man and woman smiling on hike, at lake, and in front of hot air balloons

Our 2023 Travel Season was one for the books! It had many firsts, including the first season we boarded a plane for a road trip and the first season we split between two distinct road trips. It was also the first season in which we took more than one week off at a time (we took off three weeks for our Great Alaskan Road Trip), plus the first season without a month-long stay… and with a 5-star stay!

From the end of June to the middle of October, our 2023 Travel Season covered 6,400+ miles, took us to 11 national parks in the U.S. and 5 national parks in Canada, and gave us 30 towns and cities to call home for anywhere from 1 to 21 nights.

It all kicked off with our 21-Day Great Alaskan Road Trip, where we were on a mission to visit all 8 of Alaska’s national parks in one trip. Then, after a quick regroup in Dallas to unpack and repack, we took off on a 2.5-month road trip following the Rocky Mountains.

This was our most ambitious travel season yet, and more incredible than we ever could have imagined!

Table of Contents

Planning Our 2023 Travel Season

In 2019, we took roadtrips to Virginia and North Carolina to visit friends and family, staying in various short-term rentals for one or two weeks at a time.

In 2020, we went all in on travel and spent the majority of the year on the road, bouncing between month-long+ stays in places like Virginia Beach, VA, Charlotte, NC, and Bryson City, NC… and spending 6 weeks in New Mexico.

In 2021, the “travel season” was officially born. We spent 3.5 months on the road, exploring Colorado, Utah, and northern Arizona.

In 2022, our travel season took us to the Northeast United States and Ontario, Canada, for 5 months.

For 2023, we had some lofty goals.

First, we were interested in taking a month-long sabbatical after saving up a large number of vacation days. We also wanted to continue visiting national parks across the United States. We’re not necessarily on a mission to see all of the parks in a certain amount of time, but we’d love to visit each park eventually, so we’re always looking for trips that can include at least one or two new parks.

Second, we decided to plan a winter trip to Yellowstone National Park, one of our favorite places in the world, and were toying with the idea of seeing Yellowstone in every season in one calendar year.

Normally, we plan our next travel season around January of that same year. That’s when we’ll decide where we want to go, book lodging, and research the best things to see and do in an area.

However, by the end of our 2022 Season, we knew we wanted to possibly make Alaska happen the following year. We were looking at vacation days, realizing we had many saved, and when my parents offered to watch Lincoln so we could fly there instead of driving, it was a done deal. We started planning the Alaska portion of our season while staying outside Acadia National Park at the end of our 2022 Season.

Planning our Great Alaskan Road Trip was a beast. It’s by far our biggest trip to date, and the logistics of trying to reach Alaska’s 8 national parks took a lot of time to sort through and line up.

Plus, although we planned far in advance for our standards, most people start planning an Alaskan adventure at least 1 year in advance. Even more, if you want to visit Katmai National Park and stay at Brooks Lodge, you need to plan a year and a half in advance. That meant we were playing catch-up, trying to organize our route, secure lodging, and squeeze 8 different parks into one itinerary.

And that was just for Part One of our 2023 Travel Season!

For Part Two, we planned a 2.5-month Rocky Mountain road trip after decided to go all-in on this bucket list season.

We committed to visiting Yellowstone in every season in the 2023 calendar year, and decided we’d make our way all the way to Icefields Parkway in Canada. I’ve always wanted to spend a night at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise.

From there, we realized we could essentially follow the Rockies, picking them up in Denver and driving through the Tetons, Yellowstone, Glacier, and as much of the Canadian Rockies as possible. We picked Jasper National Park, the end of the Icefields Parkway, and a highlight destination in its own right, as our turnaround spot.

Bonus: It just happened to work out perfectly that we could retrace our steps and end up at Albuquerque’s Balloon Fest on the same day the total solar eclipse would pass by before returning to Dallas. Magic!

What Went as Planned / What Didn’t

Ultimately, a lot of the things we wanted to do during this season worked out really, really well. We visited all 8 of Alaska’s National Parks, which was arguably our biggest win of the season! It almost didn’t happen, though, when the weather took a turn the morning of our flight to Kobuk Valley National Park.

We were also able to visit Yellowstone in all four seasons: winter, spring, summer, and fall. We watched the Solar Eclipse from Balloon Fiesta Park during the Albuquerque Balloon Fest, and we had an absolutely magical 24 hours at the Fairmont Chateau in Lake Louise.

In total, we visited 11 US national parks: Glacier Bay, Kenai Fjords, Wrangell-St. Elias, Kobuk Valley, Gates of the Arctic, Katmai, Denali, Lake Clark, Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, and Glacier National Parks. We also made it to 5 Canadian national parks: Banff, Yoho, Glacier, Jasper, and Waterton Lakes.

Plus, we crossed a whole lot of things off our bucket lists, such as the aforementioned 8 Alaskan parks, spending a night in the iconic Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, morning ascension at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, and seeing Yellowstone in all four seasons, but also… glacier dog sledding, ice climbing, catching a glimpse of Mount Denali, whitewater rafting, watching bears fish for salmon at Brooks Falls, sunrise canoeing on Lake Louise, driving the Icefields Parkway, and hiking to Hidden Lake in Glacier NP (finally without fog obscuring the view).

Of course, a few things didn’t go according to plan. Most notably, we never made it to Moab between our stays in Driggs, ID, and Grand Junction, CO. We had a campsite booked in Moab and were planning to drive through Arches National Park. We’d been in 2021 but wanted to swing through again on our way to Grand Junction to focus specifically on Arches’ Scenic Drive.

However, about an hour from Arches, we turned around and headed straight for Grand Junction instead. We’d be arriving late into our Moab campsite, having to set up our car camp in the dark, then spending all of the next day driving through Arches before driving to Grand Junction. Jonathan, unfortunately, was called into the office for an on-site meeting the following Monday, which made a day of rest in Grand Junction much more appealing than another full day of travel.

That’s another thing that didn’t go according to plan: the on-site meeting Jonathan had to attend fell during our week in Colorado’s Wine Country. We were looking forward to a week of wineries and peach orchards, but when Jon was called into work, our plans shifted, and Lincoln and I spent a week in Grand Junction ourselves while Jon was back in Dallas.

In Alaska, we did get to land in Kobuk Valley National Park, but we couldn’t land on the Kobuk Sand Dunes. We were hoping to get off the plane at the Kobuk Sand Dunes and have about 30 minutes to explore. Ultimately, we were able to land on a nearby lake and step out of the plane onto the rafters for a couple of photos. We then flew over the Kobuk Sand Dunes so we could take in the bird’s eye view, but had to move on relatively quickly due to an incoming storm.

Katmai National Park was also touch-and-go when our water taxi from King Salmon to Brooks Camp was cancelled the morning we were at the airport on our way to King Salmon. An “Amazing Race”-like thirty minutes followed, and somehow, this mishap actually worked out in our favor as we were able to secure a second night at Brooks Camp when forced to take a charter plane instead of the water taxi.

This is one of my favorite stories from our Great Alaskan Road Trip… Read about it here!

We also never made it to Point of Adolphus near Gustavus. The kayaking with whales trip we booked, and the wildlife boat tour (two separate companies and separate bookings), both canceled on us. Point of Adolphus is one of the best places in the world for whale watching, so… next time?!?!

All in all, it was an absolute highlight year for us and a travel season I still can’t believe was real. Here’s what it looked like in detail, including everything we were able to explore.

2023 Travel Season Itinerary

For our 21-Day Great Alaskan Road Trip, we spent:

three nights in Gustavus
four nights in Seward
two nights in McCarthy
one night in Fairbanks
two nights in Coldfoot
one night at the Chena Hot Springs
one night in Anchorage
two nights at Brooks Camp in Katmai National Park
three nights in Denali
one night in Anchorage

For our 2.5-Mont Rocky Mountain Road Trip, we spent:

one week in Denver
three nights in Grand Teton National Park
one night in Yellowstone National Park
three weeks in Calgary, Canada
two nights at the Lake Louise Soft-Sided Campground
one night at Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise
one night at the Silverhorn Creek Campground
two nights at the Crossing Resort along the Icefields Parkway
three nights in Jasper
one night in Waterton Lakes National Park
one week in Kalispell, MT near Glacier National Park
three weeks near Grand Teton & Yellowstone National Parks in Driggs, ID, Gardiner, MT, West Yellowstone, MT, and Canyon Village)
one week in Grand Junction, CO
one night in Albuquerque for the International Balloon Fiesta!

Note: We never actually made it to Moab and didn’t need to spend a night in King Salmon after getting a second night at Brooks Camp.

21-Day Great Alaskan Roadtrip

This was such a special trip. We took three weeks completely off to see as much of Alaska as possible and signed ourselves up for a whole bunch of new adventures and activities while there.

We started with a flight from Dallas through Seattle and Juneau to Gustavus, Alaska. There, we spent three days touring Glacier Bay National Park.

Then we flew from Gustavus to Juneau, then to Anchorage, where we picked up a rental car and drove the Seward Highway to Seward. We spent four days exploring Kenai Fjords National Park.

From Seward, we drove the infamous McCarthy Road to McCarthy, Alaska, to spend two days in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.

After a quick pitstop in Fairbanks, we made it to Dalton’s Highway, the Arctic Circle, and Coldfoot, AK, for a flightseeing tour of Kobuk Valley and Gates of the Arctic National Parks.

We spent one night getting some much-needed R&R at the Chena Hot Springs Resort before driving to Anchorage for our flight to King Salmon and Brooks Camp. We spent two days at Brooks Camp in Katmai National Park before driving the George Parks Highway to Denali.

After three days in Denali National Park, we had one final stop in Anchorage for a flightseeing tour to Lake Clark National Park.

Along the way, we went ice climbing, dog sledding, glacier hiking, kayaking, fishing for salmon, soaking in hot springs, jumping in glacier pools, and white water rafting. We took bush planes to some of the most remote national parks in the world. At one point, we experienced our very own version of the TV show ‘Alone’ when our pilot dropped us off in Gates of the Arctic National Park with just a promise to return in 5 hours!

We stood feet from some of the largest grizzly bears in the world, drank hot chocolate while watching glacier calving from a kayak in the middle of the sea, and were even chased by a sea lion on our way to a place called Pleasant Island.

We slept in an airport garage, left camera batteries in Airbnbs, accidentally threw away memory cards, used the restroom in a shared outhouse, got caught in a bear jam, developed a toe infection, tore holes in our boots, and attempted to camp outside with just a store-bought sleeping bag in low-40-degree weather… before ultimately deciding to car camp.

Alaska is the most incredible and wild adventure we’ve had yet. It was also by far the hardest road trip we’ve ever had to plan and the most expensive trip we’ve been on.

We wrote all about our trip through a daily diary-style series called Alaska Diaries: The Great Alaskan Road Trip.

Alaska Diaries: The Great Alaskan Road Trip

2.5-Month Rocky Mountain Road Trip

After our Great Alaskan Road Trip, we flew back to Dallas to recover from three weeks of non-stop adventures. We slept, caught up on work, unpacked and then repacked, and picked up Lincoln before starting the second part of our season.

For Part 2 of our 2023 Travel Season, we followed our more traditional road trip format, spending 2.5 months along the US and Canadian Rockies.

We met up with friends, spent an absolutely magical night in one of our bucket list hotels, conquered the Banff Via Ferrata (where we were rewarded with possibly the best mountain views of our entire trip), got to “redo” a visit to Glacier to see it in all of its sunshine glory, found red Adirondack chairs in the middle of the Canadian wilderness, and even became tour guides for two weeks, showing our parents and best friends around Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks.

We hiked hundreds of miles, stayed in everything from $9/night campgrounds to 5-star hotels, and witnessed a solar eclipse while attending the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. We drove some of the most famous roads in North America, including Going-to-the-Sun Road and the Icefields Parkway. We even visited Yellowstone twice in the same season, so we could experience it in all four seasons in one calendar year!

Yellowstone is one of our favorite places in the world. In fact, we love it so much that by the end of the season, we’ll buy a fixer-upper and start our next grand adventure…

Affiliate Disclosure: Some of the links in this next section are affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through them—at no extra cost to you. We only share places and products we truly love.

One Week in Denver, Colorado

Our trip began with a stop in Denver, CO, because Denver is almost directly between Dallas and Yellowstone National Park.

We met up with some of our best friends, went hiking, and explored the city even further. (We also spent a portion of our 2021 Travel Season in Denver.)

Where we stayed: Aloft Denver North Westminster

3 Nights in Grand Teton & 1 Night in Yellowstone

From Denver, we made our way to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. We spent a few nights at Colter Bay Village in Grand Teton National Park to drive the Grand Teton Scenic Loop and hike Phelps Lake, Cascade Canyon, Hidden Falls, and Inspiration Point.

Then, we spent one night in Yellowstone at the Old Faithful Lodge, where we got to watch Old Faithful erupt after dark. (You’re more so listening to Old Faithful erupt, but it was pretty dang cool anyway.)

Years ago, during our 2015 Pacific Northwest Road Trip, we spent five nights camping and hiking in Yellowstone, but only spent a half-day hiking in Grand Teton, so it was awesome to explore both parks more.

Three Weeks in Calgary

Calgary was our longest stay of the season. We traveled from Yellowstone to Calgary to explore the city and take lots of day trips to Banff, Glacier, and the Kananaskis.

We conquered the Mt Norquay Via Ferrata in Banff (again, not an understatement to say these were probably the best mountain views we had all season!!), hiked in the Kananaskis, saw the absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous Moraine Lake, visited a Wolf Dog Sanctuary, went to cideries, and even took an overnight trip to Glacier National Park of Canada.

Oh, and we ate Tim Hortons basically every day. (It was right nextdoor to our hotel, can you blame us?!)

Where we stayed: Element Calgary Airport

man and woman in climbing gear on mounain summit

10-Day Icefields Parkway Road Trip

This was a road trip within our road trip, meaning we took time off for it. There’s so much to see between Lake Louise and Jasper National Park, so we wanted as much time as possible for hiking and sightseeing.

We drove the Bow Valley Parkway on our way to Lake Louise, then explored Banff, Lake Louise, and Yoho National Park. After three nights in Lake Louise (including 24 m-a-g-i-c-a-l hours at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise), we spent three days on the Icefields Parkway before reaching Jasper.

Similar to our Great Alaskan Road Trip, we wrote daily recaps of the incredible things we got to do and see for this portion of our travels. Read our Icefields Parkway Travelogue here.

Our favorite stay near the Icefields Parkway: Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise

Glacier National Park

Jasper was the turnaround point for both our 10 days along the Icefields Parkway and our entire 2.5-Month Rocky Mountain Road Trip.

Once we made it to Jasper, we spent a few days exploring before retracing our steps back to Dallas. On our way to Jasper, we stopped in Grand Teton and Yellowstone, so on our way back, we stopped in Glacier.

We spent about a week in an Airbnb outside of West Glacier in Kalispell, Montana, taking day trips into the park to drive the Going-to-the-Sun Road and hike Avalanche Lake and Hidden Lake.

Yellowstone and Grand Teton

After Glacier, it was time to explore Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks in the fall. This marked our fourth and final trip to Yellowstone in 2023, completing our goal of experiencing the park in all four seasons in one calendar year.

We bounced between Gardiner, MT, Island Park, ID, Driggs, ID, and Yellowstone’s Canyon Village. It was during this final fall visit that we stumbled across something that would change the course of our lives entirely: a cluster of fixer-upper cabins for sale in Gardiner, Montana.

We didn’t know it yet, but what we’re calling our ‘Year of Yellowstone’ was the start of our All-Seasons Yellowstone Travel Guide, the Cozy Yellowstone Compound, and Cabin Chronicles, our behind-the-scenes blog series about renovating cabins, hosting guests, and building a life and a business at the edge of America’s first national park.

Grand Junction, CO

After about three weeks in the Yellowstone and Grand Teton areas, we made two final stops on our way back to Dallas.

The first was in Grand Junction, CO, to enjoy Colorado’s wine country for a week. Jon had a quick in-person work meeting, so Lincoln and I enjoyed Grand Junction wineries before Jon met back up with us for the final stop of our season.

Where we stayed: SpringHill Suites Historic Main Street

Albuquerque, NM

For our final stop of the season, we made it to Albuquerque, NM, for the Albuquerque International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta. It was INCREDIBLE! Even more magical than the pictures.

Plus, the date we visited coincided with the Annular Solar Eclipse, which made it all the more special.

spectators watching dozens of hot air balloons take off

The Balloon Fiesta + Solar Eclipse was the perfect cap to our most ambitious season yet.

Thank you for reading and following along with us!

2023 Travel Season: Alaska and the Rocky Mountains