My 11 Day Single Girl Solo Road Trip Part 2
Welcome to part 2 of my 11 day road trip! In part 1 I talked about my run in with
the law, picking up hitchhikers, seeing my sista, and crossing things off my bucket
list. In this part I leave the US for the first time EVER, visit ANOTHER national
park on my bucket list, shoot a firearm while learning about the wild west, soak
in some healing hot springs, and almost died hiking the Manitou Incline. Definitely
a lot you don’t want to miss out on so scroll on down to read more and/or watch
the YouTube video linked at the end of the article!
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Day 6: Canada, eh?
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We started this day with breakfast at a small restaurant called Outlaw Diner.
Unfortunately when we arrived we were told there was about an hour wait, but
we decided to still put in a to go order and used the wait time as an excuse to
pop in next door to the thrift store to try and find us some good deals!
(You can check out what I picked up in this video!)
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Once our food was ready we grabbed it and headed back to Kristin’s house to eat
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and then it was on to Canada!!!
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After about 4 hours of driving we finally made it to our hotel (The Kanata) where
we quickly stopped to check in and drop off our stuff
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and then headed out once again in search of one of the greatest foods
known to mankind…poutine! We ended up about a block down the road
from our hotel at a food truck called the Poutine Queen and y’all it was
incredible. I could eat that for every meal.
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With bellies full we backtracked a little to the town of Fairmont Springs
and parked the car at the Fairmont Springs Resort. We went on a little hike
in search of a waterfall surrounded by mineral pools to soak in after our
long day of hiking the day before (you can check out our Glacier adventures here) and
eventually managed to find it after ignoring a “trail closed” sign and
walking down a river wash.
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We stayed in the pools relaxing and enjoying the views and the semi-warm water
before deciding to start our hike back to the car around sunset.
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We drove back to our hotel, but ended up having to make
a couple of pit stops along the way. First to watch a little female elk
out in a field on the side of the road
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and then at a gas station to pick up a nice sweet treat. We ended
the night eating ice cream and watching Food Truck Races on Food Network.
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Day 7: BANFF
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This day started early as we headed back to the Fairmont Springs
Resort to go on a horseback ride through the Canadian woods
with A Bar Z Mountain Ranch.
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My horse Powel
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After our horseback ride it was finally time to start making our way to
Banff National Park! We drove through Kootenay National Park (which
also looked stunning and is a place I would like to return to and hike in
someday) and then we managed to luck out and found ourselves
a parking spot at Lake Louise in Banff.
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We hung out at the lake for a little bit and then began our hiking
journey to the Lake Agnes Tea House. The trail was harder
than expected, but the views at the end were certainly worth it in my opinion.
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Lake Agnes
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We decided while we were here to eat some food and try out the tea
from the tea house so we ordered a PB&J sandwich, a tuna
sandwich, chocolate cake, and some peach apricot white tea.
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Once we were done eating we hiked back down the trail, hopped in
the car, and drove to the lake Kristin was most excited to see, Peyto Lake!
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After howling at the sun and staring out at the wolf shaped beauty, we
drove on to the lake I was most excited for, Moraine Lake.
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We hung out here for a little while enjoying the company of some adorable
chipmunks while also freezing our butts off in the cold cold wind and
then it was sadly time to leave Banff in our rearview and head
on back to Montana. We pulled into Kristin’s drive about 2am and
pretty much immediately passed out in bed.
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(You can read more about our time in Banff here!)
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Day 8: Prime Rib & Cody Cowboys
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This morning brought an end to Kristin and I's adventures together and
marked the start of my journey back home to Kansas. After a tearful hug
goodbye Kristin headed off to work and I headed towards Cody, Wyoming.
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Outfit Deets:
Raise Hell Baby Tank - Thrifted
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The drive from Columbia Falls to Cody was about 8 hours
long, but was filled with some beautiful mountain views.
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Once I got to Cody I checked into The Legacy Inn & Suites
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Would stay here again! Great place!
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and then headed out to have dinner at Buffalo Bill's Irma Hotel.
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Learn more about The Irma and find accommodations here: https://www.irmahotel.com/
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Not long after founding the town of Cody, Wyoming in 1895 Buffalo Bill
Cody built this hotel in 1902 and named it Irma after his youngest daughter.
How sweet! His hope for the place was that it would appeal to visitors
from all around the world and he still meets that
goal to this day. (and yes you can stay at the hotel!)
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This bar is the most photographed thing in the whole town of Cody and was actually a gift to Buffalo Bill from Queen Victoria.
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Even though they have a menu to order from, I was set on trying out
their famous prime rib buffet. I ended up making it through two
rounds of food trying their prime rib, ham, mashed potatoes, corn on
the cob, wings, and buffalo ribs.
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Even though I may or may not have gotten yelled at by the prime rib slicing
guy for apparently going on the wrong side of the buffet (like bro….I was just
trying to see what all there was…my bad 🙄) I had a pretty good experience
at The Irma. The food was delicious, my waitress was super nice, and the
decor inside was beautiful. It is a little more on the expensive side, but
worth every penny in my opinion.
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After dinner I headed back to the hotel and turned in for the night!
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Day 9: Shooting Firearms and Enjoying Amazing Sunset Views
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I decided I wanted to spend a little more time in Cody and first tried my hand
at finding some treasures at a thrift store called Deja Vu Thrift. They had a
lot of great things there, but everything was marked a little higher than I
was willing to pay so I walked out with only some books for Kelly.
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After that slightly disappointing thrifting trip I decided against
trying any others in the area and went straight to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.
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Find admission prices and hours of operation here: https://centerofthewest.org/
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The Buffalo Bill Center of the West is a building that houses 5 separate
museums including the Plains Indian Museum, the Cody Firearms
Museum, the Whitney Western Art Museum, the Buffalo Bill Museum, and
the Draper National History Museum. Now, I won't lie to y'all….I was
not overly excited to make a stop here and was only going for the simple
fact it was listed as the number 1 thing to do in Cody, Wyoming. I didn't
even make it halfway through the first museum though before I found
myself happy I came so if you ever find yourself in Cody I HIGHLY recommend
you stop even if you don’t think you will enjoy it.
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Speaking of the first museum, the first one I walked through was the
Plains Indian Museum. Inside you will find the nation's largest collection
of authentic artifacts and art and learn a vast amount about various Native American cultures.
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Buffalo Hide Coat. Not even gonna lie…I want one. Be like Macklemore in his fur coat, but 10x better. Lol
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Can you imagine the amount of hours that went into beading this hat?
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After the Plains Indian Museum I moved on to the museum I was most
excited for, the Cody Firearms Museum. This museum was packed wall
to wall to wall with any kind of firearm you could ever imagine including
sporting, military, Hollywood guns, embellished, and more all dating
back to the 1800s. If you or anyone you know has a love for
firearms this is a must stop for y'all.
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Before venturing too far into the museum my attention was caught by a
shooting simulation game. I stood and watched a couple of kids (Imma call them
kids because apparently now that I am almost 30 anyone under the age of 25
classifies as a kid lol) do the simulation while I debated whether or not I wanted
to try it myself. They completed each round in record time making it look easy and
since there was really no one else around I decided to give it a try. Unfortunately
by the time I came to that decision and it was my turn to give it a go a HUGE
long line had started behind me and now all of these people were watching
me try my hand at this game. I was so nervous I was shaking during each round
and soooo imma say that is the reason why I ran out of time during the first
round before completing the challenge. lol
(You can see my whole attempt at the simulation in the
YouTube video linked at the end of the article!)
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After the simulation I quickly left the peering eyes of all those
people and continued through the museum.
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This prop is one you can actually shoot to try and get a feel for what it is like to shoot a real M2. It even makes noise! I was honestly surprised by how much strength it takes to pull the triggers.
So much shade lol I loved reading this. All I needed was a bag of popcorn. Lol
Whaling Guns
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My favorite firearms to look at were the embellished ones.
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I also really enjoyed seeing the itty bitty little baby guns.
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As I mentioned they also had guns from famous westerns including
the colt used by James Arness (aka Matt Dillon) on the show Gunsmoke
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and the holster and colt from Bonanza.
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There were some other Hollywood guns there as well, however these
were the two that really stood out to me since Gunsmoke and Bonanza
are two of my dad’s favorite western TV shows to watch.
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After the Hollywood guns I came across some very….unique….looking
firearms. I think some of them look like spy guns. Lol
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Once I made my way through the firearms museum I headed to the
Buffalo Bill Museum where I got to learn all about the life of this,
surprisingly handsome, famous cowboy.
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Did not know this is what Buffalo Bill looked like…umm….swoon! I’d have married him in an instant! Lol
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Buffalo Bill’s Coat
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Buffalo Bill’s Private Tent
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Buffalo Bill’s saddle
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Inside this museum they also had things that had belonged
to friends of Cody including items of Annie Oakley.
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Fun fact! When I was younger I was given the nickname Annie Oakley because of how good of a shot I was. Now I don't really mess with guns and stick to a bow and arrow.
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After the Buffalo Bill Museum I did a quick pass through the Draper Natural
History Museum and the Whitney Art Museum and then made my way
outside for the raptor program. Here I got to learn more about
raptors (sadly not the dinosaur kind lol) and had an up close view
at both a Peregrine falcon and a golden eagle.
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This eagle weighs 12 lbs and has a little over a 7 foot wingspan!
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Both of these birds are here in the facility for rehabilitation of their
damaged wings after accidents left them at the point
where neither are able to fly any longer.
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Here in the outside pavillion where they held the raptor program they
also had a bald eagle named Jade housed for rehabilitation.
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Overall I really enjoyed the raptor program and would probably have to
say it was my favorite part of the whole museum! I definitely learned
a lot about raptors and it was pretty cool getting to see the birds up close.
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After the raptor program I ended my time at the Buffalo Bill Center of
the West and made my way over to Old Trail Town.
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Old Trail Town is located on the site of the original Cody, Wyoming and contains 27 historic buildings including the hole in the wall cabin used by Butch Cassidy.
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You can also visit the graves of some famous figures such as John Jeremiah Johnston here.
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I walked around the whole town looking inside the old historic cabins
and buildings and even found what looked like a pretty nice event
space where I decided to take some outfit pictures.
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Outfit Deets:
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After Old Trail Town it was time to leave Cody in my dust and move on
to Thermopolis, Wyoming, a place home to some famous healing mineral hot springs.
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I pulled into town about 7pm and headed to Hot Springs State Park to check out the Bison herd
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and then climbed to the top of Monument Hill to watch the sunset.
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Outfit Deets:
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I headed back down the hill a little before dark and decided to check out
the swinging suspension bridge which I didn't know actually
lights up red, white, and blue at night!
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After the bridge I looked out onto Hot Springs State Park and
the gorgeous colors the setting sun was casting upon it and I vowed
to return again the next day before then heading to my hotel for the night.
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Highly recommend staying at the El Rancho Motel. It was fairly nice and the lady at the front desk, Susan, is absolutely incredible!
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Day 10: Soaking in Healing Hot Springs & Thrifting in Casper
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My first stop for today was at the Black Bear Café for breakfast.
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Once I was done eating I went for a relaxing soak in the free hot springs
mineral pool at the state bathhouse.
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Once my 20 minute time limit was up I showered off, changed into some
dry clothes, and then headed further into the park to walk the
boardwalk over top of the hot springs.
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Once I finished exploring this mini Yellowstone (you can learn more about
my trip to Hot Springs here) it was time to get back
in the truck and head to Casper, Wyoming where I stopped at Goodwill
and had one of the best thrifting trips of the year.
(You can see everything I picked up in this video!)
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After Casper I drove 5 more hours till I reached my end destination
of Colorado Springs.
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Honestly I'm not sure I would stay here again. It was the one place on my whole trip where I didn't feel safe.
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Day 11: Hiking the Intimidating Manitou Incline
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This was my earliest day of the trip waking up at my normal morning
wake up time (pre-vacation) of 5am just so I could put my body through hell and
hike the infamous Manitou Incline in Manitou Springs, Colorado.
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Look at how intimidating!
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I certainly was not at all as prepared for the incline as I thought I was
and there were sooo many times throughout the hike where I wanted
to give up. But I persevered and eventually made it to the top!
(You can read more about my hike and the incline here!)
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Outfit Details:
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With shaky legs that were sore for at least a week after the
hike, I hopped into the truck and sadly got back on the
road with home as my final destination.
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And that is going to do it for the second and final part of my 11 day
road trip! I hope you guys enjoyed reading about it and be sure to check
out the YouTube video linked below for even more footage from the trip!
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