then headed north to the Yellowstone South Entrance, where we had to wait about 5 minutes in line to enter- a contrast from our previous visit when the park had been close to empty.




The bathroom at Grant Visitor Center- I wonder what happened here

We then drove through a large portion of Yellowstone National Park, to Lamar Valley. The Valley was packed with bison, and we could barely move more than a few feet at a time.








video

We also caught glimpses of grizzly,



a black wolf, but alas, no pronghorn…

Since it was getting dark, we pulled over at a designated picnic spot and set up our grill for supper. We were both armed with bear spray, and every noise made us jump- it was definitely not the pleasantest experience. At some point a pesky fox decided to join us, and my husband kept trying to chase it off. Our one consolation was that the fox would know of a grizzly was in the area before we would, and if he was around then perhaps we were safe…

We had a nice few hours of driving to the nearest available hotel, and in moments of spotty connection we booked the Best Western Plus Plaza Hotel in Thermopolis, WY with Chase points. The drive took us through the Beartooth Mountains, considered one of the most scenic drives in the US, but we saw none of it in the black of night. We finally made it to Thermopolis to be greeted by a horrible egg/sulfur smell in the area. To make things worse, the clerk informed us that there were no room keys available since the magnetic machine was broken, and that he would open the door for us once, and past that we should make sure that someone stays in the room at all times, not to get locked out. Great. Exhausted and with no energy to find an alternative, we headed to our room for a few hours of sleep, only to be woken a few short minutes later with the amazing news from back home- my brother-in-law was engaged!

The next morning was a fast day, and with us not knowing if we were heading home for an engagement party that was yet to be scheduled, we headed to Casper, WY, which has a commercial airport. The first part of the drive from Thermopolis to Casper via US 20E passes through the Wind River Canyon, and is incredibly scenic, until the landscape flattens out. Upon arriving in Casper, we passed the time at the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center, waiting for a phone call from home with news as to the timing of the engagement party. We found the Interpretive Center to be interesting and informative, with exhibits on the Oregon Trail, California Trail, Pony Express, and Mormon Trail, although the bumpy ride imitating what a carriage ride felt like was not the best idea for a fast day…



At some point in the afternoon my mother-in-law informed us that the engagement party was scheduled for the next night- Wednesday. That started a mad rush trying to chart a way home, with tens of plans devised and scratched. Our only way home would require 12 hours of travel (either by driving to Denver or Salt Lake City, or by flying with 2 stops), and would cost us $2k+ or 200k points. We would then also need to fly back to wherever we departed from, to retrieve our car. The earliest start to this journey would be Wednesday AM, and we would land in NY after 6PM, which would mean missing half the party anyway… After spending hours on the various options, we came to the conclusion that there was just no reasonable way of making it back in time, and we decided, albeit dejectedly and with major FOMO, that we would continue on our trip and miss the party.

We then proceeded to drive 3 hours (stopping at some point to break the fast) to the Super 8 by Wyndham Custer/Crazy Horse Area, which we partially booked using our $50 Chase Sapphire Preferred credit.

Other great stops in Wyoming include the Devils Tower National Monument and the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.

The next morning, we started our day at the Wind Cave National Park Visitor Center. This park is known for its large and winding underground caves, which is usually visitable by guided ranger tours. Unfortunately, they were in the process of repairing the elevators that take visitors underground, so all cave tours were suspended until November 2024.



We drove through the park’s scenic route and saw bison, whitetail deer (it was a real treat to see these graceful animals running across the grasslands!), and of course my husband’s favorite- prairie dogs.





The road from Wind Cave National Parks connects to Custer State Park, which charges a $20 fee for entry. Custer State Park is divided into three sections- the Wildlife Loop, Needles Highway, and Iron Mountain Road. These three, along with Mt Rushmore, make up the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway.

We started with the wildlife loop and saw more bison and prairie dogs, as well as burros. These have been nicknamed ‘begging burros’ as they come up to passing cars for food. They’re very docile, and we walked right up to them without them feeling threatened- feeding and standing close to them is allowed. These burros were originally pack-animals of local miners, but they were eventually left to roam freely.









Next, we stopped at the Peter Norbeck Visitor Center, before continuing onto the Needles Highway. This section was the highlight of Custer State Park for me. The drive from the visitor center starts off rather plain, but gradually the landscape transforms to ‘needles’- granite spires. We kept pulling over to admire the views,







and then passed through the famed Needles Eye Tunnel, which is 8’ wide and 9'9" high.






The “eye” of the needle

There are many cool formations in this area:







We then proceeded to Sylvan Lake, which was by far the most crowded part of the park. We hadn’t done any hiking, since the temps were in the low 90s, but along the lake it was cooler and shady, so we opted for the 1-mile Sylvan Lake Shore Trail. This also gave us an opportunity to get away from the crowds, as not many people were on the trail.





The lake is naturally dammed by huge rocks.



Our final stop of the day was at the Mount Rushmore National Memorial.



The parking lot and the whole area is very commercialized, and while entry to the memorial is free, there is a $10 parking fee. We started our visit at the Lincoln Borglum Visitor Center, where we learnt more about the project and its sculptors. Next, we walked along Avenue of the Flags



to the Grand View Terrace which has some iconic views of the memorial.



We also walked the Presidential Trail, which has some up-close views of the monument. (We found the clockwise direction to be easier).





We did not stick around for the lighting program, which in summer is at 9PM, but if you’re looking for a late activity Mt. Rushmore is great for that. The visitor center is open til 10PM, and the monument til 11PM.

Just a short 40-minute drive later we checked into Home2 Suites by Hilton Rapid City for the night, which set us back 60k Hilton points.

The next morning, after a 45-minute drive along the I-90 with Wall Drug Store signs every few feet along the interstate, we pulled into the Wall Drug Store parking lot. This is a real tourist trap, but we decided to spend a few minutes checking it out. We had fun walking through the various stores, and best of all, due to the varied license plates in the parking lot, we managed to spot the last few license plates we still needed to complete our ‘collection’ of seeing all 48 contiguous states! We had also seen several Alaskan plates, as well as 2 EU registered vehicles (French and German), on this trip.





We then headed to Badlands National Park nearby. I was really looking forward to visiting this park as I love badlands and color, but unfortunately the haze was terrible, and the temps hit 100F by 11AM, and peaked at 110F later in the day. This meant almost no hiking and limited visibility, plus we had to deal with intense winds. While we still enjoyed our time here, I would like to come back here to see it in better condition.

We entered the park from Sage Creek Rim Road and stopped at the Sage Creek Basin Overlook.







We saw some bison far off in the distance.



Prairie dogs at the Roberts Prairie Dog Town.



Overlooks galore…





Some wildlife braving the heat:



We then proceeded to the North Unit’s Badlands Loop Road, which is the more popular section of the park, with many trails and overlooks branching off it.







We then headed to the Ben Reifel Visitor Center for some souvenirs and then continued on to a few more overlooks.







At the visitor center we learnt that the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site Visitor Center was just across the road, so we headed over to check it out. Ballistic missiles were manufactured and stored here during the Cold War- we did not get a chance to check out the actual silos, which are located several minutes from the Visitor Center, as those closer earlier in the day.



We had originally been hoping to make it to Chicago for Shabbos but since we had spent time off course in Yellowstone, it was late Thursday before we were ready to leave South Dakota, and Chicago was a 12-hour drive away. We were worried about leaving too much of the drive for Friday, so we decided instead to change plans, and head to Omaha, Nebraska. That would require just 6 hours of driving, something that we felt we could get done that night still. The drive was rather boring along the I-90 with just a short break for supper near Sioux Falls, SD, and then onto the I-29 passing into Iowa for hours on end with nothing but the cornfields to keep us company. It also involved losing an hour by passing from MDT to CDT, but we finally pulled into the Hyatt Place Omaha/Downtown-Old Market at 12:30AM, which we had booked for 8k Hyatt points. We had our first taste of humidity here since we had left Fargo, ND nearly 5 weeks before.

Other great stops in South Dakota include Crazy Horse Memorial, Jewel Cave National Monument, Deadwood, and the Geographic Center of the Nation Monument (this is the center of the USA of all 50 states- the center of the continuous US is located in Smith County, Kansas).

During Week 6 of our trip we drove 1,779 miles, went from MDT to CDT time zone, passed through 2 states, spent time in 3 states, and visited 4 national parks.

[cgr]

I highly recommend reading this trip’s Overview, which explains more about our planning, sleeping, and eating arrangements.

As mentioned, we had originally been hoping to make it to Chicago for Shabbos but had rerouted to Nebraska instead. After a restful night of sleep at the Hyatt Place Omaha/Downtown we woke up refreshed on Friday and headed to a local laundromat to get our laundry cleaned for the upcoming week. We then headed to the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Headquarters and Visitor Center- this is a tiny center, but they had an interesting 30-minute film on the Lewis & Clark expedition. It was a tad hard to follow since no modern terminology, such as the names of the states they were exploring, are used.

At this point our car looked like a mud ball, rather than a vehicle, so we stopped at a local car wash to get it cleaned- they did an amazing job- all for $25!

As soon as we had rerouted plans to Nebraska, we reached out to the local Chabad shluchim to see if they were open to visitors joining the meal, and they were more than happy to host us! The Katzman's have a nice hospitality house near the shul which they offered to us, as well as meals, that are usually hosted in the shul. Mi K’amcha Yisroel!

Sunday morning, with temps in the 90s, we started the 6.5-hour drive to Chicago via Iowa.



We’d been hoping to do something substantial in Iowa, so that we could consider the state “visited” on our list, and the best we found was Iowa 80, known as “The World's Largest Truckstop”.



We spent some time exploring the area and finished our visit at the Truck Museum they have onsite. We did not have a lot of time here as we arrived shortly before closing, but my husband enjoyed it immensely.





The only other stop of interest we found in Iowa was the State Law Library of Iowa.

A short 2.5 hours later we pulled into the Hilton Chicago/Oak Brook Hills Resort, the same hotel that we had stayed at when we first started this trip, exactly 6 weeks before. Since our previous stay had been in mid-June, and it was now end July, we were able to again take advantage of the Hilton Aspire $200 resort credit for a free night here (the $200 biannual Aspire resort credit resets on 6/30). This time around we were upgraded to a Junior Suite.

After freshening up in our room, we headed out to YOKO, a kosher Asian restaurant that had recently opened. Everything we ordered as 10/10.













The next morning, after a lazy start, we brunched at Emma's Bagel Café and drove an hour to Indiana Dunes National Park. When our plan had been to be in Chicago for Shabbos, we had hoped to tour some of the city but scratched that since it’s a place we’re bound to be back in sooner or later. I had explored Chicago previously- see my itinerary here.



Indiana Dunes National Park is one of those national parks that seemingly received their designation due to there being no other national parks in the vicinity, and not due to its inherent beauty… nevertheless we decided to check it out, since we hope to visit all national parks one day. We started at the Indiana Dunes Visitor Center for some maps and souvenirs.

We hiked Calumet Dunes, and then the West Beach/Dune Succession Trail.









There was a designated grilling area near the trailhead, so we set up a disposable grill and enjoyed a delicious dinner.

Our final stop of the day was at the Portage Lakefront & Riverwalk which was deserted and has some great views.



We then headed to the Comfort Inn & Suites nearby which we booked for 9k Chase points. The elevator was broken, and the hotel is situated close to the interstate which meant we heard the constant traffic, but we made do for one night.

The next morning, we hiked the Paul Douglas/Miller Woods 3.4-mile trail, which while exhausting in the heat, abuts at a nice beach that we enjoyed.







From there we once again drove west, towards Cleveland, OH. On this route we passed into our final time zone, from CDT to EDT, a sure sign that the trip was coming to an end…

We checked into the Hyatt Place Cleveland for 2 nights (utilizing 2 Hyatt FNCs), and headed to the famed Mendel's KC BBQ for dinner. The food was amazing, but the customer service could have used improvement.











The next morning, our last activity day of this trip, we headed to Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Similar to Indiana Dunes National Park, with no real beauty, this would be better designated as a city park…



We spent some time at the Boston Mills Visitor Cetner, before continuing on to Brandywine Falls.





From there we headed to the Ledges Area, where we enjoyed hiking amongst the trees and the rocks for some much-needed relief from the sun.









We then spent some time at the Kendall Area before heading back to Cleveland.

We stopped at Grand Coffee for some pastries and drinks and then headed back to our hotel for some rest. Later in the evening we headed to Issi's Place, where we were pleasantly surprised by the pizza.

I spent time in Cleveland on a previous trip, and was pleasantly surprised by some of the world class museums- you can read more about my previous trip here.

The next morning, we stopped by Unger's for some donuts, before driving the final stretch of road home. (For those of you wondering- the donuts were good, but not better than what I’m used to in NY…).

After nearly 7 weeks on the road, 9,567 miles on the odometer, and with memories to last a lifetime, we were home! Thank you Hashem for giving us this opportunity to explore so much of your amazing world!





During Week 7 of our trip we drove 1,591 miles, went from CDT to EDT time zone, passed through 3 states, spent time in 5 states, and visited 2 national parks.

[cgr]

Here are some cool stats about our trip:

Trip Stats

• Trip Length: 48 Days
• Miles Driven: 9,567
• Most miles driven in a single day: 572
• States Visited/Passed: 18- New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa
• Longest State Stay: Washington State, 14 Nights
• National Parks Visited: 14- Isle Royale National Park, Voyageurs National Park, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Glacier National Park, North Cascades National Park Complex, Olympic National Park, Mount Rainier National Park, Crater Lake National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Wind Cave National Park, Badlands National Park, Indiana Dunes National Park, Cuyahoga Valley National Park
• Miles Hiked: 100
• Time Zones Passed: 4
• Trip Cost: $35 per person per day (excluding food)

Gasoline Stats

• Total Spent: $1,173
• $ per Gallon (avg): $3.60
• Total Gallons: 325.4
• MPG: 29.4

Lodging Stats

• Hilton: 215k points/5 nights (redeemed at 0.6¢/point)
• Hyatt: 63.5k points/4 nights (redeemed at 1.8¢/point)
• Hyatt FNCs: 3 ($830 cash rate for those nights)
• Chase UR (CSR): 58k/5 nights (redeemed at 1.5¢/point)
• Hilton Aspire Resort Credits: 2X $200 for 2 nights
• CSP Hotel Credit: 1X $50- 1 night (+$85.05 out of pocket)
• Airbnb: $268.60/2 nights
• Campgrounds: $242/10 nights
• Chabad Hosts: 6 nights
• Free Parking Sites- 9 nights

[cgr]

Here is the original live blog that was updated in real-time, day by day, on our trip:
https://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=136658.0

[iwlw2]

WOW... Just wow

[Chilla]

The next morning, we stopped by Unger's for some donuts, before driving the final stretch of road home. (For those of you wondering- the donuts were good, but not better than what I’m used to in NY…).

Just ban, @Dan .

[Yehuda57]

As mentioned, we had originally been hoping to make it to Chicago for Shabbos but had rerouted to Nebraska instead. After a restful night of sleep at the Hyatt Place Omaha/Downtown we woke up refreshed on Friday and headed to a local laundromat to get our laundry cleaned for the upcoming week. We then headed to the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Headquarters and Visitor Center- this is a tiny center, but they had an interesting 30-minute film on the Lewis & Clark expedition. It was a tad hard to follow since no modern terminology, such as the names of the states they were exploring, are used.

At this point our car looked like a mud ball, rather than a vehicle, so we stopped at a local car wash to get it cleaned- they did an amazing job- all for $25!

As soon as we had rerouted plans to Nebraska, we reached out to the local Chabad shluchim to see if they were open to visitors joining the meal, and they were more than happy to host us! The Katzman's have a nice hospitality house near the shul which they offered to us, as well as meals, that are usually hosted in the shul. Mi K’amcha Yisroel!

You went to Omaha and didn't check out the zoo? Gotta go back :-)

[SSLPhD]

I read the whole thing, and had to keep a list of my thoughts.  Here goes:

1)  Great trip!  You visited some of my favorite national parks.  Voyageurs is one of those places that you can get away from everyone without backpacking.  Highly recommend spending a few days there.  Olympic and Mount Rainier are up there, too.

2)  In 2019, you were writing trip reports that started like this:  "I'm not that good at writing, so I'll keep it to bulleted points..."   Color me confused.

3) In Crater Lake, were you unable to get tickets for the boat ride to Wizard Island?

4) If you have reservations for a NP campground, you often don't need timed entry reservations, although some won't allow entry to the park before campground check-in time (usually about 1pm).

5) You had a photo of a fire tower.  In that part of the country, many of these fire towers are available to book for the night.  (Of course, you'd need to plan way in advance.)

6) CAMPING STOVE.  You can get propane or butane versions (or even dual fuel, available on Amazon for $32) and you can buy fuel almost anywhere (Walmart, Safeway, gas stations, etc).  Propane is probably easier to find, but butane is oh so simple.  CON: Not so good when you'll want to cook in hotels.

[cgr]

You went to Omaha and didn't check out the zoo? Gotta go back :-)

I'll think about it

[cgr]

2)  In 2019, you were writing trip reports that started like this:  "I'm not that good at writing, so I'll keep it to bulleted points..."   Color me confused.

I like to think that the point in life is to constantly improve...

[Sam 77]

Did you remember to do an oil change?

[~King Lake~]

Did you remember to do an oil change?

The next morning, we had a very important errand to get done, as many of you who were following our trip in real time will remember. We had hit the 5k-mile mark on this trip and were now due for an oil change! After completing our food run for the week, we headed to a nearby Valvoline to get the deed done. The attendant was not impressed with the color of the oil and said that it was not overly black for the number of miles we had driven.

[Young explorer]

They better change the Gulf name before they get fined