West...

Out of the 50 states, we had visited 46...the final four being Washington, Oregon, Hawaii, and Alaska.  This road trip would take us to two of those...Washington and Oregon...bringing our total visited to 48!  Woohoo!  I love the traveling lifestyle :)...

I mentioned before that we were headed for the Pacific Coast...Brookings, Oregon, to be exact.  We had formed a rough plan to start at the bottom of the state and head north(ish) to the top then into Washington.  But first, we had to get there...from North Dakota, across Montana with a peek into Glacier NP, through Idaho...first north to within shouting distance of the Canadian border...then back south, cutting across the corner of Washington, following the Columbia River west through Oregon...then the Willamette Valley south...before finally turning west again, towards the ocean.  My favorite.

To get from Grants Pass, Oregon, to Brookings, Oregon, you have to dip down into California.  There is no straight west road.  We have visited California numerous times, but never have we seen a state welcome sign quite like this one...

HAHA!  I think it's my favorite of all :)!  Funny.  Anyway, we stopped to get a picture of the sign and while I was doing that, my husband heard some turkeys chattering in the trees.  He chattered back at them to see if they'd come out and THEY DID!...

I am SO glad that I wasn't standing outside the car when these things came up.  Turkeys can be mean! 

Well, they strutted right up to our car...then circled around and around.  Chattering and looking for their turkey friend that had called to them ;).  I have never seen anything like that! 

I took a few more pictures of the sign, the turkeys had walked away from the car, and it was time to go.  Uh oh...

super blurry, but that EXPRESSION!  HA!

Hahahahaaaaa!  A wild turkey chase ensued!  Welcome to California, ya'll ;)...

and yes, I am easily amused...just in case you hadn't already figured that out.

Ok, so crazy birds behind us (we hope!) we continued on our way towards the ocean.  We were following the Redwood Highway and it proved true to its name.  Redwoods, indeed...

There is something so completely magical about a Redwood forest...

the Smith River

It doesn't matter how many times I find myself among these giants, each and every time I am stopped in my tracks.  Head thrown back, mouth agape in awe...and I'm not the only one :)...

We slooooowly made our way through the beautiful woods and on towards our destination:  the ocean.

Flathead Lake, Montana

When we left Glacier National Park, we continued our drive west.  We passed through Kalispell, but instead of keeping due west, we took some time to dip down south for a bit.  There's a lake down there that we had always wanted to see...

The largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi...

Flathead Lake...

...and yes, it is just as pretty as we had heard :)...

We drove for a while around the shoreline, stopping when we could to get out and walk along the waters edge...

I can't remember just how far we went, whether we circled the entire lake or stopped part way and backtracked, but we eventually made our way back up to Kalispell and back onto Hwy 2 headed west...

That is a drive I would take just about any day.  Beauty around every corner...

...mountains...

...wildlife...

...and more beautiful lakes that just beg you to stop the car and come play a while...

Before we knew it, Montana was in our rearview mirror and we were heading into...Idaho!

Glacier National Park

When I left off before, we had just arrived at the West Entrance to Glacier National Park.  I mentioned that we had been following along the prettiest little stream through the mountains...what I didn't realize until looking at a park map was that stream was the southern boundary for GNP!  Haha!  That's funny...we had been looking at the park for some time without even realizing it :)...

Finally, we're in!...

First stop was the Apgar Visitor Center.  Because of the time of year and the majority of the park roads being closed, we were the only ones there besides the Ranger.  We took a quick twirl around the displays inside, grabbed a handful of Junior Ranger books, and headed off to see whatever parts of the park we could...

We followed the Going-to-the-Sun Road to Lake McDonald...

The clouds were low and heavy so we couldn't see much.  What we saw was pretty, though :).  I would love to see it in the summer sometime, I'm sure there were some beautiful sights hiding behind those thick clouds...

We pulled off at a little parking area and followed the path to the edge of the creek...

That water!  We didn't get to see any glaciers this time, but the color of that water reminds me that they're nearby...

It started to rain/snow/sleet on us, so we took one last look (sooooo pretty)...

...and called it a day.  We went as far as we could, which I'll admit wasn't very far!, and had to turn around at the road closed for the season sign.  I'm glad for the bits we got to see and experience, but it wasn't nearly enough.  We will definitely be back for a longer visit in warmer weather.

Go West...

After weeks of being gone for work, my man came home with a chunk of days off.  Needing a change of scenery, he told us to pack our bags and be ready to ride early the next morning.  Time for a road trip (yippee!), we were heading west...

We left North Dakota behind before the sun had even shown it's face.  By the time the sky was regaining it's color, we were well into Montana...

With no definite destination in mind, we just drove.  Following the Hi-Line as it snuggled up close to the Canadian border...

This old church caught our eye and we spun back around to get a closer look...

Enchanting, isn't it...

Into the afternoon, the terrain started to change.  We were finally leaving the plains behind and entering the mountains.  So pretty :)...

The road followed along the most beautiful stream...

...and led us straight to Glacier National Park! 

Mmhm, sure did :).  Only a tiny bit of the park was open due to the season, but that's ok.  It was Glacier National Park!  And we were there! Hahaha...yes, I was pretty tickled to be there ;).  More to come ya'll, check back later...