#26- Everything Happens For a Reason

I've always been wired to ask the question "why?". So, living on faith for the last 5 months has been a test of a lifetime for me. Ever since our dreams were dashed in Florida and a new path was drawn to Vancouver, I have been asking everyone who would listen "WHY?!". Of course to no avail. And yet, somehow, when we left Florida, I had hope that the ever-pressing question of "Why Vancouver over the Bahamas?" would be answered somewhere on our long journey to the Pacific Northwest. 

 We had been through Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee. Nashville had been the perfect first stop. And just like destiny was guiding us to Vancouver, Waze was now guiding us to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.

On day three of our trip, we hit St. Louis around 2:30p and saw the Gateway Arch that had come up so many times on Monday evenings at trivia, in clear sight. We had come far enough that a 'drive by' wasn't suitable but we couldn't exactly get out of the car without leaving Bob. I decided to Google "the best park to take a picture of the Arch" and let Google guide us into East St. Louis. I didn't know much about East St. Louis but after we reached the park, hopped out to leisurely walk Bob and take pictures of a now distant Gateway Arch, I decided to read the park's reviews aloud. With a dirty look, Trav drove a little faster as we let Waze guide us out of what one woman called "a good place to get stabbed" and now followed our digital guide through Missouri and into Kansas City, Kansas for some Arthur Bryant's BBQ.

I figured if the President stopped here on his trip through KC that we should too and pulled right up before closing. Again, because we had Bob in the car, we took what some people called 'the best BBQ they've ever had" to-go and tried to find a hotel. After grabbing a room and a beer, we spread the ribs, beans, and cole-slaw out, picnic-style, on the king-sized bed. We enjoyed the best baked beans we've ever had, watched Thursday Night Football and had sweet dreams of Denver, my home town and our next stop.

From Kansas, we slipped into Colorado. Denver has always been my favorite city and not just because I was born there. There's a magic to the mile high city that I can't explain. It was palpable as we arrived on Friday evening. We had booked a room in downtown for three nights in order to have enough time to see family and friends, and of course, catch a Broncos game.

The latter came quickly after tons of food and quality time with friends and family. By the time our Uber driver arrived at the hotel to pick us up for the game, I was wondering why I had previously refused to move back home. We told the driver to drop us off as close as possible to the stadium as we were meeting my family for one tail-gate and our friends for another. Equipped with comfortable shoes, short-sleeves, and a 12-pack under our arms, we were prepared to cover a lot of ground before the game started. We had just cracked our first beer when we noticed a crowd. Since neither our family or friends had arrived yet, we decided to see what the fuss was about and gained our front row spot along the barricade. We were only confused for a few seconds before we heard the crowd erupt in cheers. We turned to see Payton Manning who was now coming straight for us. Are you kidding me right now!? He started signing autographs, and of course we weren't prepared. Have we not learned anything from The Sharpie Incident!? I just stared, and possibly drooled. We watched the rest of the Broncos team unload and head into the stadium. We had already scored BIG and the game hadn't even started.

Denver never disappoints delivering a great game with Peyton's milestone 500th TD pass (to Demaryius -above) and of course, a great time. We said our good-byes and packed up that evening for our next adventure. We were headed towards Yellowstone the next day, our official 7th day of this awesome road trip.

We drove through Colorado and into Wyoming. We arrived at Jackson Hole around 5p and checked into a cute dog-friendly lodge. We had a great dinner and drank local beer, but called it an early night as we had a full day of exploring to wake up to.

On day 8, we loaded into the car and realized how easy packing and unpacking had become. We now had everything down to a complete science. We also realized the crisp air had been getting increasingly cooler since St. Louis and sadly, the Florida sunshine seemed like a distant memory.

Day 8 was probably my favorite day of the entire trip. As we entered the Grand Teton National Park, with Bob in the back, we instantly saw our first Moose. Bob exploded in the backseat as the Moose crossed the road only a few yards away. We then drove very slowly, working our way through the Tetons as we stopped at leisure to take pictures. It was the most beautiful weather we had experienced so far and the fall color seemed to be magnified around every corner. We entered the South Entrance of Yellowstone around noon and drove up the east side, taking the rest of the afternoon to make our way to the North entrance. What an AMAZING experience. We stopped to photograph waterfalls, mountain goats, elk, buffalo stopping traffic, and some of the most beautiful scenery I have EVER seen. With no plans for the evening, we took our time and got to the North entrance as the sun began to set. We decided to push on to Bozeman Montana.

We had a great time in Bozeman and oddly had no trouble getting in the car for the end of our journey. We had planned to drive to Spokane and then continue to Seattle, getting us as close as possible for crossing the border on our 11th day of our amazing road trip. We were having a great time and though unspoken, neither of us wanted the trip to end. Partly because we had no idea what was on the other side.

As we drove through one of the most beautiful states I'd ever seen (Montana), towards the amazing national park of another (Washington), it hit me. Everything all of a sudden made perfect sense! Our biggest guide of all was revealing the answer in the incredible fall landscapes; and in the moose and all of the buffalo. He was spelling it out with great food, amazing family and quality friends. Why Vancouver over The Bahamas!?

Because there is so much more to life than salt.

Read Next: #27- Home Sweet Home, Nov 7th