Hey everybody!
Well I am finally back from my road trip! My boyfriend and I drove from Vancouver Island to Calgary (with one overnight stop in Golden) we would have easily been able to do the drive in one day but we wanted to see the Rockies in the daylight. Anyway we stayed in Calgary for two nights where we visited with family, friends and went to the Stampede. From there we drove South into Montana (my new favorite place on earth) where we spent a night in St.Mary. St. Mary is one of the entrances into Glacier National Park and so we went into the park from there. We hiked a bit and camped out in Glacier. It was the best time of my life. From Glacier we went south again casually driving through Montana. We spent a night in Bozeman, which was a really nice place. We went to their Wal-Mart as we needed an inverter for the truck to charge batteries...well we got that for cheap and we also got a 4GB memory card for $30.00 (not on sale) and I got five pairs of sandals and a Burt’s bees lipchap all for $6.00. Montana is so beautiful and we can't wait to go back! After Bozeman we drove South once again into Yellowstone National Park which brought us into Wyoming. Yellowstone was beautiful and really neat but way too touristy for us.
So by this point we have seen loads of big horned sheep, lots of mountain goats, ground squirrels, chipmunks, wolves, coyotes, we saw a beaver on the way to Calgary, lots of deer and elk. The elk are like rabbits in Wyoming in that they are EVERYWHERE; I mean you would walk somewhere and walk right past a small herd. You could easily count thirty plus elk in a matter of minutes. We actually had three male elk walk right past our truck...as in I could have touched them from my vehicle but obviously wouldn’t/didn't. We got some great photos from that. We had to tell people to move away from the elk as he wanted to cross the road but people and cars had cornered him in. He started to get antsy and anybody with a brain could tell he was getting upset and was going to start getting aggressive. Keep in mind these elk were huge and had large racks on them. He did threaten to charge but still people got closer for a photo (we were still in our vehicle away from the elk) we yelled for them to move as he wants to cross and will get aggressive soon. He did start to get a bit aggressive and as we said what we did people finally moved and he got through to the other side. It was a bit comical as there was a buffalo lying down nearby just relaxing! Haha. There are also loads of buffalo there! They are beautiful but a dangerous animal-like any wild animal. They often end up goring tourists who are stupid enough to get too close for that photo. A few days previous from when we were there a young boy (6yrs old) was allowed to get too close to one and he was gored, flipped and played with by a buffalo...something that is a common occurrence! We saw a grizzly bear eating a buffalo with coyotes waiting nearby for their scraps! That was an amazing sight but a bit unnerving as we were camping close to the valley they were in. We saw two male moose hanging out together. Also one black bear. Anyway I've probably forgotten some animals we saw but that's okay.
From Wyoming we moved West into Idaho. Now everyone we had talked to said that the drive through southern Idaho was going to be terrible. We didn't believe that and in Yellowstone we met a family from Idaho. They psyched us up for a really amazing drive through southern Idaho...admittedly they did say Northern Idaho was much better. Anyway to be to the point it was a really bad drive. Although I would go back I think things would be done differently.
From our overnight stay in Ontario we traveled west once again going deeper into Oregon. I loved Oregon and have always loved Oregon so it was nice to be back. Upon arrival at Sisters, Oregon we were going to head over McKenzie Pass but much to our disgust it was closed due to a bit of snow in the pass. We were really upset because that was one of the reasons we went into the USA. It was okay though as we went the other route around to Eugene and I had never been that way and of course as per Oregon it was beautiful! We then stayed stayed with family in Aloha for the weekend. It was great being in a house with air conditioning! Haha. It was getting up to 36C...with the average being about 34C-35C.
From there we went up to Lacey, Washington to go to one of our favorite stores called Cabelas. It's basically the best store on earth if you are into hunting/fishing/camping etc. Anyway we spent a good four hours in there without completing our rounds of the store! haha. Only reason we left is they were closing. From there we drove to Bellingham to do a bit of shopping and then home! I've left A LOT of details out but you get the idea! haha.
The most we ever paid for gas was $1.08 for PREMIUM!!!!!!!!! It was like being in heaven! haha. Everyone down there was complaining about gas and we said where we're from we're paying 2.00 a gallon MORE than they are. Well they all almost passed out from shock! I think they considered themselves lucky after hearing that news.
The only trouble we had was that in Ontario when we were in the contenental breakfast room of the hotel this commercial came on the TV...it was the most racist thing I have ever seen on TV It portrayed a gas nozzle (like you use to fill up your car) wearing a keffiyeh (Arabic head dress) and dancing around trying to kill this man. The man fought him off...well the news came on and they were laughing/joking about this commercial! What was basically being said/implied is that the reason gas prices were so high was because of people from the Middle East. It was also implying that everyone in the Middle East is a terrorist and is going to kill you. It was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen! Then a man in the room blurted out "Well if they take our oil we have to kill them all!" I was so amazing he would say that in public, nevermind the fact that there were young children around. His family was so angry. My boyfriend and I just had to laugh because we know that the only place the USA gets oil from in the middle east is Saudi Arabia...Canada is the NUMBER ONE place it gets oil from. Africa is the other main source for oil...namely in Nigeria. It was just frustrating seeing someone SO ignorant and so misguided who is probably preaching death to all Arabics to his young child. It was amusing seeing someone know so little about their own countries economy and how it's all working but easily believing whatever he is told. Anyway that really ruffled a lot of peoples feathers. Luckily that was the only junk like that we saw.
Everybody was always really friendly but our favorite place was Montana! I would actually easily move there in an instant. It's so beautiful and peaceful. We just need to find out what winters in Montana are really like!
Anyway thanks for listening to my story! All in all it was one of the best trips I have ever done!
Well I am finally back from my road trip! My boyfriend and I drove from Vancouver Island to Calgary (with one overnight stop in Golden) we would have easily been able to do the drive in one day but we wanted to see the Rockies in the daylight. Anyway we stayed in Calgary for two nights where we visited with family, friends and went to the Stampede. From there we drove South into Montana (my new favorite place on earth) where we spent a night in St.Mary. St. Mary is one of the entrances into Glacier National Park and so we went into the park from there. We hiked a bit and camped out in Glacier. It was the best time of my life. From Glacier we went south again casually driving through Montana. We spent a night in Bozeman, which was a really nice place. We went to their Wal-Mart as we needed an inverter for the truck to charge batteries...well we got that for cheap and we also got a 4GB memory card for $30.00 (not on sale) and I got five pairs of sandals and a Burt’s bees lipchap all for $6.00. Montana is so beautiful and we can't wait to go back! After Bozeman we drove South once again into Yellowstone National Park which brought us into Wyoming. Yellowstone was beautiful and really neat but way too touristy for us.
So by this point we have seen loads of big horned sheep, lots of mountain goats, ground squirrels, chipmunks, wolves, coyotes, we saw a beaver on the way to Calgary, lots of deer and elk. The elk are like rabbits in Wyoming in that they are EVERYWHERE; I mean you would walk somewhere and walk right past a small herd. You could easily count thirty plus elk in a matter of minutes. We actually had three male elk walk right past our truck...as in I could have touched them from my vehicle but obviously wouldn’t/didn't. We got some great photos from that. We had to tell people to move away from the elk as he wanted to cross the road but people and cars had cornered him in. He started to get antsy and anybody with a brain could tell he was getting upset and was going to start getting aggressive. Keep in mind these elk were huge and had large racks on them. He did threaten to charge but still people got closer for a photo (we were still in our vehicle away from the elk) we yelled for them to move as he wants to cross and will get aggressive soon. He did start to get a bit aggressive and as we said what we did people finally moved and he got through to the other side. It was a bit comical as there was a buffalo lying down nearby just relaxing! Haha. There are also loads of buffalo there! They are beautiful but a dangerous animal-like any wild animal. They often end up goring tourists who are stupid enough to get too close for that photo. A few days previous from when we were there a young boy (6yrs old) was allowed to get too close to one and he was gored, flipped and played with by a buffalo...something that is a common occurrence! We saw a grizzly bear eating a buffalo with coyotes waiting nearby for their scraps! That was an amazing sight but a bit unnerving as we were camping close to the valley they were in. We saw two male moose hanging out together. Also one black bear. Anyway I've probably forgotten some animals we saw but that's okay.
From Wyoming we moved West into Idaho. Now everyone we had talked to said that the drive through southern Idaho was going to be terrible. We didn't believe that and in Yellowstone we met a family from Idaho. They psyched us up for a really amazing drive through southern Idaho...admittedly they did say Northern Idaho was much better. Anyway to be to the point it was a really bad drive. Although I would go back I think things would be done differently.
From our overnight stay in Ontario we traveled west once again going deeper into Oregon. I loved Oregon and have always loved Oregon so it was nice to be back. Upon arrival at Sisters, Oregon we were going to head over McKenzie Pass but much to our disgust it was closed due to a bit of snow in the pass. We were really upset because that was one of the reasons we went into the USA. It was okay though as we went the other route around to Eugene and I had never been that way and of course as per Oregon it was beautiful! We then stayed stayed with family in Aloha for the weekend. It was great being in a house with air conditioning! Haha. It was getting up to 36C...with the average being about 34C-35C.
From there we went up to Lacey, Washington to go to one of our favorite stores called Cabelas. It's basically the best store on earth if you are into hunting/fishing/camping etc. Anyway we spent a good four hours in there without completing our rounds of the store! haha. Only reason we left is they were closing. From there we drove to Bellingham to do a bit of shopping and then home! I've left A LOT of details out but you get the idea! haha.
The most we ever paid for gas was $1.08 for PREMIUM!!!!!!!!! It was like being in heaven! haha. Everyone down there was complaining about gas and we said where we're from we're paying 2.00 a gallon MORE than they are. Well they all almost passed out from shock! I think they considered themselves lucky after hearing that news.
The only trouble we had was that in Ontario when we were in the contenental breakfast room of the hotel this commercial came on the TV...it was the most racist thing I have ever seen on TV It portrayed a gas nozzle (like you use to fill up your car) wearing a keffiyeh (Arabic head dress) and dancing around trying to kill this man. The man fought him off...well the news came on and they were laughing/joking about this commercial! What was basically being said/implied is that the reason gas prices were so high was because of people from the Middle East. It was also implying that everyone in the Middle East is a terrorist and is going to kill you. It was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen! Then a man in the room blurted out "Well if they take our oil we have to kill them all!" I was so amazing he would say that in public, nevermind the fact that there were young children around. His family was so angry. My boyfriend and I just had to laugh because we know that the only place the USA gets oil from in the middle east is Saudi Arabia...Canada is the NUMBER ONE place it gets oil from. Africa is the other main source for oil...namely in Nigeria. It was just frustrating seeing someone SO ignorant and so misguided who is probably preaching death to all Arabics to his young child. It was amusing seeing someone know so little about their own countries economy and how it's all working but easily believing whatever he is told. Anyway that really ruffled a lot of peoples feathers. Luckily that was the only junk like that we saw.
Everybody was always really friendly but our favorite place was Montana! I would actually easily move there in an instant. It's so beautiful and peaceful. We just need to find out what winters in Montana are really like!
Anyway thanks for listening to my story! All in all it was one of the best trips I have ever done!
