Birthday USA Roadtrip (Destination Photographer)

Last year me and my husband decided to do a little roadtripping adventure for my birthday which falls on August long. Besides being to Vegas I have never been anywhere in the states and we thought how fun would it be to see some spots closer to the border. We had no plan of action except the desire to leave the city and country and embark on an adventure. We grabbed the dog, some camping stuff and drove down south towards Sandpoint Idaho.

The timing worked out because thats when scorching hot temperatures hit an all time high in those areas reaching 35-40 degrees celsius. So we had nothing but great weather to travel to and got to enjoy the lake and frolic in the water in our bathing suits. It was wonderful. Only problem travelling that weekend was that 1. it was August long so all the accommodations in the town were booked up 2.Forest fires were rampid in B.C, Idaho, Washington, & Montana.

When arriving into Sandpoint it felt like we walked onto an old hollywood movie set. Everything was frozen in time and extremely vintage. The town was so quaint and cute and the boardwalk leading to the lake was super cool. When leaving Sandpoint the south exit highway takes you on this long bridge across the lake which is really beautiful and gives you a good vantage point of the whole lake. There is this peninsula in the middle where city beach is and its a nicely kept beach with a park in the middle which is fully patrolled. Its a great place to take the family and enjoy a nice day lounging on the sand and enjoying the water. There is a mini statue of liberty you can take pictures with there that makes Sandpoint super iconic.

So upon arriving I said before that we had zero plans as to what we were going to do with accommodations… Also having a dog limits your options a bit. So we walked to some B&B’s in search of refuge and they were all beyond capacity. Thats when the nice people of Sandpoint lent us their phones so we can makes some calls around. I found a gem on TripAdvisor called “Talus Rock Retreat“. We called them and they were super accommodating and they had a wonderful little cabin for us when we arrived. They are not on the main strip but if you own a car that wont matter much as they are a short drive away in the more residential part of the town. The main house is absolutely stunning. The door when you drive up to the house is all custom carved into this beautiful scape and the house looks like this mountain cabin. The staff come out to welcome you which makes the experience that much more inviting. When we checked in they took us to our cute little cabin which is a short walk from the main house. It was everything we needed for our stay and it was really nice to have our own privacy. The property was large so it was perfect for our little runner to get his exercise.

The next day we enjoyed a nice beach day at city beach. We grabbed our things went to the main house at Talus Rock where they served up a complimentary breakfast for us. After we finished our breakfast we drove into town and saw that there was a little farmers market pitched up in one of the parks. We decided to take a look and walked away with some fresh flavoured goat cheese (to die for) and some lavender apricot jam (mmmm so goood). Once we arrived at the beach we found a nice spot and perched up there for the day. The weather was scorching hot like unbelievable for that time of year. Luckily we already were used to the hot temperatures as we arrived from Italy a month prior so our skin was already prepped for roasting. We hit up a Starbucks and forgot since we were in the states there was an XXL size of drink, since we were already there we just had to we both got two passion tea lemonades in the biggest sizes. I seriously don’t even know how we both got through them as it was a litre each but I guess we were super thirsty.

That night we decided to get ready and hit the town up in the evening. We decided on the dinner place called “Thai Nigiri” which was a sushi/thai fusion restaurant. OMG was it ever good. We ordered some sushi to share as well as some pad thai and tom yum soup and it was all honestly amazing. The pad thai was the best we have ever tried at any restaurant which says a lot because we are thai food fiends. It was so good we decided to return the following evening for my birthday meal and have the same things! When we like something we like it and stick to it hahaha.

The next day was my birthday and my amazing hubby surprised me with a gorgeous birthday gift when we woke up. He got me some of my favourite butt pants and a MK watch. He is seriously the most amazing human being I know and I appreciate every moment I spend with him. Life just wouldn’t be the same without him and wouldn’t as fun and enjoyable. I love him in the deepest way and count my lucky stars every single day. After the gift gifting we decided to check out dog beach which is a public beach that specifically allows dogs. Noah knew something was up and wouldn’t leave us alone. When we were walking closer to the water its like he has a smell for it. He was pulling us so hard to get there and take a dip. Once we got there the boy was in heaven he wouldn’t stop swimming. At points we were getting frustrated because he would swim and when we would try and get him out he would swim away into deeper waters. I don’t understand when he became a water dog as he was terrified of water at one point. Now you can’t get the bugger out ever! After his dip we took a nice walk around town went back to Talus and dropped him off in the cool cabin. It was my birthday that day so we went out for dinner and than for a nice evening stroll. The nice thing about Sandpoint is that its such a quite town you can’t help but relax. You don’t do anything and thats the beauty of it. You feel extremely rested coming back as its an extremely low key place and its super laid back.

The second last day we heard there were some happenings on Schweitzer mountain and decided to check it out. They had a huckleberry festival which is a pretty big deal for locals. The drive up to the mountain was really nice with the road being wind-ey. If you get motion sickness easily take a gravol before venturing out. Once we got to the top the view would’ve been amazing as it looks right down onto Pend Orielle Lake however our views were obstructed by the cloud of forest fire smoke. When we walked up to the main village nothing really was happening and the festival was so small and disorganized me and hubby kind of looked at each other and thought thats it? It was nice to sit down at the top and enjoy one of their local huckleberry beers which was delicious. I feel like huckleberry’s are one of those fruits that just taste super delicious no matter what form they are in.

It finally came down to our last day and we had to leave for Calgary. We wanted to take a little roadtrip back so we decided to go through Montana to see whitefish and than head up the sun highway but due to forest fires the whole highway was closed. So instead of taking roughly 4 hours to get home we  took almost 7 and went through the flattest part of Alberta. There was nothing to see for miles which made the drive super boring near the end. All in all the  detour was worth it as we stopped by Kootenai Falls and swinging bridge and took some gnarly pictures.

We love spontaneous trips like this because it allows us to leave everything behind and plan on the fly which can be exciting in its own little way. We will definetly be adding more trips like that to the Que and sharing them with all of you:) Thanks for reading xoxo

 

 

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