our trip across the west!

This summer Ryan and I went on the best vacation ever. Two of our closest, sweetest friends got married in Missoula, Montana and Ryan and I were both in the wedding! Because plane tickets were so expensive, we decided to drive all the way from Memphis, T to Missoula, which equaled 2,000 miles and 36 hours of driving! It took about 14 red bulls, 4 cups of coffee, several snacks, "Friends" season 1, and lots of loud music to make it to our destination. It was an incredibly long journey, but Ryan and I are so glad we did it. We made so many lasting memories and spent some sweet, quality time together in the car! Here is a quick recap of our week:

Saturday, July 17: We embarked on our journey at 6 a.m. We were so excited to finally be on vacation and we felt like we could drive all the way to Montana that day! Well, needless to say, we didn't make it all the way to Montana, but we did make it to Limon, Colorado. We drove through Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, and part of Colorado in ONE day. We stopped for the night at 11 p.m. and stayed at a hotel. It was a great first day's drive! We had so much fun together in the car!

We drank LOTS of these:

saw a TON of these:

a cute little church:

windmills in Kansas. we were so excited to see these because we were so sick of only seeing hay and cows and open land.

Sunday, July 18: We woke up and were back on the road again by 7:30 a.m. We drove through the rest of Colorado, Wyoming, and then made it across Montana to Missoula by 10:30 p.m. Sunday's drive was loong and boring. I can sum up our drive across Wyoming in 3 words: cows and hay bales. It was such an awful drive. Whoever said that we are running out of land in America flat out LIED. I've never seen more land in my life. When we finally arrived in Montana, we reserved a cabin at a campsite in Missoula and stayed there until Tuesday night! We loved our little cabin home!

a montana sunset:

our log cabin home:

Monday, July 19: On Monday, we planned to stay around Missoula and have low-maintance day since we were exhausted from driving. We explored downtown Missoula, met Anna (the bride) and Sergey (Anna's adopted brother) for lunch, went fishing on Rock Creek (which was absolutely stunning), and then ended the night with a bonfire at Anna's parent's house.

the lovely bride and me:

Rock Creek:

Sergey's bonfire. It was as hot as a thousand suns.

Tuesday, July 20: We spent the day at Glacier National Park, which was about a 4 hour drive from Missoula. Glacier had the most breath-taking scenery we have ever seen. Ryan and I have never been more speechless when looking at God's creation. Words can not even describe how beautiful it was. I took pictures, but even those don't do it justice.

Lake McDonald:

Logan's Pass:

St. Mary's Lake:

St. Mary's Falls:

A WILD black bear that was about 10 feet away from me:

Wednesday, July 21: We woke up that morning at 10 and decided on a whim to drive to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to see Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons. We stayed the night in a ski lodge in Jackson Hole and had a relaxing dinner on the square and then did a little shopping. It was a really nice night and Jackson Hole is such an adorable town! We loved it!

Dinner spot on the square:

Thursday, July 22: We spent the day at the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park. Again, the Lord just astounded us with His creation. We were just reminded of how the Bible says that "all creation sings his praises.." We left Yellowstone around 5 p.m. and made it back to Missoula around 11 p.m.

Yellowstone National Park, Old Faithful:

Yellowstone National Park, Hot Springs:

Friday, July 23: The groom and groomsmen spent the day canoeing and fishing on the river while the girls spent a relaxing day painting our nails, eating lunch, and putting together last minute wedding details before the big day! That evening, the whole wedding party headed to Polson, Montana and had the rehearsal dinner at a beautiful restaurant on Flat Head Lake. Afterwards, we headed back to the church for the rehearsal and desert.

Rehearsal Dinner spot! How beautiful!

the beautiful bride and I:

Me & my man:

Bonfire after the rehearsal:

Saturday, July 24: WEDDING DAY! The wedding was at 5 so we spent the day getting ready for the wedding and taking pictures. The wedding was the most beautiful wedding I've ever attended. Anna's dad is a pastor and his church is actually located in his front yard! Anna got married at the feet of three crosses with the mountains in the background. It was picturesque to say the least.

The beautiful ceremony site:

The gorgeous couple:

Their first dance:

So sweet!:

us:

Sunday, July 25: Ryan and I began our journey home. We drove through Montana and South Dakota. We stopped and saw Mt. Rushmoore and then stayed the night Pierre, South Dakota. It was really neat to see Mt. Rushmoore in real life!

Monday, July 26: We left South Dakota and drove through Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and then stayed the night in Missouri!

Tuesday, July 27: We left Missouri and drove through Arkansas, Tennessee, and then finally made it hope to Mississippi!

Our roadtrip through the west was long and packed full of activities, but Ryan and I are so glad that we had the opportunity to do it! I don't know if we'll ever get another chance to drive through the West! We had a wonderful vacation!