I am finally getting around to posting our one year anniversary road trip! Be ready for lots of pictures and cool stories! Or just interesting stories… π
For our one year, we decided to road trip through Nebraska, Wyoming and South Dakota. Grant had been up that way as a kid andΒ for a short trip as an adult, but he had been wanting to go back and explore a little more. So, we planned out our trip the month before and then changed it up as we felt the need to.
Our original plan was to stay our first two nights in a tent, and then alternate between hotel stays and tent camping. I don’t mind tent camping, but I also love being clean after hiking around. I mean, who doesn’t?! π You might be wondering why we just didn’t stay in KOA’s, but we wanted to be more adventurous than that offered.
Monday was a lot of driving, but we made it to Scott’s Bluff in Nebraska around sunset. And let me just say, it was the perfect time for pictures! Seriously, I think that place would be an amazing location for an engagement shoot. π If you’re wondering, I do tend to look at every location as to whether pictures would be amazing there or not. π We didn’t get to hike around at Scott’s Bluff as much as we would’ve liked, but that was only because weΒ wanted to get to our campsite before dark.
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- This was probably the 10th try of getting a selfie with the sign. Who knew that selfies were so hard to get?! Or maybe we just need to practice more. π
If you’reΒ looking for an awesome place to camp look no further than Guernsey State Park. We got there right before dark and we found this amazing, secluded spot with a view of the Guernsey Reservoir. Definitely the best campsite we stayed at the whole week! We had planned to leave mid-morning to head to Devil’s Tower, but we got a little side-tracked by how cool the place was! I don’t think we left till closer to noon as we drove around finding little yurts you can rent, checking out the dam and climbing around to see the view from above. These pictures don’t even begin do justice to its beauty! I think we agreed it was one of our highlights from the trip. π
Oh, and little side note, ask Siri how to say Guernsey. I found it funny and had to say it all the time to Grant. Not sure if he cared to hear it that much. π
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- Favorite camping spot. Don’t mind my awesome shadow. π
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- He got binoculars as an anniversary gift and so this happened a lot! π
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- Overlooking our campsite from above!
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- A Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp
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- I didn’t get a good picture of the inside, but it was pretty awesome.
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- He’s rather silly, but I love him. π
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- Like I said, this happened a lot during our trip. π
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- After leaving the park we headed straight to Devil’s Tower and dealt with the crowds as we got there rather late in the day, but still enjoyed seeing this site!
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- Can you see two little guys just a little ways from the top? We took a break and were creepers and watched them through the binoculars.
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- Anyone interested in some pictures here? π
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- Scrambling over some rocks because we can.
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- So, notice that part about the rattlesnakes? Turns out they are quite aggressive! After finishing our rock scrambling, we headed back to the trail and I was following directly behind Grant. Grant heard the hissing first and turned around to see a rattlesnake strike at my leg. I looked down to see it with it’s mouth wide open maybe an inch or less away from my leg. It then fell back into a crack between two rocks and we could hear it shaking his “rattle”. Grant was so convinced I had gotten bit that he went into full emergency mode. He had a plan of exactly what we would do next: wrap my leg, carry me down to the ranger’s station to where I would be airlifted to the nearest hospital with antivenom. It took several tries for me to convince him that I was not bitten as I was pretty sure I would’ve felt it. Might’ve been our first little argument. π We were both shaking from all the adrenaline rush. God definitely looked out for us that day and we were so thankful!
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- A small recovery hike after our incident with the rattlesnake. I may have had some slight PTSD during the rest of our hikes because of that crazy snake. π
After our rattlesnake adventure, we opted for staying in a hotel in Spearfish that second night instead of the tent. We wanted to have an easy night and not have any other scary wildlife stories. π The next morning, we found a local coffee shop (because all great adventures need a good latte to start) and began our drive along Spearfish Canyon Scenic Route. Stopping for pictures and selfies at any cool location we found.
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- Made a stop to see Bridal Veil Falls. Then stopped in Lead, SD to see the old Homestake Mine where the Sandford Underground Lab does research for dark matter.
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- Sylvan Lake!
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- Needles Highway was an awesome drive!
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- We stopped for some dinner in Custer, SD and recommend the Purple Pie Place! We went with ice cream though instead of pies. π
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- Wildlife Loop Road at sunset was pretty amazing. I probably enjoyed the scenery more and Grant preferred all the animals. We saw muledeer, whitetailed deer, buffalo, wild burros, and pronghorn.
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- We then stayed the night at a CCC campsite called Grizzly Creek
Wednesday we got up early (like 5:30!) to hit up Mount Rushmore before the crowds got there. It was theΒ perfect time to go as there were just a couple other people there. We walked around and got our pictures, then went back to our truck for a breakfast of red bull and peanut butter crackers while we waited for the museum to open.
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- Mount Rushmore! Ignore our sleepy smiles. π
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- Like I said, we did a lot of creeping with the binoculars. Just adds a whole new element to George Washington. π
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- Did a small hike to Cathedral Spires and wasn’t very impressed with it. The hike was cool, but when you’re that close to the “spires” it wasn’t nearly as cool.
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- Grant being himself and climbing rocks for a better view. π I should’ve gotten a picture of him jumping from rock to rock with our camera in his hands. :O
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- Just some behind the scenes from our anniversary session with Laura!
If you missed it, check out our previous blog post of our One Year Anniversary to see the amazing pictures Laura got of us!
I didn’t get pictures of it, but that Thursday we rented a cabin in Custer, SD to shower and get ready for our anniversary session. It was pretty nice and quaint. We also found a local coffee shop that afternoon which had the best breve lattes ever! Seriously, they were so good we went on Friday morning just because we wanted to try them again. So, if you’re ever in Custer, we highly recommend checking out Calamity Jane Winery and Mercantile. I haven’t found a breve latte to even come close to being as good. So, if you know of a place with the best ever breve lattes, let me know because I want to try it! π
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- Getting ready to hike Harney Peak, or Black Elk Peak as it’s named now. It’s a moderate to strenuous hike.
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- See that little dot where I’m pointing? We went all the way there and it didn’t even take that long! π
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- At the highest point east of the Rockies in the US! π
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- My anniversary gift from Grant. An iPhone watch. I had told him I wanted a watch for doing weddings and he went with this one so I could still text him even if I wasn’t carrying around my phone. He really is the sweetest and most thoughtful guy out there. π
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- This was after we RAN down Harney Peak. Don’t worry, nothing was chasing us. We just thought it would be fun to do. π
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- Made it to the Badlands only to have a crazy wind and rain storm come through which prevented us from setting up our tent for several hours. We were entertained by others chasing down their tents after they blew away.
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- But, this was a pretty impressive sight after the rain and the wind settled down. π
Saturday was our anniversary and we woke up limping and feeling like we were 80 years old. Turns out, it’s rough on a body to hike up a small mountain and then run down. Who knew?! π We hiked out the soreness by exploring several of the trails in the Badlands. But first, we had to start our day with a breakfast of red bulls and hot dogs. We hadn’t prepared for breakfast very well that day, clearly. π
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- Anniversary flowers <3
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- Does that not look like an incredible breakfast?! π
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- Trying to get that picture of the flower π
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- I just really love this man!
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- It’s seriously like it’s taunting me! ;P
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- If anyone cares to have their pictures done at the Badlands, we are more than happy to accommodate and make that happen for you!
And there you have it! Our one year anniversary road trip in lots of pictures! If you lasted through this whole lengthy post, you deserve a free breve latte, so go out and buy one! And then let me know how it was. π
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I love all the pictures! Makes me want to go visit all those places too!
You definitely should visit them! I think the girls would enjoy it as well! π