We thought that a good way to summarize our North American road trip would be with a series of questions and answers, so thank you to all our readers for submitting questions (just kidding, we came up with these questions ourselves – we are both the interviewers and interviewees). To provide some context, I first asked Christian these questions and transcribed his answers, then he did the same for me. I included links to the places and things we mention, when applicable. These are not affiliate links or ads (mostly because I don’t know how to do that), so we get zero dollars from this. It’s just a silly interview sharing our favorite things. Please enjoy.
Question 1: What was your favorite piece of gear that you had on the trip?
Christian: At the risk of stealing your answer… the blowup mattress from EXPED (EXPED Megamat Duo, size: Queen).
Lauren: Can you please expand?
Christian: It made car camping and sleeping in a tent for so many days really enjoyable. It was better than most of the regular mattresses we slept on when staying at Airbnbs. I also feel like it kept you happy when camping, which kept me happy. Is your answer the same?
Lauren: Yes, we can move on to the next question. It’s the best thing we bought for this trip, hands down. No further comment.
Question 2: What was your favorite restaurant/meal?
Christian: I should have thought of these answers since I knew what questions were coming… (sigh)… I’m going to go with… the salmon candy from that one place…
Lauren: …I thought you’d say Eem.
Christian: Oh shoot, I forgot about Eem. Well, the salmon candy is neither a restaurant nor a meal, but it does deserve a mention (Neah-Kah-Nie Smoke House). However, to answer this question, I will say Eem (Eem Thai BBQ).
Lauren: Can you tell me what you liked about Eem and maybe where it’s located and what kind of food they had?
Christian: I liked it’s… delicious-ness. It is in Portland, Oregon and is a fusion of Southeast Asian food and American barbeque. What was yours?
Lauren: That place in Astoria, Oregon… (pulls out phone)… hang on… Busu (Busu Astoria). I thought the food was really creative. I would describe it as Japanese food, but with a twist. It was just a tiny place with two little seats outside at the counter in front of the window. The food was super flavorful and the ingredients were really fresh. I liked the quirky chef. He opened when he felt like it, closed when he felt like it or ran out of food. He just posts on his Instagram account when/if he’s open. It sounded like he went foraging for mushrooms right before cooking. It was a really great place.
Question 3: What was your favorite hotel/Airbnb?
Christian: Headlands. It’s a hotel on the Oregon Coast in Pacific City (Headlands Coastal Lodge & Spa). They had really nice rooms with a great layout and design so you always had an amazing view of Haystack Rock and the Pacific Ocean. And we happened to have one of the best sunsets ever while staying there, so that helps.
Lauren: Mine had to be Whale Cove Inn in Depoe Bay, Oregon (Whale Cove Inn). It didn’t hurt that we got lucky and were upgraded to a massive suite, but I’m pretty sure even the standard suites had the bathtub on the deck overlooking the ocean cove, as well. That tub and view were pretty incredible… oh, and we saw whales! The hotel did not disappoint in its name.
Question 4: What was your favorite car camping/frontcountry site?
Christian: … (long stare)…. I’m going to say the site in Kananaskis (Eau Claire Campground).
Lauren: What did you like about it?
Christian: It was a really nice, big site with great trees surrounding it. We were able to walk to a lovely spot along a creek with mountain views. And as soon as you left the site, you just had amazing scenery all around. That was a hard question… there were a lot of candidates.
Lauren: I did not like having to pour our sink water down the pit toilet, but overall, yes, I would agree, epic site.
Christian: Well, that was your job by choice. What was your favorite site?
Lauren: I really liked the car camping site in Custer State Park in South Dakota (Center Lake Campground). This is forcing me to think all the way back as it was the first site we had in the whole road trip… but it was a nice, small campground and the sites were really spread out from each other. The site was near a lovely lake and we were able to easily walk to it. I could have done without the hail storm that one night, though. But yeah, I thought the campground was nice enough that I wanted to stay an extra night… and we did.
Question 5: What was your favorite backpacking trip?
Christian: I’ll go with… I don’t know… I was going to say Rockwall… then I was going to say Wind River… ugh… I’ll go with Rockwall in the Canadian Rockies (The Rockwall – Kootenay National Park).
Lauren: What did you enjoy about Rockwall?
Christian: The peak scenery there was some of the best I’ve ever seen. The wildflowers were incredible in these high meadows with a huge rockwall as the backdrop, I couldn’t stop taking pictures. Seeing the grizzly bear and her cubs was really cool, now that we’re on the other side of it, even though you may disagree. There was a surprise waterfall as well. I mean, I guess the name of the site was Helmet Falls, so we should have been prepared, but it was a very impressive waterfall. I wasn’t ready for that.
Lauren: Mine would have to be the Enchantments near Leavenworth, Washington (The Enchantments – Alpine Lakes Wilderness). I’ve been wanting to do this trip for many years now and I was prepared to do it as a through-hike if we didn’t get backpacking permits. Winning the daily lottery for backcountry permits felt like… well… winning the lottery. While I was initially concerned that the trip might be overhyped, I can safely say it is appropriately hyped. It’s everything I dreamed it would be and more. The hike to Colchuck Lake and then up Aasgard Pass was intense, but once we got to the Core Enchantments… it’s just otherworldly. It’s absolutely as amazing as everyone says it is.
Question 6: What was your favorite under-the-radar backpacking trip?
Lauren: The Timberline Trail around Mount Hood in Oregon (Timberline Trail – Mount Hood National Forest). We got really lucky in that the water crossings were relatively easy, nothing too treacherous. The fall colors were really popping (Christian: pop pop!) but I hear plenty of people talk about the Wonderland Trail around Mount Rainier, or the John Muir Trail, trails that are certainly longer and obviously spectacular, but I thought the Timberline Trail was unexpectedly great and I haven’t heard many people talk about it. For a 4 day backpacking trip, we got to see a variety of views and different types of terrain and scenery. It wasn’t too crowded either, which was great. It was a nice trip that I didn’t expect to be as nice as it was.
Christian: I was skeptical that going around the same mountain for 4 days would be interesting but it was, and no permits required which is always nice.
Lauren: Alright, same question to you.
Christian: Paria Canyon in Utah… mostly Arizona… Utah and Arizona… Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness! (Paria Canyon – Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness Area)
Lauren: There you go!
Christian: I didn’t think this would count as under-the-radar, but no one we mentioned it to has heard of it. I’ve been wanting to do this backpacking trip for over a decade. Walking through a cold, muddy river for days was worth it for the epic canyon, cool campsites, and amazing stars. Pooping in a bag and carrying it out was just an added bonus. Truly, so, so different than any other backpacking trip I’ve been on.
Question 7: What was your favorite town that you visited?
Lauren: That’s a hard question… there were a number of really nice towns we visited. Sheridan, Wyoming was pretty cool and Pinedale, Wyoming will always have a special place in my heart, but for this answer I think I’m going to say Livingston, Montana. Livingston was a very charming little town. The people were friendly and the food was surprisingly good. We ate at that food truck (Moshi Food) outside a brewery (Neptune’s Brewery), and damn, it was delicious. It’s only about 1 hour away from Yellowstone National Park and we were able to do some outdoor adventuring right outside of town when we went kayaking on the Yellowstone River. I’ll leave out the details about how you threw out your back on that little adventure.
Christian: And we got to stay in a tipi (Elk River Crossing).
Lauren: Which I thought was going to blow down on us in the middle of the night due to crazy, strong winds… fortunately it did not, it was actually quite sturdy. But I would definitely visit Livingston again. What about you? What was your favorite town?
Christian: Livingston is a good answer, but for the sake of variety, I’ll go with Astoria, Oregon.
Lauren: Solid answer as Astoria had my favorite restaurant of the trip. What did you like about Astoria?
Christian: It was a cool setting right on the Columbia River, really close to the Oregon Coast. Between the hills and the architecture, it made me think of a small-town version of San Francisco. The downtown was really walkable. They also had a great brewery, Fort George Brewery (Fort George Brewery & Public House).
Lauren: Oh yeah! They had the best seafood chowder. I’d go back to Astoria as well.
Question 8: What was your favorite brewery?
Christian:There are so many to choose from!
Lauren: So many! I’m gonna go with that one in Sioux Falls, the sour beer place (Covert Artisan Ales). If I remember correctly, it was mostly sour beers, which I know is not everyone’s cup of tea (Christian: “beer”). Fine, not everyone’s “pint of beer”. But I do like sours and they had some tasty ones. I also think my expectations were low given we were in Sioux Falls, no offense to Sioux Falls. But they had inarguably good beers. What was your favorite brewery?
Christian: Well, my running complaint, especially as we got into autumn, was that breweries only make hazy IPAs, which I do like. But I think we can have one tap that is a dark beer, especially as we hit September, which makes me want to reward a place that had something other than hazy IPA beers. While my favorite beer was a Mole Stout from 10 Barrel in Bend, Oregon (10 Barrel Brewing Co.), I think I’ll go with Banff Ave Brewing as my favorite brewery (Banff Ave Brewing Co.). I was skeptical that their beer would be good fearing that it would be a generic tourist trap. But they had good beers, including a great black lager which we bought quite a lot of.
Lauren: Can I add that they also had fantastic merch? I bought multiple t-shirts.
Christian: Yes, kudos to their branding team.
Question 9: Is there someplace you’re hoping to visit again?
Lauren: The Dolomites! But I guess that wasn’t part of our North American road trip, so instead, I’ll say the Canadian Rockies. I know we spent like a month there, but I still feel like there is more to see and do. We never made it to Jasper because of the fire and I’d really like to. We didn’t do any backcountry camping in Kananaskis and I think that would have been a beautiful place to backpack. I feel like we just barely scratched the surface of the Canadian Rockies. Plus, it was rather cold when we were there so it would be nice to visit when it’s warmer to enjoy some water activities like paddle boarding or kayaking. I know you can do those things when it’s cooler outside, but… I don’t want to.
Christian: I’d agree. There are plenty of places I’d like to go back to but probably first up is the Canadian Rockies. Not only to visit Jasper but hopefully one day camping at Lake O’Hara, spending more time in Kananaskis, and staying at a bougie lodge (Mount Engadine Lodge).
Lauren: Yeah, I’ll stay at the bougie lodge and you can go golfing in Kananaskis.
Christian: Yep, sounds great.
Question 10: Can you give an example of some Type 2 fun you had on the trip?
Lauren: I can give multiple examples but for the sake of this post I’ll give one. Paria Canyon was a big one for me. I did not enjoy putting on cold wet shoes every morning and was very unhappy walking through the almost waist deep water during that one stretch. But looking back on it, Paria Canyon is up there as one of my favorite backpacking trips. It was totally worth it but I can’t say I enjoyed all of it in the moment.
Christian: Yeah, that one was definitely Type 2 fun, but I don’t think I minded those things as much as you. I can also think of a number of examples…parts of the Enchantments were really challenging in the moment, like getting over Aasgard Pass was brutal and it was so cold that day. We also got hailed on multiple times this summer. But a simpler and funnier one for me is when we were on the Oregon Coast and we had to dig a channel and move our tent out of standing water, while we were huddling inside trying to stay dry, watching a bad movie on the iPad.
Lauren: In my personal opinion, I think camping and backpacking naturally involve quite a bit of Type 2 fun.
This interview was “lightly” edited for clarity and context.
Camping & Caviar 