Westward!

At the beginning of September, we headed westward for the trip we had been waiting for all year: Glacier, Banff, and Jasper with our friends Quentin & Christina!

Pat & I decided to make it a road trip since the airline tickets for the trip between Minnesota and Montana were significantly more expensive than just getting a rental car and driving. Plus, we got to see some of North Dakota, which I had never been to and Pat had only been to Fargo. Contrary to the stereo-typical North Dakota scenery that comes to mind, the golden fields of the fall season were actually pretty.

When we got near Dickinson, ND we thought we would make a quick detour to an overlook in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

I had previously been to the Badlands in South Dakota, but didn't know that North Dakota also has their own version of the Badlands. The sand/silt formations were beautiful. Someday when we have more time, we'll have to go hiking through here!

My proficiency in drive-by photography seems to be improving, or more likely I just got lucky this one turned out well considering we were going 75mph. It was neat to see these buffalo wandering near the creek on the edge of Theodore National Park.

Not surprisingly, there was not a lack of haybales in North Dakota or eastern Montana.

A little further west of the border into Montana we were happy to see the big sky we remembered from previous trips to the state.

The golden fields continued in eastern Montana. It was exciting to see the mountains again!

This was a neat rock formation along Highway 200 near Jordan.

The mountains got closer and closer as we drove westward on U.S. 2. This stretch of U.S. 2 sure looked different than driving on U.S. 2 in Duluth!

We continued to enjoy views of the mountains until reaching Kalispell, where we picked up Quentin and Christina from the airport then turned in for the night.