14 days – 10,000 KM – 2 Countries – Friends & Family Travel Blog

I used to live in Toronto, Canada back then I decided to take our SantaFe for a test-drive. Here is the image from googlemap after 14 days - the whole 10,000 k.m.

Memories doesn't always do justice - so, we had our cameras, phone that had a roaming plan, tablet - so that we can skype (we didn't hear about zoom at that time), a tent, and a list of places to visit. Our packing was light, although the SUV had plenty of room, we had to bring our heavy laptops, DSLR, inverter to charge gadgets using car battery. It was 4 hours drive to the border of Detroit - Day1 we entered into USA - an unknown territory for both of us.

Michigan - Ohio - Indiana - Illinois - Iowa - Nebraska

Next few days, we drove past cities after cities - some are big and some small. Chicago - a very versatile and structured city with high skyscrapers, boat-ride on lake Michigan (that are colored green on St. Patricks day) - Barak Obama's neighborhood - and then cities like Toledo, Omaha, Sioux city. We did stopby at the Sioux falls, where we met another family from Thunder bay, ON - which was amazing.

1880 Town, South Dakota

I have to highlight this small town - actually not a town, its just a mini museum & village where props from the move 'Dances with Wolves' are showcased. For the day, I dressed myself as a Sheriff and was accompanied by my lady in long dress and hat - just like the old western movies. Yeah, there was horse riding too and lunch on the SantaFe Train Diner.

Peace in Wyoming and marvelous Montana

We couldn't spend much time in Wyoming, but the little part of what we saw was amazing. Then came Montana! We were blown away by the beauty of the nature.

Calgary - Banff - Jasper

We stayed in a hostel in Jasper and probably the best experience we had the entire journey. Friends from Calgary joined us to make the Banff-Jasper trip more adventurous. Undoubtedly, one of the best holiday places in Canada - has its own beauty. Lakes, Rocky Mountains, Hilly roads and tracks, the glacier visit - we had tons of good memories. The route from Banff to Jasper is also worth mentioning and you'll probably stop in few places to take picture of a bear.

Vancouver and Seattle

Both cities are somewhat similar - beside the pacific ocean with mountains and cityscape. I would say, the best driving route in Canada is from Banff to Vancouver (Speed Limit 120KM) and while crossing the border the immigration officer asked me "Are you guys lost!" (I had similar experience crossing through Montana/Alberta border.

Coming back from the west

Idaho state is another hidden beauty - natural paths, mountains, rivers and overall greenery scenes amazed us thoroughly. We crossed Montana, again! It wasn't part of our plan, but we couldn't miss our chance to jump on the Yellowstone river. At times, there were no cars front or behind me as far as I could see, but the natural beauty, rocky mountains, river, great foods in the diner and oh - couple of car stopped by when we were taking pictures beside the road if we were stuck or we needed any help. Thank you Montana - you have nice people living there too.

We stopped by Bismark, St.Cloud and eventually Milwaukee and hopped on the ferry to cross the lake Michigan, to grand rapids our way back home.

This 14 days will stay in our memories for the longest time - I still have flashbacks when I go on similar trips - a memory that probably will last forever.