Day 14! The final day of our road trip! We had such an amazing journey across the U.S. but were definitely excited to get home and not be living out of a car. We left Kalispell and headed through Idaho and Washington.
We also had a short (kinda) detour planned to Palaouse Falls State Park, which I’d read about in an article titled “26 Breathtakingly Beautiful Places You Need to Visit in America” – if Thought Catalog says so, it must be true, right? 🙂 We had high expectations since it was on the same list as Grand Teton National Park and Glacier National Park, two of our new favorite places!
We had a short drive through Idaho and stopped at a really great grilled cheese place for lunch in Couer D’Alene (check out Meltz Extreme if you are ever in the area!).
And finally made it to Washington!
We turned off of the main highway and drove south to Palaouse Falls State Park. This is what our view looked like for the entire hour drive. We kept wondering where on earth a waterfall was going to come from in the middle of this flat desert! Even as we were driving into the park, we still had no idea where the waterfall was.
Turns out it’s in a little canyon right below the parking area.
There were a few short trails nearby that we walked around to get a view of the area.
It wasn’t quite what we were expecting from the article, but I’m not sure when we’ll be out in this part of the state again, so it was a funny detour!
After taking a few pictures we hopped back in the car to continue our journey across the state. We had another gorgeous sunset on our drive.
We made it to Seattle around 11pm. It was such a wonderful trip but we were very glad to be home 🙂
Day 14 Map ~ 600 miles:
Some final road trip stats:
14 days
3850 miles driven
9 states
5 National parks
3 state parks
2 Oregon trail landmarks
48 state license plates spotted (all but Delaware and Rhode Island!)
70 miles hiked
2000+ pictures taken
1 speeding ticket received
It was an incredible two weeks!!
So, a year ago today I arrived in Seattle! It’s been a wonderful year and definitely one of the biggest years of my life. It’s been a huge change adjusting to life here in the Pacific Northwest, especially after growing up and living in the Midwest my entire life. I love it here though – there’s an endless number of hikes and mountains and lakes to explore, and every weekend feels like a new adventure. It’s the kind of life I never knew I wanted, and I’m so thankful to be here living it with J. Thanks for a wonderful first year, Seattle. I can’t wait for many more! 🙂
Road Trip Recap:
Day 1: Indiana to South Dakota
Day 2: Across South Dakota: Badlands National Park, Mount Rushmore, Iron Mountain Road, Needles Highway, and Crazy Horse
Day 3: Wind Cave National Park, Devils Tower, and across Wyoming
Day 4: Grand Teton National Park
Day 5: Cascade Canyon
Day 6: Jackson Hole
Day 7: Amphitheater Lake
Day 8: Yellowstone National Park: West Thumb Geyser Basin, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Tower Falls
Day 9: More Yellowstone: Old Faithful, Grand Prismatic Spring, and Mammoth Hot Springs
Day 10: Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park, across Montana, and Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park
Day 11: Iceberg Lake
Day 12: Highline Trail from Logan Pass to Granite Park Chalet, then down Swiftcurrent Pass to Many Glacier
Day 13: Hidden Lake Overlook
Nice post. I am so glad that you are happy there!