Our Great Harleymoon: Intro

When I first met my husband, I’d never been on a motorcycle in my life. I was, in fact, terrified of them. They stood for all that was dangerous and living on the edge. My then boyfriend on the other hand, lived and breathed anything and everything Harley related. He has spent the majority of his adult life riding a motorcycle all over the Northern parts of the country.

Naturally, I knew the day would come when I’d hop on the back of that bike and experience it for the first time. I was terrified the first time that happened. I think I sat as straight as a board and frozen the entire time. Eventually though, I gained confidence. And luckily for my benefit, my husband’s years of recklessness on a Harley are long gone. Something about his extreme concentration and strict rules for when we ride the Harley made me feel comfortable and safe. And anyone who has known me my whole life would have NEVER guessed that I’d become a Harley babe… But guess what, I love it.

I love it so much that I agreed to a Harley honeymoon or as we started to call it, a Harleymoon. There’s something about experiencing parts of the country on the back of a bike. You can smell the smells, look up and around and see the sights, feel the sun on your face. On the opposite end of the spectrum, you experience rain, cold, and extreme wind… But I wouldn’t trade it for sightseeing in a car any day.

We planned a week long trip spanning over 2,000 miles throughout Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, and finally home to North Dakota. We would be going through Glacier National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, as well as many historic old cities. I was beyond excited for all of this. I’d never before been through this part of the country. And before visiting to view our venue, I’d never traveled to any part of Montana.

This post marks the beginning of a blog series that will highlight our trip, the places we went, the things we saw, the food we ate, the things we saw. I had planned to write one post about our honeymoon but as I compiled it all, I felt like maybe a series may be better. I will break our trip down by day, sharing photos and giving a little history behind some of the places we went. There is so many amazing little hidden gems in that part of the country! AND there will be video of our rides! I wore a GoPro camera the entire time we road and we got some AMAZING footage of Glacier, Yellowstone, the Tetons, and in/around Wyoming.

MONDAY: We spent riding around in Glacier National Park. We went across Logan’s Pass twice and spent some time in St. Mary’s and along the shores of Lake McDonald. I cannot wait to share the photos and video from Glacier. It is seriously amazing! I recommend anyone and everyone to experience it once in their life!

TUESDAY: We rode from West Glacier, MT to West Yellowstone, MT. This was quite a day and we spent most of it on the interstate. We did stop in Butte, MT and had lunch at our favorite hole in the wall which serves Evel Knievel’s favorite sandwich. Stay tuned for what it is! Bonus points if you can name it before the post!

WEDNESDAY:  We rode through Yellowstone National Park in its entirety. We got to see Old Faithful, lots of Buffalo, elk, the hot springs, and all of Yellowstone in its beautiful glory. This was my first time in the park and it was truly unforgettable. We have a lot of GoPro footage from our ride that day, I can’t wait to dig into it all and show you the glory that is Yellowstone. That night, we ended up in Silvergate & Cooke City area, without cell service. Boy, we were roughin it 😉

THURSDAY: We rode from Cooke City to Jackson, WY. We got to ride through the Grand Teton National Park which was GORGEOUS! It was amazing to me how different it was from Yellowstone although they are literally right next to one another. We ended up in Jackson that evening and boy, Jackson was a fun, fun town! I REALLY enjoyed our time there. I’d love to go back and spend a few days there, shopping, eating, and drinking.

FRIDAY: We rode from Jackson, WY to Cody, WY. This was one of those hidden gem moments. The bypass we rode through on our way was gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous! The road paralleled the river, it was such a fun ride. Cody is another town I’d like to return to and spend some more time. Such a fun old West town full of lots of neat shops and history. The town was founded by Buffalo Bill Cody and his name can be found everywhere around there.

SATURDAY: We rode through the Bighorn Mountains on our way to South Dakota. Although most of our ride was foggy and rather cool, it was still GORGEOUS! The plateaus on the top of the Bighorns are some gorgeous, lush grasslands. We ended up in Spearfish, SD and made it just in time. We literally walked into the hotel room as it poured rain outside for most of the evening.

On Sunday, we made our way home from South Dakota. After 2,024 miles our Harleymoon was over. It was the trip of a lifetime and we had such a blast together! I think it’s taken me close to a week to recover from it all, but there’s no denying we made memories along the way that will last forever. We put the pen to paper and started the first few chapters as Mr. and Mrs… We couldn’t have chosen a better way to begin it all!

Check out more of adventure with these links: 

• Glacier National Park
• Glacier to Yellowstone
• Yellowstone National Park
• Chief Joseph Scenic Byway & Grand Teton National Park