Preparing for Our Very First Honeymoon

The Plan
We knew we wanted to start our trip at home, make it to the badlands, go up the coast, stay in Kim's brother's cabin that he generously lent to us, meet my family in Montana and make it back home in one piece. The steps in between included routing our trip through some of the most beautiful spots in the United States. But first we had to make sure we were ready. We had to test our survival skills.

Step 1: Test on Land- Apostle Islands, WI
We decided the best way to see if we were ready to go camping was to camp. So we loaded up our camping gear, our faithful companion (in training) and headed up to northern Wisconsin. On our trip we hit a deer, totaled our car, saw a bear (a fox and an eagle), bought blankets from a local thrift store to stay warm, bumble ran away with a local dog from an outdoor bar and we accepted an invitation from a stranger to spend our last night at a vacant cabin he owned. From this experience we learned that we would need a few things before our trip.

1. a new car
2. a real tent
3. a saw
4. some bear spray
5. a tarp
6. a 4 week cat sitter
7. and some organization.

Step 2: Preparation on Water- St. Croix River, MN
Our friends Callie and Corey invited us on a last minute canoeing trip, which was perfect to fine tune our water traveling skills. So we grabbed our rain coats and bumble and joined them for this short trip. We perfected our patience and our balance as Bumble made her way from side to side of the canoe. She, shockingly, had not grown our of her dislike for a canoe. We made a few stops on land to adventure through the wooded area. I froze when I saw a five leafed plant, not knowing if it was five or three leaves that were poisonous. A garden snake sent me into a screaming run, making me question if I was a real freezer or if my instincts had evolved to flight. After walking through stinging nettles and receiving 7 or more mosquito bites, I split from the group and turned back. "I hate the outdoors", I heard Corey say in his best girly voice as I walked away. That is when I realized we needed a couple more things to make this trip a success.

1. bug spray
2. water traveling restrictions
3. and some hotel reservations

We concluded step two with some strong cocktails from Ol' Mexico and some trip planning with our favorite West Coasters. Corey and Callie told us all the hot spots to stop on our way up from the coast but also let us know that anywhere we stopped would be beautiful. Jotting notes on their Atlas, we prepared for our Journey!