In case you hadn’t noticed by my Instagram posts, at the end of August I went on a road trip with my college roommates. For 11 days we toured the western United States and a bit of Alberta, Canada. We covered ground in 10 states, 2 countries, and 6 national parks, making it an absolute whirlwind of a trip. (Ok technically it was just 8 states, but we purposefully added time to our trip to make sure we crossed into Idaho and Nebraska. So we’re claiming 10.)
For the most part, it was exactly what you’d expect of a road trip: Long car rides full of snacks, chatter, audiobooks, games, and music. But being the somewhat nerdy crew that we are, we decided to add one more activity to our agenda: a road trip rating system, which we dubbed The Great West Matrix.
Over the next few blog posts, I’m going to be sharing our results with you and, of course, sharing some of the images I captured. Side note: If you’ve never traveled with a photographer, I think it’s safe to say that you can plan on them increasing your travel times by about 30%. I didn’t do the math, but that feels right. Feel free to contact my roomies for a more accurate percentage.
**Disclaimer: Our scoring system is quite subjective, was purely meant for fun, and was based SOLELY on our brief (let me emphasize brief again) time in that particular place. In no way are we claiming to be experts on these particular cities. Our scoring of the weather was based on our experience, not on yearly averages; and our scoring of history/famous people was based on Wikipedia. So don’t expect a high level of accuracy or research here.
Rules of the Matrix:
A city qualified to be rated if we were there for at least 1 hour. There were a lot of other smaller stops we did along our route, but we felt as though an hour was necessary for us to make these important rating decisions. Again, this was a super subjective decision. Each category was scored from 0-5 with 5 being the highest. There was also a bonus point category in case we felt a stop deserved extra points for something not covered under the categories. (Real talk, the bonus point category came about in retrospect when we wanted to give points for a hot tub.)
So without further ado, let’s dive in to Days 1-2.
Day 1: Chicago to Minneapolis via Madison
Madison, Wisconsin | Voted: Least Likely To Be At Work on Monday at 10am
Food – 4. We brunched at this amazing spot downtown called Marigold. One of the best meals of the trip and some of the nicest people we encountered. Also, surprisingly crowded for a Monday morning at 10am when, presumably, people should have been at work.
People – 5. This was largely influenced by the pleasant folks at Marigold. But also by the incredibly helpful gentlemen at (not just one) two camera shops. Oh, did I forget to tell you…after brunch I realized my camera battery was still at home in its charger? Yeahhhh. This led to a frantic search throughout 2 cities that ended semi-well, but was the kick in the pants I needed to devote MOST of my trip to shooting film (which I’m actually quite grateful for).
Entertainment/Activity Options – 3.5
Weather – 3
Culture/Art/Architecture – 4. We really loved the look of downtown. Also, I think their pretty performing arts center pulled a lot of weight in this score.
History – 2.5
Famous People – 4. There were a lot of cool people from here. But I’m pretty sure the two that really wowed us were Oscar Meyer and the woman that created the American Girl doll line.
Highways – 4
Live-ability – 3
Overall Atmosphere/Vibe – 4.5
Revisit-ability – 5
Bonus Points – N/A
Total Score: 42.5
Minneapolis, Minnesota | Voted: Spiciest Sausage
Food – 4. Dinner was at The Local, an Irish pub. My chicken pot pie was bomb, but the real star was Bethany’s pot roast. I had one bite of it and would be willing to state that that one bite was the best meal I had on the trip. Brunch was at the most adorable coffee shop called Northern Coffeeworks, which is where said spicy sausage was had. Also, the best biscuits I’ve had north of the Mason-Dixon.
People – 3.5.
Entertainment/Activity Options – 4
Weather – 4
Culture/Art/Architecture – 3
History – 5. They had some pretty cool stuff go on. I think we were pretty intrigued by the dueling flour mill situation going on on either side of the river.
Famous People – 5. Um hello, Target and Charlie Brown! So many cool people. I guess Prince is worth mentioning too.
Highways – 3.5
Live-ability – 2
Overall Atmosphere/Vibe – 2.5
Revisit-ability – 3
Bonus Points – 1. Back to the camera saga. Taking a work break in Eau Claire, Wisconsin I called ahead to a camera store to see if they had my battery in stock AND if they’d be able to charge it for me before I got there. I felt so needy. Good news: They had it and would charge it! Bad news: It was only 1/4 charged by the time I got there. I was going to have to figure out a way to make 1 bar last 10 more days, which meant limiting myself to 1 digital shot per location; the rest would have to be film. Here’s to hoping I’d done enough practice on my Pentax!
Total Score: 40.5
Day 2: Minneapolis to Fargo
Fargo, North Dakota | Voted: Most “You’re Not From Here” Stares
Food – 4. Dinner was Mexican food at Vinyl Taco. Super delish. Breakfast was donuts at Sandy’s. Any shop with dark chocolate icing is a win in my book!
People – 2
Entertainment/Activity Options – 2
Weather – 4.5
Culture/Art/Architecture – 4. I think they may have gotten a lot of points out of pure surprise. We were not expecting to see so many high-end art galleries, etc. They were quite lovely, and kept Fargo in the runnings.
History – 1.5
Famous People – 1. Roger Maris. That was about it.
Highways – 2.5
Live-ability – 1. Sorry, Fargo.
Overall Atmosphere/Vibe – 2.5
Revisit-ability – 2. I’m super glad we visited. But don’t think I’ll ever make a trip back.
Bonus Points – N/A
Total Score: 27
Alright friends, that’s a wrap on Part 1. Tune in tomorrow to Part 2 for Days 3-6 taking us from Fargo to Glacier to Calgary! It just gets better from here 😉
P.S., I would like to take this chance to give a shoutout to Penelope the Prius for getting safely to all of our destinations and for making us look even more like basic city girls.
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