If you’ve been following along, I’ve been doing a series of posts from my road trip this week, and we are officially on Part 3! If you missed the first two you can find them here: Part 1 & Part 2.
Days 7-8: Calgary to Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone | Voted: Most Traffic (both vehicular and pedestrian)
This was the point at which the single bar of life I had in my digital camera ended. For those that were counting, that means I kept my baby alive on a 1/4 power for a week. I feel pretty good about that.
Food – 2.5. Though the food wasn’t stellar, we did thoroughly enjoy our glass of wine on the porch of a cabin, overlooking Lake Yellowstone. So that earned it some points.
People – 1.5
Entertainment/Activity Options – 5
Weather – 4
Culture/Art/Architecture – 3
History – 4
Famous People – 0
Highways – 4
Live-ability – 0
Overall Atmosphere/Vibe – 2. If I had to sum up our impression of Yellowstone in one sentence it would be: Pretty but touristy. It had a little too much of a Disney-land vibe for our liking. I much prefer the remote, isolated feeling of Glacier and I will always choose mountain views over canyons and geysers.
Revisit-ability – 3
Bonus Points – N/A
Total Score: 29
Day 9: Yellowstone to Jackson Hole via Grand Teton
This is another combo rating, factoring in both Grand Teton National Park and Jackson Hole.
Grand Teton | Voted: Winner of the Whitest Tablecloth Award & Jackson Hole | Voted Most Likely To Spot a Billionaire
Food – 5. Eating homemade waffle sandwiches with melty gooey brown sugar butter on the top of Grand Teton will automatically win you a 5 in this category. Having a killer mac and cheese at dinner will do it too.
People – 3
Entertainment/Activity Options – 5
Weather – 5
Culture/Art/Architecture – 4
History – 2.5
Famous People – 0. To clarify, a TON of famous people go there and have second homes there. Jackson Hole is a bit…bougie. But we couldn’t find anybody notable actually from there.
Highways – 4
Live-ability – 3.5
Overall Atmosphere/Vibe – 5
Revisit-ability – 5
Bonus Points – 2. Bonus points because our hotel had a hot tub. And at this point in the trip, nothing sounded more perfect than an evening dip in a steaming hot pool. (I think the geysers at Yellowstone got us craving this.) It should also be noted that this was the point in the trip where we decided that a Bonus Points category should be added to the matrix. We wanted to give Jackson credit for this amazing amenity and hot tub just didn’t quite fit in any of the others.
Total Score: 44
Day 10: Jackson Hole to Rapid City via Mount Rushmore
Rapid City, South Dakota | Voted: Best View of the Moon & Mount Rushmore | Voted: Most Anti-climactic
Food – 4. We had a yummy wine and cheese platter on a rooftop while playing Bananagrams. That definitely calls for a high score.
People – 2.
Entertainment/Activity Options – 1.5
Weather – 4
Culture/Art/Architecture – 4
History – 4.5
Famous People – 0
Highways – 3
Live-ability – 1.5
Overall Atmosphere/Vibe – 2.5
Revisit-ability – 0. Like I said, Mount Rushmore was super anti-climactic. We got ice cream up there just so we could make ourselves feel like the stop wasn’t a total bust. So I really don’t see myself ever having a reason to go back to Rapid City.
Bonus Points – 2. Bonus points for the rooftop bar at our hotel, complete with fire pits and a killer view of the moon rising. Also, we didn’t have a “Lodging” category, but Rapid City was definitely our favorite hotel.
Total Score: 29
Day 11: Rapid City to Sioux Falls via Badlands
Badlands | Voted: Most Likely to Get Rammed & Sioux Falls, South Dakota | Voted: Most Surprising Town
Food – 3.5
People – 2
Entertainment/Activity Options – 3
Weather – 3
Culture/Art/Architecture – 4. Their little downtown is surprisingly chic. It’s full of cute boutiques, restaurants, bakeries and bars, all of which could easily fit in in a big city. There’s a lovely mix of old and new architecture, lots of cobblestone, and other things that make my heart happy.
History – 1.5
Famous People – 3
Highways – 3
Live-ability – 4
Overall Atmosphere/Vibe – 4.5. We were thoroughly surprised by Sioux Falls. I don’t think any of us had high expectations for this as it was more or less just a sleeping point on our way back to Chicago. But it turned out to be absolutely adorable. Also our AirBnB was literally in an old mansion. How cool is that? It looked like it came straight out of the South.
Revisit-ability – 5. Yeah. For those of you keeping score, that puts little Sioux Falls tied with places like Glacier and Calgary in the re-visitability category. We were that impressed with it!
Bonus Points – N/A
Total Score: 36.5
Aaand that’s a wrap on the Girls Gone West Road Trip. I hope you’ve enjoyed this glimpse into our adventure. If you’re ever planning a trip out west, feel free to reference our matrix scores…or don’t – they really are just the opinions of 3 random girls who were bored during 9 hour car rides 😉
Final Matrix Summary:
Overall Points Winner: Grand Teton/Jackson Hole
Food Winners: Calgary and Teton/Jackson
People Winners: Glacier and Madison
Entertainment/Activity Winners: Glacier, Yellowstone, and Teton
Weather Winners: Glacier and Teton
Culture/Art/Architecture Winner: Calgary
History Winners: Minneapolis and Glacier
Famous People Winner: Minneapolis
Highway Winner: Calgary
Live-ability Winners: Calgary and Sioux Falls
Atmosphere/Vibe Winners: Teton/Jackson
Re-vistability Winners: Glacier, Madison, Teton, Calgary, Sioux Falls
Thanks for following along!
xo
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