Mcmanestasi

Hey everyone,

I'm moving back home to Washington after college in North Dakota, and I'm bringing my girlfriend on this 22 hour road trip. I wanted to make it a little more fun than just sitting in the car so I decided I'd ask and see if you guys had any suggestions on what we could do.The trip will go through:

- North Dakota
- Montana
- Idaho
- Washington. I live on the West side so all of washington and I'm considering
- Wyoming because of Yellowstone.

I'm looking for things to do like hikes or good restaurants and cool small towns to stop by and see some cool things to make the trip a little more memorable.

The trip isn't going to be extremely long, most likely only 3 - 4 days but I thought we could make some long days out of them and try to fit as much as we could into those few days.

Please let me know your suggestions or tips on places we should visit. I'm not too worried about spending the money or taking more time to get back, so if there is anything that might be fun or cool to see please feel free to write it down.

Thank you for your time!
Al

Michael

These pictures might give you some ideas:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca...117942088/show

tomfuller

from the 22 hours comment I'd guess you are in eastern ND.
How close are you to US 2? The first day I'd shoot for at least Wolf Point and possibly as far as Havre MT.
From there turn off US 2 at Browning and go to St. Mary and go over the Going to the Sun Road. If you don't stay in the park, (Lake McDonald lodge) you can stay at the beautiful Meadow Lake Resort near Columbia Falls. It is an easy drive from there to most of Western Washington through Spokane.
If you have an extra day you might want to stop at Coeur d' Alene for another beautiful lake. The GTTS may not be open until the third week of June. When is your trip?
My favorite trip through this area is on board the Amtrak Empire Builder but the recent oil boom has caused many delays of the Empire Builder.

Mcmanestasi

I'm starting in Grand Forks so about as East as you can get haha. I'm not really sure how far the US 2 is from me though. I think our first stop will be Billings so that we don't have too far of a drive to Yellowstone the nest day unless you suggest a better route. Coeur D Alene is along the drive so I think that would be a beautiful place to go through and get some food and maybe swim. But I'm not sure where a good place to eat around there is. My trip will begin May 16th. Is columbia falls a pretty cool place to go?

tomfuller

US 2 is the highway that goes west out of Grand Forks. I-29 is the one south. US 2 goes through Columbia Falls, Spokane and Leavenworth WA.
Havre is a similar distance as Billings for you.
Since the trip is in mid-May you are wise to try for Yellowstone instead of Glacier NP.
Try for lodging at Mammoth or maybe Old Faithful. If you have no luck, get something in Gardiner.
If one or both of you are coming back to Grand Forks, try taking the Empire Builder with 24 or 48 hours in the Glacier NP area getting off in Whitefish. My DW and I spent our 30th wedding anniversary at the Meadow Lake Resort. The Resort picked us up at the train station when we got off the EB.
Our condo had an in room hot tub.

kureiff

Mcmane, I'd head south to Fargo, pick up I-94 and drive as quickly as you can to Billings. There is no way I'd consider driving Hwy 2 with all the oil field traffic. It gets busy, especially during certain times of day, and I wouldn't want to waste time sitting in traffic in the middle of the Bakken.

Yellowstone would be fun. I'd look at seeing if you can fit a stop in at Red Lodge (head south after Billings) and then heading into Wyoming and Yellowstone via the Beartooth Hwy. I know crews have started plowing it, but I'm not sure when it will be open. If it's open, it would be a great route into Yellowstone.

When you're leaving Yellowstone, you can leave through the west entrance at West Yellowstone and then start cutting north on hwy 287 or hwy 191 toward Big Sky and then hitting I-90 and continuing west. Places to stay: Missoula, Couer d'Alene or Spokane.

I like Missoula a lot for the food and walkability of downtown.

You could also work a southern route through Idaho, too, but I think it's a little less scenic.

kureiff

I graduated from NDSU and my husband from Concordia. We're both from MT and really despised the long drives across ND.

John

Agree completely with KUREIFF. Missoula would be a great place to stay. College town with lots of good restaurants, bars etc. Have a great trip!!

Mcmanestasi

Thank you everybody who has helped and commented. I think our plan will be to head out on the first day and try to make it to Billings since there isn't too much going on in ND. We'll get there and stay the night, try to get up early and head to Yellowstone since that seems like it would be a cool experience and a beautiful view. I'm not sure how long we would need to see a lot of Yellowstone but I want to try to make it to Missoula by that night and walk around the downtown and find a good place to eat. The next day I want to make it to lake Coeur D Alene to have lunch on the lake. Then we'd head home on our 5 hours left form there. If anyone has any recommended restaurants in either Coeur D Alene or Missoula I would appreciate it and definitely take it into consideration. Thank you all again for your help!

kureiff

If you get up early and drive without stopping much, you could make it to Chico Hot Springs which is between Livingston and Gardiner. It's an 11 hour trip.

www.chicohotsprings.com

They have a great restaurant and it's a fun place to stay and soak in the hot springs. Then you could head to the north entrance of the park the next day and explore Yellowstone.

When I was in college in Fargo, it was a 12 hour drive home, and we always did it in a day. But not everyone likes to do that. Billings would be about a 9 hour trip.

Restaurants in Missoula: Biga Pizza, Scotty's Table, The Pearl, Plonk, and The Silk Road are our favorites. We never skip an opportunity to eat at Biga Pizza.

We like the Shack or the Old Post for breakfast. Big Dipper for ice cream. And Montgomery Distillery is a great stop for drinks. We never skip Montgomery Distillery, either.

kureiff

Also, you're not going to see much of Yellowstone if you try to do it in a day and still drive to Missoula. It will be a lot of driving and not much stopping.

It takes about five hours to drive from Billings to Missoula on the interstate. It's about 3.5 hours between Livingston and Missoula. And it's about 5 hours between West Yellowstone and Missoula.

marvelousmouse

Couerdalene Lake will be way too cold to swim in May. You could always go to Silverwood Themepark if you like wooden roller coasters. I love the St. Joe area, but May can be dubious weather wise in northern Idaho, and it's a little early for Priest Lake as well- there's also a great rail trail in the CD area you could bike if it's good weather.

I really enjoyed Missoula; Biga Pizza was great!

If you haven't been to Leavenworth, the drive is prettier than Snoqualmie, and Leavenworth is fun for at least a couple hours.