MONTANA. YELLOWSTONE. Two places that have been on my dream bucket list for a long, long, long time. I’ve spent hours obsessing over pictures on IG and Pinterest. But guess what? The photos online, the videos on YouTube…they don’t even come close to doing justice the stupid beauty that is Big Sky Country. It was a total freaking dream becoming a real life thing, except wait for it…it gets better…BECAUSE MONTANA WAS THE DESTINATION OF OUR 8TH ANNUAL MYSTERY GIRLS TRIP!!!!

Pretty much everyone that knows me/follows me knows about this legendary ANNUAL MYSTERY GIRLS TRIP. And it is pretty legendary. And we’ve done it 8 years in a row. If you’re like “Joslyn what the hell is this trip?!?!” welp, this is the breakdown:

Several years ago, I read an article in Real Simple magazine about this group of girlfriends who made a pact to go on one annual trip, which sounds pretty normal and fun, right? But, this gal-pal getaway had a few important and unique twists that caught my eye, leading my group of AMAZING girlfriends and I to follow suit!

Here’s how the trip works: 

1. One or two of the girls planned the entire trip completely solo. 
2. Everyone on the trip contributes the same amount of money and gives the money to the planner/s. This means that regardless of where each girl lives, she pays the same dollar-amount, making it financially fair and square.  The chances of the entire group attending became exponentially higher, and girls that live farther away don’t have to spend more, which, YES, always happens and isn’t so fabulous.
3. THE ENTIRE TRIP IS  ALWAYS A COMPLETE AND TOTAL SURPRISE. So when I say that the article called it a surprise trip, I actually mean it. From start to finish- location, flights, activities, food…everything was planned by the planners and was all unknown. That’s how our trip works too!

Since I know you guys are curious, here are the other locations we’ve been to over the last 7 years: Cayucos, California Dude Ranch // Phoenix, Arizona // Seattle, Washington // California Beach House // Denver, Colorado // Nashville, Tennesee // Isle of Palms, South Carolina.

This year, the trip took us to Billings, Montana, which CRAZY ENOUGH is pretty close (relatively in the scope of like…the world) to Yellowstone National Park which, yes, we definitely spent the day in, although you could easily spend 2 weeks in Yellowstone and barely scratch the surface. We saw a bear, tons of deer and so much more.

PS: my NATURE GIRL shirt is from Chaser Brand (they make the BEST comfy clothes in existence).

We also went white water rafting in Montana which was EPIC. And totally safe. Also pretty cold. Also, can you see the kick-ass water shoes I’m wearing in the picture below. Yeah, that’s #fashun.

A girls trip actually a girls trip if there isn’t a face mask party, a 15 passenger van and 12 cases of wine? NOPE. NOPE. NOPE. I LOVE THESE GIRLS.