Hello everyone! I’m going on an exciting adventure. I quit my first nursing job to go be a travel nurse! That means i’m moving to Washington state for a nursing contract. I’m traveling from Minnesota to Washington by car in January. Smart decision? Probably not but I’m gonna go anyways because I would regret it if I didn’t. So our roadtrip planned to go from Minnesota, up to North Dakota, through Montana, and ending in Washington. We didn’t have any hotels planned. We just drove until we were tired or weather permitting because it’s winter and you never know about snowstorms. I will hopefully never have to make this drive in the winter ever again!
Leaving Minnesota
Leaving Minnesota was bittersweet. We packed my car up and left late in the evening. It was in January and cold. Our plan was to drive from Minneapolis, Minnesota to Bismarck, North Dakota. I’m a weather fanatic and since we were driving at night in the winter I was constantly checking for snowstorms and bad winter weather. Because the middle of no where North Dakota is not somewhere I want to be stuck. My mom ended up calling me and telling me there was a storm in the western side of the North Dakota. I was tracking the storm and we would have ended up in the middle of it we had kept driving to Bismarck.
Jamestown, North Dakota
After a lot of back and forth discussion on wether or not we should push through and drive to Bismarck. We ended up deciding to play it safe and stay in Jamestown, North Dakota. We arrived in Jamestown around midnight and we were beat. The next morning we woke up and there was a decent amount of snow on the ground. I was so glad we decided to stop. I have major winter anxiety. Snowy roads are one of my worst nightmares. The next morning we stopped at Babb’s Coffee House☕️ and let me tell you I still think about this iced honey latte with espresso whipped cream to this day!! Please stop if you’re ever passing through!!
Once we were fueled up with coffee our goal was to drive to Bozeman, Montana. Which is about a 9 and a half hour drive. Due keep in mind that the west side of North Dakota just had a snow storm the night before!
Driving from North Dakota into Montana
After fueling up on coffee from Babb’s Coffee House and the hotel breakfast in Jamestown, North Dakota we hit the interstate! The initial part of our journey wasn’t too bad we could see patchy icy and snow conditions on the road but northing to stress about. Along our drive we stumbled upon a bunch of metal structures which are part of enchanted highway in North Dakota. From the interstate you will see Enchanted Highway – Geese in Flight structure. After a quick google search you will find you can take the exit at mile 72 and explore 32 miles worth of hand crafted metal structures. Now we didn’t have time for this but I would have done it if time permitted!
As you continue to drive through North Dakota which feels like forever you will pass Theodore Roosevelt National Park which is North Dakota only national park. We were lucky enough to spot a lone bison which was super cool! We didn’t enter the park due to the conditions worsening as continued to drive and time. But I would love to visit it one day if I ever get the chance. I have heard from quite a few people the the Badlands in North Dakota are significantly better than the badlands in South Dakota!
Now finally we make it to the flying J near the state line. I can’t help but over here the locals talking about all the accidents that had happened in the morning and how bad the roads were. At this point we still had about 6 hours left of travel if we were gonna make it to Bozeman, Montana. We loaded up on gas and food and decided to hit the road but err on the side of caution. As we were driving virtually no one else was on the road except a semi here and there! The moment we crossed into Montana the roads were bad and I was stressed. And on top of the bad roads and no one else driving on the roads we lost cell service! It was a 0/10 situation, I was convinced we needed to turn back but there was no where for us to turn back. So we had to keep going. The roads weren’t plowed and Montana’s department of transportation doesn’t update their online road maps frequently enough for you to know if the roads had been plowed or not. Thankfully by the time we had reached Glendive, Montana the roads were starting to be plowed. I’m pretty sure I was almost in tears because of the road conditions though. Not even being dramatic.
We had continued to drive the eastern side of Montana which was so beautiful but also so barren. We saw a gorgeous sunset and we ended up stopping in Billings, Montana because we were too tired to carry on.
Billings, Montana to where?
We crashed in Billings for the night, had the hotel breakfast and got Maple Moose Coffee and Pop Shop. This was an excellent cup of coffee! Would definitely recommend. Anyways the morning weather report showed snow up in the mountains on the way to Coeur d’Alene, ID and Spokane, WA. We ended up deciding to avoid that route and head down to Boise, ID because I was having way to much snow anxiety. Not only take I have never driven they mountains during winter. So once we hit Bozeman we went down through Big sky, MT, West Yellowstone, Twin Falls, ID, and the finally into Boise, ID. On this path you actually encounter park of Yellowstone National Park and Gallatin National Forest which was super cool to see! We choose this route because we were going to avoid most of the bad weather that was going to be hitting north of us. We did unfortunately run into a few spots with very low visibility. Throughout the whole drive we were consistently driving UNDER the speed limit so we wouldn’t end up in the ditch.
Driving through Montana was incredible beautiful but what I wasn’t prepared for was the portions of the interstate that wind gust up to 60-70 miles per hour which then created a layer of ice over the road! Seriously, so scary!!
Arriving in Boise, ID
After what felt like the most anxiety inducing road travel, we made it to Boise, ID. Got a hotel and then hit Apple Bee’s happy hour which I don’t think had ever tasted so good before.
We planned to leave Boise in the morning but first breakfast and coffee. We settle on Slow by Slow Coffee and bagels from Goldstein’s Bagels & Bialys. I ended up getting the New Mexican Cousin which was so yummy and a perfect way to start the day! The espresso was perfect! Super smooth and no acid bite to it.
Choosing to drive through Oregon or Washington?
Leaving Idaho we had to decide if we were gonna drive through Oregon or go up through Washington. The decision was quite easy, if we drove through Oregon we would be able to see Mt. Hood and by the time we got to Mt. Rainer it would be dark out. So we decided to drive I84 through Oregon which was so BEAUTIFUL. I was actually complete unaware with how beautiful the drive would be. I was completely blown away with how beautiful the Columbia River Gorge is. You’re also looking at hilly, mountain regions throughout the whole drive! You end up driving through the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, Umatilla National Forest, and many other incredible places. The longer you drive the more beautiful it became.
Arriving in Washington
Finally after one of the most anxiety inducing drives of my life we had made it. The first thing we did was take a sunset ferry from Bremerton into Seattle and let me tell you we had the most sunset on the ferry with the mountains out! I had completely forgot the Olympic Mountains existed because it had always been cloudy when I would visit Washington. We ended getting coffee and pizza for dinner in Seattle and called it a night short after that!
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