From Portland, I headed up the coast of Oregon, made a pit-stop at the beach where the Goonies was filmed (how could I not), and continued on to Seattle. A dear friend from Purdue, Dyann, met me there and will continue on with me all the way to Colorado! We spent the day tooling around Seattle, with my favorite part being Pikes Place Market, specifically the flowers and the clam chowder sold there. After a fun night out with Dyann’s friend, we set out for Glacier National Park the next day, one of my more anticipated destinations!

Glacier met every single expectation I had and went beyond. It’s hard to explain the beauty. Snow-capped mountains, turquoise blue lakes, wildflowers, it was idyllic. We took a drive up the winding Going-to-the-Sun Road and stopped to see all the gorgeous views. It reminded me of what I have always thought the Swiss Alps would look like. Glacier is not an easy place to get to, it lies on the border of Montana and Canada, far away from many signs of civilization. This keeps the crowds fairly low and provides a landscape unlike any other I’ve seen in the U.S. We were able to take a hike to a lake, saw another black bear, and raced back to our campsite in the pouring rain! The weather in Glacier wasn’t ideal and we missed seeing some wildlife we were looking forward to (no moose sightings, bummer). But to me, that didn’t matter. Glacier was magnificent. It jumped to the top of the “Places I’ll Be Revisiting” list. I absolutely fell in love.