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If you’re here from my email list, you know a few details, already, but let’s recap a little. Jac (pronounced Jack) and I have been together since 2015, but we’ve known each other since 2011! During our first year of dating, he invited me on summer vacation with him in Montana. There, I met a bunch of his family for the first time and spent two weeks with them playing games, boating on the lake, and doing any other fun activities available. I truly fell in love with the place and his family!

BUT…we haven’t been back there since that summer. Every year since moving to Arizona, I have pined and begged and wished and prayed to return! It just hasn’t been in the cards with life and work and everything that muddles up between the two. This year, I was adamant that it had been far too long and made it a goal to sit and plan how to make it happen.

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The Plan, People and Patience

I could not contain my excitement when we officially set the dates for our trip back in the beginning of the year. We let all the family know and waited to see who would be able to join us. At first, everyone was on the fence about the dates and timeframe, but we reminded them that even a few days would be so worthwhile for us all to be together. By the spring and into the early summer, it was just going to be the two of us and a few days with Jac’s aunt and uncle – after all, they are the ones with the boat! Fast forward to two weeks before the trip and suddenly everyone is going! I couldn’t believe it. Mind you, they have a quaint and cozy cabin. We all share rooms, sleep in open areas on air mattresses and cots, the whole experience. I love every second.

It has been an extremely rough two years, post-2020, and I had been counting on this trip. Going back was something I needed for my soul! In 2016, we also drove, and the trip is about 18 hours with minimal stops. This year, we would be stopping three times, plus some potty breaks since we took Chewie with us!

Embarking On Our Road Trip: Nevada

We left for Nevada in July to visit some family, and celebrate a major milestone birthday for Jac’s grandfather. One thing we made sure to plan for on this trip was flexibility! We wanted the chance to stay an extra day or two here, and stop a little longer there. I am so glad we did, because we decided to stay a little longer in Nevada to visit with grandparents more and do a little small-town sight seeing. There’s always something enchanting about small towns where you can walk around shop, eat, and linger.

Everyone pitched in to set up and tear-down the party the first couple of days. I couldn’t have expected to see such a full house! It was heartwarming to see Jac’s grandpa enjoying himself with friends and family. Of course, the family stuck around long after and we chatted for the entire afternoon. Chewie loved being able to play in some grass, eat everyone’s crumbs and hang with Granny and Grandpa.

After all the celebrating was done, we went downtown and visited DST Coffee for coffee and breakfast. It was a great find! Once we had some fuel, we walked over to the Cheshire Antiques store and spent a couple of hours lost inside. It was enormous! There were so many great finds, but none that we could fit into our truck and keep protected for the remainder of the trip. I love antique items that are real metals, wood, and glass. They are timeless! This little outing filled my soul, because Jac and I used to go to a new coffee shop and antique store every month in our first two years together. Albuquerque had plenty of both back then!

Second Leg of the Journey: Idaho

Visiting Nevada is always bittersweet because it’s not typically somewhere we stay very long, but the family Jac has there is special, without a doubt. I always admire how they show up for one another and the food. Let’s never forget home-cooked meals are the best and always will be! Begrudgingly, we said our goodbyes and headed out to our halfway point in Idaho.

Rather than finding a hotel or air bnb and hoping we pick a good stopping point, we decided to camp and enjoy nature, while also getting some walking and rest in aaaand saving a ton of money. Win-win-win. The caveat to that?

Will. You. Make. It. Before. Sundown????

We passed the first campground location on our list and thought the extra two hours to the next location was more worth the drive, but it was getting dark fast! Everything was looking good until we got onto the forest road and found winding turns which meant a slower speed and a longer travel time. I was starting to worry we wouldn’t have much light left to even choose the campsite, let alone pitch the tent and warm up our food. Fortunately, this second spot was our favorite, the first space we saw was the best of the bunch and we pitched the tent within the last bits of sunlight! It was by no means a perfect camping experience (we slept on a slope, of course!) but it was memorable and totally worthwhile. We played games, had a fire, and ate warm dinner. Chewie was in his element! He was such a happy boy out in the outdoors.

Third Leg: The Final 9 Hours to the Cabin

The early morning was rough, but it was lucky we brought enough to keep warm over night and got good sleep because of it! We packed up as quickly as we could, then warmed up our frozen burritos and made coffee over our camp stove. The time had finally come to leave for our favorite and final destination – the cabin!

It took rolling, and rolling, and rolling, and rolling, and rolling hills and, sadly, a lot of smoke from major fires all around the state and neighboring ones, but it was still a scenic drive. We both grew up with real mountains, but Idaho peaks were the next level! Standing tall, with overlapping valleys, and snow on top, we just couldn’t stop staring. The only downfall of our route was the lack of populated cities…a.k.a bathrooms. So… let’s just say some stories are better left unshared!

Let the Cabin Days Begin!

Passing through the Montana border was like being welcomed home with a warm hug. Luckily, we made it without any hiccups and Chewie was a happy clam all the way through. We are blessed to have such a great travel pup. I am so grateful that we could bring our sweet boy on this trip and he got to experience Montana and a lake for the first time.

The best part about these trips is that there is no room for scheduling. We sleep when we need to, for however long we need to, read, play games, talk, have bonfires, go out onto the lake with whatever feels right, and just enjoy ourselves. There’s no judgement if you don’t want to do one activity or another, each day everyone decides what sounds like the most fun and then you simply start when everyone’s ready.

This time, we had many more boat days on the lake, ate a lot less home-cooked food but more locally owned restaurant food, had a lot more huckleberries than cherries, and did a lot of reading. We each finished three books in all of our down time. On the last day, we even got to try kayaking for the first time! It was a blast, and I am absolutely hooked! If you don’t know, my goal is to learn to paddle board in summer 2025, but I may need to include kayaking, now.

That’s all I can quickly share with words, but I snapped a few memorable photos along the way that I hope you’ll enjoy seeing! Here are some fun photos from the trip. As a Phoenix photographer, I am not great about taking my camera with me, but I am a very live-in-the-moment kind of gal, so I leave all the photo taking to quick cellphone snaps, and the pro work dedicated to helping moms at their sessions!