Day 20,21,22 Chicago, IL

After driving straight from Minneapolis through Wisconsin to Illinois, we finally made it to Chicago! Our main purpose stopping in Chicago was to see Alex`s sister Inna, but we ended up loving the city and staying for 4 nights. Our first day there we took a train into the city, with Inna being our guide, and spent the whole day walking around. I always forget how fast paced cities are until I`m actually in them with locals leading us. We spent the day walking like there was no tomorrow, but we did as a result get to see pretty much the whole city on foot.

We loved how clean and beautiful the city. And we especially loved sitting next to Lake Michigan, soaking up some vitamin D and watching all the huge yachts and sailboats coming in. 

The huge art pieces in the city were pretty incredible too. And we totally looked like tourists freaking out about how cool they were and taking hundreds of pictures. 

We also got to take a little cruise up the Chicago river and learn about all the architecture in the city. It was actually really interesting and a great way to see the city.

The next day we had  a pretty casual day and didn`t go into the actual city, but Friday evening we went downtown again to see the Museum of Science and Industry. It was one of the coolest Museums I`ve ever been too with an actual submarine, airplane and all kinds of things you could learn about. They also had an entire floor about the human body, which I was enjoying until I found out that their prenatal section was made up of all real human embryos and babies (with samples from 28 days old to a full-term baby) that they have preserved in some kind of plastic. It kind of ruined the experience for me...

After that though we went out to dinner (which it was not easy to eat after seeing that fyi) with a distant relative of Alex`s that we`d met at a cousin`s wedding. He showed us around the city some more and we got to see Chicago at night.

 We had such a good time walking around the city with him that we ended up staying out till the wee hours of the morning powered by sushi and coffee.

All in all, Chicago was one of our favorite stops we`ve had on the trip so far and we`re definitely going to try to make it back their again soon!

Day 18,19 Minneapolis, MN

 

 

Now that we're headed east we're taking a little break from national parks and we're exploring cities! We started with Minneapolis in Minnesota and that Mall of the America. This mall was incredible. There was an entire theme park in the middle of the mall and more stores than I've ever seen in one mall in my life. It was cool to see, but we didn't stay long since I hate shopping. I really wanted to go on the rides though, but Alex told me they were for little kids. Which they probably were considering they were Dora the Explorer and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle themed.

 

After that we rode over to Lake Harriet which we loved! It's a small lake right in the city and reminded us so much of Seattle's Greenlake that we kept thinking we were in Seattle.

 

 Everything was like Greenlake: from being almost exactly the same size, to having a walking trail all the way around it (which totally had the Greenlake power walker ladies!), to having paddleboats and kayaks you can rent, to the cafes and places to eat along the road, to the old houses across the road from the lake to look at. Everything was exactly the same as Greenlake!

Except that they also had this awesome bandshell where they have live, free concerts every day during the summer and sometimes movies. We really wanted to stay for a concert, but decided to head downtown instead.

 

Minneapolis as a whole reminded us a lot of Seattle. The city seems pretty healthy and athletic, with people running everywhere in the city and organic ingredients at every restaurant and cafe. Not to mention all the biodegradable forks and recycle bins everywhere! We had fun driving downtown and exploring the city. But sadly enough I didn't find any Finns to talk to... Although I did find a street called Viking St. I didn't see a single Norwegian person there though so it was falsely labeled.

 

 

 

 

Day 17 Sioux Falls, SD

This week our church experience was completely different from last week's, small, friendly church that we attended in Montana. We were driving through South Dakota, looked up churches in Sioux Falls and ended up at Faith Family Church. When we got there we were practically escorted in by bodyguards up to the second floor balcony seating to the farthest seats in the back. The church was very lively and big and their worship was great, but not a single person greeted us or talked to us other than shaking are hands. I was really disappointed by this since we are out on the road and don't meet friendly people all the time we can talk to and you'd think that a church would be a good place to find people to talk to. I'll definitely be more quick now though to greet guests at our church when we get home.

The service was really good though and it was interesting to hear at a church that is not Messianic at all; one of the pastors talking about Shabbat and explaining the Jewish blessings parents speak over their children, and encouraging the parents to bless their children in the same way. Hmm... Perhaps churches are starting to catch God's heart for Israel and the Jews?

Other than that, we liked their coffee store in the church called 'HeBrews'. I think every church should have a coffee shop in it personally!

Day 15,16 Badlands National Park, SD

On our way east, we decided to stop at one last national park before we start hitting the cities. We had no idea what to expect at Badlands and were completely shocked when we drove into the park and were greeted with no trees (which we've come to expect at national parks), but with huge sand peaks and canyons. Unfortunately our pictures didn't capture the beauty of the park at all as well I'd hoped...
This is definitely the most relaxed park we've been too. Besides at the entrance, we didn't see a park ranger a single time and there wasn't a single sign telling us not to climb around the mountains. So we did! We had lots of fun exploring the huge open spaces, climbing up the peaks to see views like this, sliding back down, digging for water and pretending we were Moses lost in the desert.
 

Day 14 Mt. Rushmore, SD

Now that we've completed out little tour of national parks along the Rockies, we are on our way east. Of course we had to stop and see Mt. Rushmore, which was actually really cool. And for the first time since we started the trip, we acted like the cheesy tourists. We took lots of dumb pictures, read all the facts about Mt. Rushmore, and bought ice cream because apparently Thomas Jefferson wrote the first ice cream recipe.

We also saw Crazy Horse, the Native American's competition to Mt. Rushmore. Apparently when it will be finished it will be around 14 times the size of Mt. Rushmore or something like that. And I'm sure it would be a lot more exciting if we actually got to get closer to the carving.

Our favorite stop of the day though was Bear Country! It's basically a hardcore zoo combined with a safari with every legit animal from elk to mountain goats to Arctic and gray wolves to reindeer to bison to pumas and LOTS more. And of course the main attraction: lots and lots of black bears (and two grizzly bears). You had to stay in your car and just drive through this huge habitat, but there also was this little baby exhibit at the end where you could go up and see all the baby animals. It was pretty much the funnest thing we've done all week and by the time we left I wanted to take a bear home.

Day 13 Everywhere in WY

Wednesday we left Yellowsrtone in the morning and headed accross Wyoming for South Dakota. At some point during our trek accross the state we were told to go some back way becuase our RV wouldn't make it on the moiuntain road we were headed toward. We were given the most confusing directions, got mixed up in a lot of construction work, missed a road and ended up literally in the middle of nowhere on crazy gravel road with no cell phone reception. It was insane. But we had a lot of fun going crazy in the deserts of Wyoming. In fact it was so fun we had to post our favorite video of it.

We also decided Wyoming has been our favorite state to drive through beacuse the countryside is so different through out the state and there's always something new to look at.

 Everything from this...

To this...



To this...









Also! You know you're in Wyoming when the barista at a coffee stand is wearing Carhartts.

Day 11,12 Yellowstone National Park, WY

Yellowstone was one of the places we were most excited to visit. We'd heard so much about it and seen so many amazing pictures, that when we got there it was a little disappointing. After having just come from beautiful Banff and unreal Glacier National Park, when we first drove through Yellowstone, we were really let down. However, it was a nice, relaxing stop and we decided not to be guided by our first impressions.

Our second day, we spent the whole day hiking and exploring as much as possible and began to see the beauty of the park. The vast geysers and hot springs were each unique and pretty incredible to look at. Since I love photographing textures, most of my pictures looked like this.

And of course we did also see Old Faithful. It was pretty sweet, we have to admit. But I think we enjoyed people watching while waiting for it more than the actual geyser.

Our favorite part of Yellowstone though was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Not visible from the road, we were completely shocked when we rode into a parking lot and caught glimpses of these amazing mountains. Somehow I'd never seen pictures of these and didn't even know they existed! It was so beautiful we had to hike down to the falls for a better view, even though my foot was bleeding from wearing sandals all day.

 And Nina I tried to touch the buffalo for you, but they wouldn't let me get close enough!

Day 10 Helena, MT

Before we left on our trip, Alex and I decided that it would be fun and good to visit churches every Sunday in whatever city we happened to be in that week. We're excited to see the diverse church bodies across the States as well as see what blessings God has at each of these churches for us.

Our first Sunday on the road we had just started our trip and were literally in the boonies of Montana so we didn't make it to church that week. So this last Sunday was our first time trying this out. We were driving down from Glacier National Park to Yellowstone so we stopped in Helena, MT (about halfway between both).

We were looking through the churches in the city and for some reason Living Hope Fellowship stood out to us. Their core beliefs sounded good and they seemed like a small, friendly church. So Sunday morning we came into their church and found out that they were not just a small church, they were a tiny church. About 10 people had gathered to worship and most of them looked like they were in their 40s or 50s, besides the pastor's children. Of course our first thought was "did we hear wrong?" but we stayed anyway.

At some point during their worship they sang a song about being a church on fire and that's when we began to really notice how Spirit-filled this small group of people were. Even though they were few in number, they are faithful with what they have and worshiped with their whole hearts. The pastor gave a really good message from Galatians 5 that was convicting for both Alex and I. Then after the message Alex felt lead to go pray with the pastor. During their prayer not only did Pastor Tobe confirm something God has been pressing on Alex's heart without Alex telling him anything about it, but Alex also got to pray over him and encourage him in his ministry.

We stayed afterward and talked to the pastor and his wife for quite a while and found them to be really sweet and friendly people. We were so encouraged by this church and can't wait to see what else God has in store for us during this time apart from our usual life.

Day 8,9 Glacier National Park, MT

After driving down from Canada what seemed like all day, we got to Glacier National Park Friday evening and had a somewhat Mary and Joseph experience. I had gotten sick in Canada and really wasn't feeling well and I was very ready to stop driving. So we get to the park, find out that RVs are only permitted on the road up to the first two campsites and after that we would have to turn around. So we drive to the first campsite and wait to talk to the ranger, only to find out that they are all full. We drive another five miles to the next one, wait an even longer time to figure out that they're full. We leave the park, drive to the nearest KOA and find out that they are extremely overpriced. So after over an hour of this, we finally just parked next to a river in what we thought was a pretty private area and had dinner. At about 8 PM one after another, teenagers start invading our space. We soon figured out that we had parked in the local teenagers' Friday-night-drinking-area, and all in all had about 30 teenagers having a party right near where we were trying to sleep. It was an interesting experience. After all that, we were about ready to give up on Glacier National Park and just head down to Yellowstone, our next stop. But we ended up waiting it out and we were SO glad!

Saturday morning we ditched the RV and spent the whole day biking around the park. We had to stop about every 500 ft and just stare in awe at the amazing beauty around us. At one point, Alex even just started praising God for his creation right in front of everyone, that's how inspiring and breathtaking the views were.

Even during the summer, with barely any snow on the glaciers the park was still incredible and we recommend everyone who hasn't come here, COME!

The park has basically only one road that goes through the entire park and is about 50 miles long. Because there's only one road, so much of the nature is untouched and only accessible by hardcore hikes. It was definitely the most beautiful bike ride we've ever been on and one of the scariest too. A lot of the road is on cliffs of the glaciers with barely enough room for two cars to pass and no guard rail.

Lake MacDonald is the largest lake in the park and has the clearest water I've ever seen. Combined with the brightly colored rocks at the bottom of the lake, it was one of our favorite sights and we just had to go canoeing and swimming!

We also hiked up some of the mountains to Hidden Lake, which was inaccessible because of bear danger, but still had beautiful views. And we saw lots of mountain goats!

Apart from having numb bums from being on the bike half the day, it was one of our favorite days on the trip so far!