Traveling 2000+ miles in a car seems like a daunting feat to achieve, but with the right group of people you can have a blast doing it. This summer I got to experience a road trip of a lifetime as me and 15 others set out ventured off to Montana to conquer hiking through Glacier National Park. Along our drive out to Montana there were some pretty incredible "bucket list" items that I would've never even thought of adding to my list that I got to check off. Here's a lost of the ones that I remembered to write down.
1. Tried deep dish pizza in Chicago
Chicago was our stop for the first night and we didn't roll into town until around 10:30 pm, but that didn't deter us from doing everything we could to make it out to an Italian restaurant that was recommended to us. Let me just tell you, I may not get my pizza deep dish style every single time I order out, but every now and again wouldn't be so bad.
2. Tried cheese samples in a gas station
Now trust me, I know this sounds absolutely insane and like something that you probably should't do at any cost. I don't regret doing it for a second though. It was one of the best decisions I ever made. I guess you could also put it as, when in Wisconsin do as they would do!
3. Wore a cheese hat in the same gas station
The above mention of ' when in Wisconsin do as they do' also applies to this. Also, no shame in the fact that I truly enjoyed wearing a cheese hat from a gas station.
4. Bought the biggest cinnamon roll I’ve ever seen for $2.37
This is not an actual picture of the cinnamon roll, unfortunately. We forgot to snap a quick pic before we devoured the entire thing. But just know that 12 people chowed down on this thing so it was no small sweet treat by any measure.
5. Ate deli sandwiches in the parking lot a of a restaurant
Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do in order to save money. I would also like to point out that this restaurant was also attached to a gas station so I'm really not sure exactly how fancy it was.
6. Visited 8 new states
If I'm completely honest that probably doubled the amount of states I have now been to, but that's perfectly ok with me. Also, for those of you who don't like to count states that you just drove through I am counting them because for majority of them we stopped at one or more gas stations along the way.
7. Ran through a corn field in Indiana
Apologies for the blurry picture but this was taken in haste because I was in genuine fear that a farmer was going to run out and yell at us any minute. That being said running through one of the thousands of cornfields we passed was invigorating.
8. Tried dill pickle sunflower seeds
Please feel free to go ahead and judge me for this one but I absolutely love pickles and sunflower seeds, so why not combine them! To most this would be weird and not really bucket list worthy, but I am not most people so that's why this has made the list.
9. Increased a town’s population by 12%
Cleveland, North Dakota is probably one of the smallest towns I've ever seen in my life. That's coming from a girl that swore she grew up in a small town. But this town brings a new definition to the term "small town". The population size when we rolled in was 81 people. Add 12 more to that equation and you've got right around a 12 percent population increase.
10. Slept in a modified warehouse (hideaway lodge Cleveland, ND)
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/20164264
Fun fact: if you are looking for a place to stay in North Dakota with a group of 12 or more there are only two air bnbs in the entire state that can accommodate that amount. This was one of the two and it was a warehouse that had been converted into a hunting lodge. If I'm completely honest it was super cool and even though the outside looked insanely sketchy, it served us well for a couple hours of rest before we continued on our journey.
11. Made breakfast by flashlight
In the warehouse we stayed in it was all pretty much one big room with a couple smaller rooms off the side of the living area. So if you wanted to turn on the lights you would pretty much wake up everyone that was in the building. We didn't want that to happen so instead of waiting for everyone to wake up to cook we did the next best thing and cooked by iPhone flashlights.
12. Road for miles on a dirt road (Montana was living off the mindset that life is a highway and they didn’t need actual roads)
I kid you not, there is a stretch of about seven miles in Montana where you go from being on paved highway to nothing but dirt roads. You don't really believe it to be true until you see it, but trust me it's a thing. Also, the road pictured above is not the same road I am talking about, again I forgot to capture the moment in picture form so I just looked up the next best thing on Google.
13. Ate a pickle from a gas station
I love pickles so any time I can get my hand son one I go for it!! Even if that means it comes in a package from a gas station. Call me weird or be sketched out but those were some of the best pickle slices I had ever put in my mouth. Also, the fact that they were called Dilly Bites has me giggling.
14. Saw the world’s largest metallic structure (supposedly!)
So first thing's first I don't really know who decided this was the world's largest metallic structure, but I guess that doesn't really matter all that much. This eye and sparrow structure was so cool, even if we only were able to see it from a distance. I could think that mostly because I was just really excited to see the world's largest something for once in my life.
As I'm sure you noticed by now there was a food (mostly pickle) theme interwoven to this list. But the truth of the matter is that when you are on a road trip where you don't really stop other than to get gas and to eat until you reach your destination you kind of get bogged down in all of the weird foods you can try from a gas station. Also, to be fair, I controlled myself enough to not try the pickle popsicle or the spicy pickle.
