Welcome to Part 2 of the Girls Gone West Road Trip! If you missed yesterday’s post, be sure to check it out to get your intro into the workings of the Great West Matrix.
Day 3: Fargo, North Dakota to Billings, Montana
Day 3 was one of our long stretches of driving, taking us through the entire state of North Dakota. Which means most of the pics were from random stops along the route.
Billings, Montana | Voted: Most Accommodating to Our Laziness
Ok don’t judge us. We’d been in the car all day. We were gross. Once we got to our hotel, the last thing we wanted to do was go back out. As we drove into our hotel parking lot, Lazy Plan A was to just walk across the street to the restaurant there. Then we got inside and found out that restaurant delivered to the hotel for free. So then our laziness went into high gear and Lazy Plan B became ordering delivery from a restaurant 100 feet away. We regretted nothing.
That said, we do feel a little bad about this review because all we saw besides highway views was our hotel. Sorry, Billings.
Food – 3. Nothing amazing, but it got major boosts in the votes due to the fact that we didn’t have to move to get it.
People – 4. One hotel worker and the food delivery lady were our sample size for this one. Both were lovely.
Entertainment/Activity Options – 2
Weather – 3.5
Culture/Art/Architecture – 1
History – 4
Famous People – 1
Highways – 4. In addition to the roads being smooth and pleasant to drive one, the views from the highway were INCREDIBLE. Montana landscape is simply gorgeous.
Live-ability – 1.5
Overall Atmosphere/Vibe – 3
Revisit-ability – 0
Bonus Points – N/A
Total Score: 27
Days 4-5: Billings, Montana to Waterton and Glacier National Park
Glacier | Voted: Most Likely to Make Us Look Like Basic White Girls & Waterton | Voted: Most Stereotypically Canadian
This rating is based on a combination of both Glacier National Park & Waterton National Park (which is basically the Canadian side of Glacier).
Food – 1.5
People – 5
Entertainment/Activity Options – 5
Weather – 5
Culture/Art/Architecture – 2.5
History – 5
Famous People – 0. To be fair, this one was impossible since no one actually lives in the park. Although they do have 2 Winter Caretakers and a Fire Watcher who lives alone on the top of a mountain all summer. I mean, seriously, those are actual jobs and job titles. You know the game where people ask “if you could have lunch with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?” My new answer to that game is any of those 3 people.
Highways – 3
Live-ability – 1
Overall Atmosphere/Vibe – 4.5
Revisit-ability – 5. If you were to ask me the one place from our trip that I’d re-visit before any of the other places, Glacier/Waterton would win hands down. In fact, I’d visit here 3 more times before I’d go back to another place from our trip. Yeah. It’s that good.
Bonus Points – 1. Waterton captured a bonus point for giving us free park passes in honor of Canada’s birthday. Aside from the border agents, this was our first interaction with humans in Canada and we couldn’t have asked for anything more stereotypically Canadian to welcome us to the country. It was magical.
Total Score: 38.5
Day 6: Glacier to Calgary
Calgary, Alberta | Voted: Most Likely to Inspire 3 Americans to Learn the Canadian National Anthem
Yes, this is the point in the trip where we spent our drive learning the Canadian national anthem, naturally. I’ve never been more proud of us and I cannot wait for the Olympics so we can sing along.
Food – 5. Thanks to Sally for getting the poutine so I could try it without committing to it…it was DELISH!
People – 3.5
Entertainment/Activity Options – 4
Weather – 4
Culture/Art/Architecture – 5
History – 3
Famous People – 1. Glee fans will probably disagree with this rating.
Highways – 4.5. We thoroughly enjoyed Canada’s highways. In addition to being pretty and letting us drive fast, they provided us (read: me) with a continuous string of math games as we (read: I) tried converting all the signs from kilometers to miles.
Live-ability – 4
Overall Atmosphere/Vibe – 4. Overall we were BIG fans of Calgary. There was just so much to do and see and it was such a pleasant little city. It had lovely mix of pretty architecture (which y’all know I love) and quiet parks; and the food was top notch. You can tell the three of us feel most at home in cities 🙂
Revisit-ability – 5
Bonus Points – N/A
Total Score: 43
Ok that’s a wrap on Part 2! If you’re keeping track, Calgary currently has the lead in total score. Check out tomorrow’s post to see if that lead sticks 😉 Tomorrow will feature the last few stops of our trip, including the amazingness that is Yellowstone and Grand Teton.
xo
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