Venuelust: Laura Grier’s 3-part series on North America road-tripping.
It's pretty surprising just HOW easy and cheap it is to pack up your car and take off on a road trip through the United States.
No wonder why droves of Europeans fly over here during the summer, rent an RV and just take a tour of all of our National Parks. What is more surprising is that it has taken me over 15 years of wishing to finally just DO IT! I always thought that leaving the country was the only way to have a truly exotic adventure, but oh how wrong I was!
As a destination photographer, it’s rare that I ever have two weeks off in the middle of my busy Summer wedding season. Whenever I have time off my first thought is always,
what country should I go visit?
Instead, I realized that there is so much of my own country that I have never seen before. I never have time off during good weather, so I felt I had a rare opportunity to go see Utah, Wyoming, and Montana in one, long, epic road trip.
With zero hotels or campgrounds booked, no idea of where the road would take me, I brought just my bare essentials to pile into my car: my camping gear, photography equipment, great music, some fun costumes and props, and a great travel companion, Sarah Natasha. It turns out that these are the only things I needed to bring to have an amazing, epic adventure, and the photos to prove it!
Utah
We began our trip driving from Los Angeles to Zion National Park. We secured the last campground, googled the best hike to go on and discovered a hidden gem in the Park called "The Narrows." The Narrows is deep within the canyon of Zion National Park and you have to take the shuttle from the visitor's center to get there. The hike itself gets its name because you are hiking along a river and then the two canyon walls get so narrow on either side of you (about 20 feet wide) that for most of the hike you are walking through the river itself.
We wore just bathing suits and had our camera gear in a waterproof backpack and we splashed through the canyon hike for hours, stopping to swim and take hilarious videos and photos. It was the perfect kind of hike to do during the hot afternoon sun. After the refreshing hike, we made it back to our campground, missing the heat of the day and settled in to grill our dinner and camp out.
The next day we took off again to hit the town of Moab, which is the epicenter for visiting Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Petrified Forest National Park, and Deadhorse Point State Park. Not to mention there is every adventure activity to do there from riding ATV's to white water rafting.
Moab is such a cute little town with an actual nightlife and people come from all over to backpack and discover the glorious, unique landscape by day, and drink in the bars by night. We opted to go to the most famous of all, Arches National Park and to drive through Monument Valley on the way there. The landscape of Utah changes so quickly as you are driving. Just as quickly as the desert turned into mountains and rivers in Zion, it turned back into
We opted to go to the most famous of all, Arches National Park and to drive through Monument Valley on the way there. The landscape of Utah changes so quickly as you are driving. Just as quickly as the desert turned into mountains and rivers in Zion, it turned back into desert and then into bizarre rock formations and arches dotting the horizon.
We found out a lot about the geology of that area. That the landscape used to be the bottom of an ocean, then the waters evaporated leaving a huge salt bed, that over millions of years had silt and sediment deposited on top of it from the rivers of the Rocky Mountains.
All of that weight made the salt unstable and it pushed up all of these rock formations, which the wind and sand eroded into the arches you see today. It's quite amazing to even imagine all of this when you are standing in this alien landscape. Sarah and I made sure to do a photo shoot in every national park we came across, even though it was about 110 degrees at Arches while we were there. You could honestly spend a week there and not see everything the Moab area has to offer.
Sarah and I were obsessed with the abandoned train cars that we saw along the way in the desert. We would pull over, scale the barbed wire fences in our costumes, and do a photo shoot every time we came across one.
There is something so lonely about these train cars, sort of a glimpse into the excitement of discovering the wild west in the past. In our own way, we were rediscovering the wild west for ourselves and I realized that there is still SO much land here in the United States. For as crowded as this planet is getting, you can still drive for stretches of 7 hours and not see a living soul.
After Arches, we drove up towards Deer Valley outside of Salt Lake City and decided to camp for the night. The landscape drastically changed again in one afternoon from scorching desert to lush mountains and valleys. A moose, my first sighting of one ever, ran in front of our car and it started to get me excited for the wildlife I was about to witness in Yellowstone National Park the following week.
Sarah and I had a decadent dinner that night by our campfire. We had been able to stop by a Whole Foods near Deer Valley and picked up some gourmet groceries. We grilled zucchini, portabello mushrooms, asparagus, had quinoa and even ate gourmet smores made from oatmeal graham crackers, vanilla bean marshmallows, and dark chocolate...Mmmmmm.
The temperature dropped to a comfortable 70 degrees and the sky was filled with stars. That night may have been one of the best meals of our trip and it was so simplistic, just us two by the campfire under the night sky telling stories. I wondered why I hadn't ever done this earlier.
Click to view the full feature – PART 1
It has been a dream of mine to see Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons since I was a little girl. Who hasn't heard of Old Faithful or wanted to see the herds of buffalos that still roam the plains there? A remnant of centuries past where they used to roam freely all over the United States. I felt a surge of energy crossing over the border from Utah into Wyoming.
{In case, you missed Part-1-Utah}
You realize that the wildlife dictates many of these people's lives, from the antler decor everywhere, to the names of businesses all mentioning Moose or Grizzly Bears. We stopped and asked directions from a guy and he donned a huge belt buckle that said "Wyoming" and we knew that we had entered the land of cowboys and ranches and definitely asked the right guy for directions:)
Sarah and I stayed at her family's home at the base of the Grand Tetons and got a good night's sleep getting ready for our first epic day of driving through and photographing Yellowstone. We had NO idea just how vast the Tetons and Yellowstone National Park were.
The park itself is the size of Delaware and Rhode Island combined and there are only 5 entrances into the park from different states and you have to be prepared to drive for hours. We opted to conquer the lower loop of Yellowstone park. Thinking it would take 6 hours, we underestimated our obsession with the geysers and how often we would stop to take photos. That loop took us 12 hours and was only 1/4th of the park!
What we saw was so stunning, though. Herds of buffalo crossed in front of our car, huge elk were within 15 feet of us, the geysers bubbled and boiled and the bacteria that surrounds them shone every color of the rainbow. We had a perfect blue sky and puffy white clouds, and could not have had better photo conditions. There are not many places to stop or find food or restrooms, so at one point I pulled over to find what I thought would be a quiet place in the woods and discovered a raging waterfall that crashed down 1000 feet into this canyon, known as the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Sarah and I didn't even know it existed and just happened to stumble across this natural wonder!
Yellowstone National Park is the very first national park in the world and has such an interesting history. People used to take trains and covered wagons across the US to discover its wonders. The US army used to be in charge of the park, protecting it from poachers for 50 years, until the 1970's where it was handed back to the National Park service. As a tribute to the army, the park rangers still wear the traditional cavalry hats that the army wore (just like in the cartoon Yogi Bear). A massive fire in 1988 took out 150,000 acres of the park and you can see the wake of the dead, fallen trees, all bleached white over time. This drastic contrast of burnt trees and whitebark prompted us to stop and do a photo shoot in this abandoned forest.
I mean, what’s a road trip without some epic selfies along the way? The best perk of doing a road trip is having your “turtle shell” on your back and being able to bring lots of extra gear. In our case, that meant our camera gear and tons of ridiculous outfits and colorful props to adorn ourselves in our tripod selfies.
Sarah and I were obsessed with these bleached-out dead tree forests that covered huge parts of the park. We decided to stop, get dressed up in Sarah's crazy colorful vintage dresses, and bring our parasols to run around and do a shoot amongst the trees. I set up my tripod and we had a blast being silly. I think we were photographed by tourists more than the Yellowstone wildlife!
The burnt trees were a constant reminder of just how huge that fire must have been and how powerful nature is and quickly it can all grow back. Surprisingly not that many animals perished in the fire and the grizzly population is actually on the rise, making us glad we weren't camping here. We did not end up seeing any "Yogi Bears" on this day, but we decided we would drive through the northern part of the park, through the famous Bear Tooth Highway and into "Bear Country" so we could catch a glimpse.
Click to view the full feature – PART 2
The day Sarah and I decided to hit the road and drive to Montana, the weather turned gloomy and started to pour rain. It was like the weather was mirroring my sadness that our trip through Yellowstone had finally come to an end, but I we also saw it as a sign that we should take the day off and go to one of Jackson Hole's famous spas for the day! So we went to the Teton Mountain Lodge and Spa and had a much-needed massage and soak in their spa. Being able to be flexible and change your mind and plans on a whim was yet another reason why road tripping across the US is the way to go.
{In case, you missed Part-1-Utah or Part-2-Wyoming}
The next day we took off for what would be the longest stretch of driving we had attempted in one day on this trip, about 9 hours. We drove over the stunning Teton Pass into Idaho, took back country roads as far as possible to avoid the 90 freeway and eventually drove all the way up to Flathead Lake in the North Western part of Montana near the border of Canada.
Along the way, the sky just opened up into sprawling farms and ranches and we drove through these amazing old frontier towns (population 100), one of which was called Virginia City. Since I was born and raised in Virginia, I decided we should stop and check it out. I was pleasantly surprised by how cute and quaint this town was. It consisted of one Main street with shops on either side and a little country store and they still had stagecoaches and old farming equipment from the 1800's lying around. I saw a sign in the window of one shop that said, "I Sell Stuff", so I was intrigued to find out exactly WHAT stuff they sold. Sarah and I ended up finding a couple of little treasures that I bought; an old camera from 1931, a fossil trilobite, and a vintage Montana belt buckle.
It consisted of one Main street with shops on either side and a little country store and they still had stagecoaches and old farming equipment from the 1800's lying around. I saw a sign in the window of one shop that said, "I Sell Stuff", so I was intrigued to find out exactly WHAT stuff they sold. Sarah and I ended up finding a couple of little treasures that I bought; an old camera from 1931, a fossil trilobite, and a vintage Montana belt buckle.
We continued on our drive, just marveling at how the huge sky dwarfed the trees and everything it covered. There is something magical about Montana. We drove all the way up to Flathead Lake and finally settled in with my girlfriend, Alyssa's dad on his ranch in Big Fork, Montana.
Up here, the sun doesn't set until close to 10:15 at night, which was so bizarre, because everywhere else I had been on this trip, the sunset more than an hour earlier! We would eat dinner at 11pm at night and my internal clock was definitely confused.
Alyssa's dad, Harold, was my old soccer coach growing up and like a second Dad to me. He and his wife took us under their wing and decided to show us the best parts of Montana in just 4 days. We went to Polebridge, a little town near the Canadian border where people are truly living off the grid! People live there in cabins or camp during the good weather months and they have plays on a little wooden stage next to the Polebridge Mercantile store.
Writers come to give talks and they have their town activities written on a piece of paper tacked to a bulletin board in the middle of town. At 4pm, their only bar The Northern Lights Saloon opens and it becomes the town hang out. I walked around and loved to see how the townsfolk lived and took pictures of the little cabins with antlers in place of door handles. The town will be celebrating their centennial next year in June, so it should be a huge party:)
One of my favorites moments of the trip was learning how to fly fish! We joined a bunch of locals who wrap their own personal flies, jumped on a series of pontoon boats down the river where I caught 4 rainbow trout and drank some local beer. I even jumped off the bridge in Big Fork (to say I did) and walked around the town, marveling at just how many coffee shops there are in a town that consists of one street..my kind of town!
We went horseback riding through the 160 acres of their property and did chores around the house and then had drinks on the porch in the evenings. I read an entire book in 4 days, which is amazing when you think about how much time you actually can have to do other things when the internet is non-existent. The highlight of my trip, though, was finally getting to see Glacier National Park and to drive the famous Road to the Sun, which is only open a few months out of the year due to the harsh storms and snowfall.
Glacier National Park used to have over a hundred classified glaciers in the park, but since 1850, the glaciers have been shrinking due to global warming. A glacier has to be 25 acres and moving in order to be considered a glacier, so in the last 150, most of them have been declassified and now only about 30 are left. We were there during the two-month "golden time", where all of the rivers and lakes are this glowing green-aqua color.
I asked a park ranger and she said that it is a phenomenon due to the glaciers pulverizing the rocks as they move over them into a super fine dust called "Loess". The dust is so fine that when it get washed into rivers, it doesn't actually settle at the bottom and stays suspended, which then causes this color of the water when the sun reflects off these particles. By the end of the summer, it will all be washed away and the water turns a deep blue again. Amazing.
We drove up the Road to the Sun, past the cute red vintage wagons that carry tours, up to the top where you can then hike over to a hidden lake and have a spectacular view. Along the way, even though it was hot and mid-July, we were walking through slippery snow and sliding all over the place. We saw groups of Bighorn Sheep and Mountain Goats just hanging out and the scenery was like we were at the top of the world.
On our way hiking back, we saw a huge storm heading our way fast and we ran fast to our cars, slipping and sliding the whole way. We made it just in the knick of time to our car before the rain hit us, but we found out later that three hikers got hit by lightning who were right behind us! Up here these storms can form and hit out of nowhere fast and again I was humbled by how powerful and mysterious nature seems to be in this part of the country.
On our last day in Montana, Sarah and I decided to go Antiquing and fossil hunting. In this part of the United States, stumbling across ancient marine creatures and dinosaurs from the Jurassic Period 300 million years ago is not uncommon. I was just planning on window shopping, but then I came across the most gorgeous Ammonite Fossil I have ever seen. I have never seen one two feet in diameter like this one and it looked more like a carved spiral statue than an ancient predatory sea squid back when the world had no land creatures.
I had to buy it, so I did...and after hauling this 150 lbs. rock into the passenger seat of my car, it became our traveling companion, soon to be on display in my home. It's so strange to try to picture the fact that these ancient animals once ruled the Earth.
After 4 days, which felt like a couple of weeks in “Montana Time”, we sadly said goodbye to our Montana family and hit the road again to drive across the entire state and make it back down to the Montana entrance of Yellowstone on the South Eastern side of the state and then all the way back home. We drove the most dangerous, famous stretch of road in the United States, the Bear Tooth Highway. This was our last item to check off our list before we could feel like our epic road trip was complete.
As we drove along the twists and turns of the Bear Tooth highway, (a road so famous that many car commercials have been filmed on it), our jaws were dropped at the sheer beauty of what we had witnessed over the past two weeks on the road. We drove on the edges of sheer cliffs and saw waterfalls and bears. It was like every day was a new mysterious world to uncover and more surreal and dramatic than the last.
But this was AMERICA! We weren’t in a foreign land, we didn’t need to learn a new language, and we didn’t need a passport. Yet we still came back with some of the most beautiful photos and experiences I have ever had on any of my exotic, international adventures.
Click to view the full feature – PART 3