7-12-19
Headed off on another one of our ambitious road trips today! Our main destination, at least for this leg, was Glacier National Park. Got up early to prep the house and animals and pack last-minute items, leaving a little before 9. Grabbed some Taco Bell in Farmington, NM, which helped because I was starting to get tired already. Ha! Our first real stop was Hole N” the Rock near Moab, a definite tourist destination. We perused the gift shop and then took a guided tour of the historic 5000 square foot home carved directly into the rocky side of a bluff. It was fascinating to see the various rooms and items from the era, and to imagine what it would have been like to live in such a unique way. After the tour, we explored the grounds a bit, admiring the kitschy metal art sculptures and paying our respects at the cat cemetery.
After we’d had our fill of The Hole N” The Rock, we continued up to Moab where we had lunch at our go-to spot: Moab Brewery. Our hummus and nachos were delicious, and the kids loved it, too. The beer was also enjoyable. Unfortunately, on our way back to the car, the smell of hops and other brewing aromas was quite intense. Hyla told me it grossed her out, and she started to cough, which I thought was her just overreacting, but it was enough to make her actually throw up. Eep! Guess we won’t be taking her on any brewery tours anytime soon…
We’d considered hiking a bit at Arches National Park, but with Hyla’s unfortunate episode and the unforgiving heat, we thought better of it. We still had a lot of ground to cover, and Arches would probably be more enjoyable in the cooler months anyway. We made it to La Quinta in Orem a bit after 9 and snuggled with Griffin before falling asleep. Oh, and Utah is a new state for him! Yay!
7-13-19
Headed over to Thanksgiving Point Museum of Curiosity, a fun and extensive kids museum featuring lots of neat climbing structures, kid-sized shops and businesses, science experiments, giant Legos, and a fun garden to explore. We enjoyed the zipline a lot, as well as getting lost in the rope ladder jungle. Definitely worth a visit.
Next, we had an enjoyable South African lunch at the Zulu Grille before heading over to Discovery Gateway Children’s Museum. Hyla had been there several years back and it was all she could talk about for the longest time, she enjoyed it so. Well, we had time, so we included it in our adventures. Compared to Thanksgiving Point, it was a bit disappointing, though there was still a lot for kids to do. I just think T.P. was executed better, and it also seemed cleaner. Hyla was befriended by a bossy little girl, which was a bit concerning, but she didn’t seem to mind and still had fun playing grocery store and mechanic with her. Glad she got to reexperience the place.
After our kids museum extravaganza, we headed north, driving back through all the places I knew well from my time living out in Utah. We stopped well north of the metro, in Tremonton, to have a ridiculous (though nostalgic) dinner at Arctic Circle, a regional chain restaurant. The wind had picked up, and when we opened the door to escape it, all the papers on the wall (like, over 100 of them, mostly kids’ coloring pages on display) blew off as Hyla stood there in awe at the sight, with the door still open. I had to shoo her in. The staff, too, was in awe at the sheer destruction simply opening a door caused. We helped clean up, of course, but wow! Then, after ordering everyone’s food, I realized that I had forgotten to order my own. I went back and ordered a lime rickey, thinking that’s what I always used to get, but forgot it was actually supposed to be the lime squeeze, so I was surprised at the addition of grape to my drink. It was ok, but the squeeze is better, in my opinion. I also ordered a nostalgic Oreo shake (I lived on Oreo shakes both times I lived in Utah), but of course both kids wanted some, and it was melting, and I was doing all I could to prevent the lot of us from becoming a sticky mess. On top of that, we had tired, whining kids who didn’t want to eat any of the actual food. What an experience a simple trip to Arctic Circle turned out to be!
Exhausted, we eventually got out of there and headed north, stopping for gas in Pocatello, and nearly getting blasted away by enormous irrigation sprinklers that were mistakenly aimed at the highway. It was so bad, I would be surprised if they didn’t cause an accident. We did see a nice double rainbow, though. We got to the Motel West hotel in Idaho Falls just before 10. Of course, the kids were still hopping by midnight. What a day!
7-14-19
Headed out to the Idaho Falls Zoo and explored that for a while. They had a petting zoo and penguins and a South American exhibit, among lots of other things. They even had a Great Pyrenees that served as a surrogate mother to a lion cub a few years back. Sadly, she wasn’t out, but what a neat story! We also got to meet some dingo-like New Guinea singing dogs who were out for a walk with some docents. After touring the zoo, we walked by the small adjacent amusement park that was sadly not currently running. It’s nice that Idaho Falls has something like this, though.
Our next stop was tiny Spencer, Idaho. I absolutely wanted to do some gem mining in the region, and this was the place to find opals! I convinced Hyla to come out and join me in my search. We had to don protective eyewear and lots of sunscreen as digging would be done atop a shade-free mountain of “waste” rocks from the actual mine. We were given a bucket, picks, and shovels, as well as a brief tutorial on how to identify opal if we found it. We headed out, eager to find something. It wound up being rather frustrating, as Hyla was hot and complaining for most of the time, and on top of that, I turned out to be awful at identifying much of anything. We brought a bucket of possible finds back to the shop so the owner could confirm our progress, but I didn’t really find much of note. We did get to keep a few “maybes,” as well as the actual piece he had given me to compare against, so it wasn’t a complete bust. Maybe on a cooler, cloudier day, with a more patient digging partner, it might have been more fun, but this was probably the most frustrating gem mining experience I’ve had. Still, it’s worth checking out.
From there, we headed up to Lewis and Clark Caverns in SW Montana. We took the guided tour of the Paradise Room, where they say the features tend to grow quicker and more spectacularly than elsewhere in the system. Apparently, this place had no actual connection to Lewis and Clark, but Teddy Roosevelt decided to name it for them since nothing else had been at that point. It’s thought they did camp within sight of it along their journey, however.
Once we’d had our fill of the Caverns and environs, we headed to Butte where we had dinner at the McKenzie River Pub. It was delicious! I had the French Onion soup and shared a pizza with Hyla, and Nate enjoyed the salad, while Griffin ate whatever looked good to him. It was a nice way to wind down after all the day’s adventures.
We did have to hit Walmart to get new shoes for Griffin, though. I forget if he lost one of his or if the old ones were just too small, but we were glad to have a new pair. We also got a new atlas, as our old one had been used a bit TOO much over the years. Haha! After paying our respects to the glowing Lady of the Rockies statue atop a nearby mountain, we retreated to our Days Inn and watched Lion King and Maleficent. Found out while watching the news that the adjacent hotel had a carbon monoxide issue the night before. Glad we wound up where we were instead!
7-15-19
Slept in until about 9 and rushed to get ready. Had to grab snacks from the car for breakfast. Before leaving town, Hyla and I went to the Berkeley Pit, the horribly polluted former copper mine in Butte’s city limits. Last time we went, we were the only ones there and got to take in the eerie silence, but this time a group was listening to a presenter, a professor from the local mining college, offering a wealth of knowledge about the site. We learned that, at 4 football fields deep (about 1780 feet), it’s the deepest lake in Montana, and how 2 years ago 20,000 birds landed there and 5,000 never left, so they’ve taken measures to keep the birds out. Now they hire a kid who shoots at the water when they try to land. It’s highly acidic, with a pH of 2.5 and full of heavy metals and toxic chemicals. Not a pleasant place to be, but fascinating, nonetheless.
We headed out of town, stopping to learn about a huge smokestack in Anaconda: at 585 feet, it is one of the tallest free-standing brick structures in the world. A legacy of the Anaconda Copper Company, it’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places and can only be viewed at a distance.
Next, we headed up to Phillipsburg, MT to mine for sapphires! We bought a bag of dirt and sand from a shop and headed outside to pick through it. Hyla actually enjoyed herself this time – it was a bit cooler and less frustrating than the opals, definitely. We only found yellow sapphires in our mix, which was unusual, according to the shopkeeper. Still, it was fun, and I’d totally do that again!
We made our way up to Deer Lodge, where we ate at a McDonald’s that had a unique interactive light table which changed colors as you poked at it. Good times.
Last time we were in Deer Lodge, we’d noticed the old Montana State Prison that you could tour, and as we were unable to visit last time, we decided this would be our chance. It was fascinating to see the ruins of this old prison and imagine what the residents’ lives must have been like. We were permitted to wander just about everywhere, and it was really cool. I overheard another group commenting on how creeped out they were and how it was “surely” haunted. It certainly had its unsavory elements. In 1959, it was the site of a bloody prison riot that shook the state. It finally ended operations 20 years later and now serves as a window to the past.
Also housed on the prison complex are four other museums: the Powell County Museum, Frontier Montana Museum, Yesterday’s Playthings, and Montana Auto Museum. Each one was worth a visit. The auto museum was quite large and featured a lot of great vehicles. The toy museum was fun to peruse, though not huge, and the Powell County Museum was also rather small, but had a lot of artifacts and history to enjoy. I don’t think we actually made it to the Frontier Museum, however. While museum hopping, we were caught in a crazy downpour and just barely outran a lightning storm on our way to the toy museum. We had to wait it out, but at least we had fun things at which to look.
From here, we hoped to see the Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historical Site, also in Deer Lodge, but we got there just as they were closing, so now we have another reason to return. So we just decided to head up to Missoula for the night. Once there, we ate at Tamarack Brewing Company, which just happened to be serving free kids’ meals on Monday. Score! I had a great French dip, and Nate had a salad. Hyla barely touched her burger, and, in fact, had hardly been eating during the whole trip, while always complaining about how hungry she is. Ugh. We do what we can.
After dinner, we went over to the Carousel for Missoula, a wonderfully restored Herschell-Spillman carousel erected in 1995. We definitely wanted to ride because it has a rare ring machine. Hyla and I rode together about 5 times, marveling at the speed of the ride and nabbing the brass ring each and every time we rode! Each brass ring results in a free ride – we could have gone on forever, but we had to stop when they closed for the night. What a great bonding experience with my girl.
We were going to visit the dragon playground next door, too, but it closed when the carousel did, so instead we found a cute ice cream shop where I had the bear scat ice cream (chocolate and blueberry). Only in Montana!
Other fun notes of the day – Hyla’s big thing on this trip has been having us sing songs in the car, especially songs from “Dot and the Kangaroo” and “Dot and the Bunny,” as well as “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.” She’s also excited that Montana has license plates on the front of the cars. Good times! Griffin’s talking is coming along. And we’re all dealing with mosquito bites we got at the Lewis and Clark Caverns park. Fun fun.
7-16-19
We quickly grabbed breakfast at our hotel and then went back to Caras Park to see if the fabulous Dragon Hollow Playground was open. The kids got to play for quite some time, enjoying the castle and many unique rides this playground has to offer. We admired the carousel a bit more, too, wishing there were more of this caliber around, though maybe they wouldn’t be quite as special then.
We walked along the Clark Fork River and through the University of Montana campus, geocaching as we went. Then we decided to hike the Mount Sentinel Trail to the giant white M on the mountainside. Hyla almost made it to the top but got very upset. Perhaps this hike was a bit too ambitious. It had a lot of switchbacks, so it wasn’t as steep as it could have been, but it was still pretty strenuous. Nate and I took turns going to the top of the M. Nate took the kids back down the mountain with him as I started my final ascent. The view from the top was incredible! You could see the entire campus and the lovely surrounding country. Montana is beautiful!
I caught up with the three of them on my way back down, and once at the bottom, I decided to wait with the kids while Nate picked up the car and came to get us. We sat in the shade, and the kids had fun digging in the dirt and moss. All was good until Hyla started screaming bloody murder. I couldn’t figure out what on earth was wrong until she finally managed to tell me she was stung by something. That’s when I saw the yellow jacket attached to her shirt (which happened to be a bright yellow shirt with origami cats – perhaps it was attracted to the color). The wasp blended in so well I almost missed it. I got it off of her, and it buzzed us angrily and eventually fell into the grass and disappeared. She said she was also stung on her finger and did nothing to provoke the sting. Poor girl. I was rather panicked, though, because she had never been stung by anything before, and we had no idea if she was allergic. Luckily, she had no ill side effects and the sting only really hurt her for about an hour. Thank goodness.
Nathan finally made it back to us and we drove up to Kallispell, briefly stopping for McD’s (not AGAIN) in Ronan. We drove around beautiful Flathead Lake and stopped at Backslope Brewing in Columbia Falls for dinner. It wasn’t anything special. It didn’t help that we were all kind of in a bad mood at this point, me, still fuming about a near traffic accident we almost had, and everyone else tired and cranky. I had fries and some fried pickles with spiced tomato mayo. The fries came with a variety of sauces, I believe, but I thought the ketchup was the best of all. Oh well. The beers were ok, but pretty run-of-the-mill. I’m glad we finally got to sit down for a meal, though.
After this, we still had a lot of daylight to enjoy, so we headed over to Amazing Fun Center, a family entertainment center with mini golf, a huge maze, go karts, bumper boats, and an unusual basketball game called bankshot basketball that had weird backboards in which you’d play from hoop to hoop ala mini golf. I’d never seen such a thing, but this was the first of several we’d see on this trip. We had to wait out the rain, though, but since it didn’t seem to be subsiding, we went back toward town and stopped at the Huckleberry Patch for some ice cream.
We returned to Amazing Fun Center and played a quick game of mini golf now that the rain had passed. Then we tried the maze. We only had an hour before closing, so we had to work quickly. It was huge! We had to scale four towers and get our card stamped at each before finding our way out. It was a challenge, especially with the time constraint and dragging kids around, but we made it just in time! By then, we were all fading, and Nate wasn’t feeling well. Plus, I was getting a headache. We finally got settled into our room at the Econolodge in Kalispell – seriously the best hotel yet! Excellent showers and breakfast, too. But this evening, all we wanted to do was get some rest. I managed to write out a postcard and get the kids to bed and welcomed a good night’s sleep.
7-17-19
I let everyone sleep in a bit because of yesterday’s exhaustion and illness, and we all felt much better in the morning. Like I said, the showers were phenomenal, and breakfast was perfect. We took a quick drive up to Whitefish because I’d been given a tip that it was a cute town. It wasn’t bad. We really didn’t have much time to look around, though. Then we headed up to Glacier National Park at last!
We stopped at the Apgar visitor center before hiking to the nearby village and strolling the shores of Lake McDonald, which was absolutely breathtaking. Definitely a place we’ll have to return. Hiking back to our car, we were extremely vigilant for any grizzlies that might happen to be around, but luckily didn’t see any. Next up: Going to the Sun Road – the main route through the park.
Goodness, was the park ever packed. Too-late learned rule of thumb: get there EARLY. I guess the busyness was not surprising since the visiting season is quite limited due to the impassability of this road in snowy conditions most of the year. And let me tell you, I can believe it. There are some steep sections and narrow lanes and sheer cliff faces that could crumble at any time. It’s like you’re teetering on the top of the world. It’s one of the most dramatically beautiful drives you can take, easily.
We also wanted to do a number of hikes, particularly Avalanche Lake, but we couldn’t even find parking! We did manage to stop at a couple of waterfalls and eventually hiked out to Sun Point and got drenched in the rain. Hyla was miserable and so upset. We did find some humor in the fact that there was absolutely no sun to be seen at Sun Point. Still, the kids were exhausted, hungry, and cold. We didn’t see much wildlife, which is probably for the best, but we did see some amazing waterfalls, glaciers, and scenery in general. I don’t think I’ve ever been on a road so high up. There are no words that can adequately capture the beauty of this place.
We made our way out of the park, heading east through much flatter and drier countryside. We tried the Taco John’s in Browning so the kids could get something to eat at last. I’ve always joked about how the name Taco John’s grosses me out (like, do they make the tacos in the toilet, or what?), but I was willing to try it (on the off chance that they don’t). It was ok, but not great. Taco Bell is way better. I had the quesadilla, and Griffin was glad to share it with me.
We continued on to Choteau, which was a very cute town, and stayed at the huge Stage Stop Inn. Nate and Hyla went swimming for the hour it was still open. I took Griffin down to see them, and he wanted to swim so badly that when I took him back to the room, he had a fit. He was pretty gross from the trip, so I gave him a bath, and that seemed to calm him down at last. Poor guy. The kids had been through so much at this point!
7-18-19
Made myself get up at 6am and did some laundry. It was marvelous to have clean clothes again! Hyla’s shoes were disgusting from the prior day’s adventures, and the rinse job I’d attempted on them the night before made them way worse. I tried drying them on the heater overnight, hoping that would at least make them smell better, but that was a failure. It was an awful, almost metallic smell, like a nasty old rusted-out train car that perhaps had been peed on. Ick. We would definitely have to invest in a pair of new shoes for this kiddo, too, on this trip.
ANYWAY, once the rest of the family was up, they grabbed breakfast (I’d already gone and packed the car instead). Then we backtracked a bit to Bynum to see the 2 Medicine Dinosaur Museum. We’d wanted to check it out for a while since it’s owned by the family of one of our friends. The lady at the front desk was so excited to show us around. They have a huge sauropod on display that was from a find near Albuquerque, of all places! That was pretty cool. We were even able to watch a man actively working on a fossil in the back. We really enjoyed seeing this museum at last, and it’s certainly worth a trip if you’re out that way.
From here, we drove to Great Falls and saw the actual falls at Ryan Dam, which were quite a ways out of town. We walked around Ryan Island Park and noted the signs that said you should evacuate if you hear 8 blasts. Yikes! Not sure I’d bother to wait around for the 8th one! The wind was strong, and we could feel the spray from the falls even at quite a distance.
Next up we had to seek out lunch. The kids barely ate the day before, and I insisted they get a good meal, so we went to the Celtic Cowboy. I had a really good shepherd’s pie, Nate had fish and chips, and the kids shared the mac n cheese. Hyla kept complaining and was still miserable. She kept running to the bathroom and wasn’t feeling the best, poor thing. She’d been run so hard and was probably exhausted. On top of that, this is where I really noticed her shoes smelled awful. On top of all that, she suddenly became really hyper and wouldn’t give me any personal space to the point of creeping me out, and she wouldn’t let up. It was exhausting. Nate and I even changed seats, but it didn’t matter much. I was glad when we were out of there.
Unfortunately for the kids, there was no respite to be had. We headed over to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center and explored the park, Giant Springs, fish hatchery, and the stroll along the Missouri River. We even snagged a geocache! After we viewed the museum itself, Nate ran back to the car. While waiting on him, we attempted to watch the interpretive movie in the museum theater. The kids did surprisingly well until the very end when Griffin kept saying “MOM!” loudly, and I couldn’t get him to stop. I told him either shhh or we leave. Well, we tried to leave and that resulted in the worst meltdown. I dragged him out, and Nate appeared just in the nick of time. He fell asleep as soon as he was in the car. So we used this time to go back to Walmart and get Hyla some new shoes (thank goodness!). It was good to just sit in the car with Griffin while they ran in.
After this, we headed over to the Sip N Dip Tiki Bar. I’d been wanting to see this place since I first heard about it. Now, I love tiki bars and go to any and all I can find, but this one was special on top of that. This one has mermaids. And I’m not talking mermaid décor. They have a swimming pool with a window that looks in to the bar, and a mermaid swims for your enjoyment as you sip your fruity drinks. How fabulous is that?! I was hoping we could enjoy it as a family, but Griffin was still asleep, so Nate stayed with him while Hyla and I went in. We had a nice cozy booth with a direct view of the mermaid window and enjoyed the novelty of it all. I had the purple rain and tiki god drinks, and while both were meh, the poutine we had along with it was delicious. Unfortunately, I still couldn’t get the girl to eat, or even drink the OJ I got her. She just laid down with my lap as a pillow. At least she could relax for a bit as we watched the mermaid swim and blow kisses at the patrons.
Once back at the car, Griffin was still asleep and Hyla was soon to follow. Nate was able to run in to peek at the bar but came out right away. Then we motored south to Helena, driving through some beautiful scenery. We finally made it to Home 2 Suites and this exhausted family just settled down for the night. It had been another jam-packed day.
7-19-19
We slept in and enjoyed the beautiful room we had. It seemed brand new. They served breakfast pretty late, which was nice, too. All of us were felling rather beat, though. Poor Hyla had a really hard time getting up. Eventually we perked up and headed out to tour the state capitol building. What a thorough tour! We had a booklet that guided us as we wandered down every last corridor, exploring any and all rooms that were open, and admiring the artwork and statuary along the way.
Once we’d had our governmental fill, we drove out to Bozeman and had lunch at the Map Brewing Company, located on the shore of a lake (Glen Lake, I think). The opposing shore even had a beach! It was a nice meal, and always good to try more craft beer.
Next up, we headed to the Museum of the Rockies, but we kind of rushed through since kids. The dinosaur exhibit was incredible, though. I’ve never seen so many ceratopsean skulls in one place! Someday we’ll go back and spend more time, I hope.
From here, we continued on to Billings, checking off the last and biggest of Montana’s biggest “cities.” We checked into the sketchy-looking Vegas Motel, which had an attached casino, as is apparently common in Montana. So many casinos. Might as well be Nevada. As Nate checked us in, I was amused to see a guy who looked exactly like Carl from Aqua Teen Hunger Squad come out. We didn’t bother seeing our room – we had places to be!
We backtracked about 14 miles on I-90 to the Amusement Park Drive-In. Yes, they managed to morph two attractions I love, amusement parks and drive-in theaters, into one amazing (?) place. We encountered a moderate line of traffic, but were still entertained by the two cars in front of us who were doing clown car fire drills at every stop. Good times. Once inside the grounds, prominently on display around the screen are the rusty old Wild Mouse coaster (that I had ridden when it resided in Farmington, NM) and its smaller kiddie coaster counterpart, both standing but not operating and in a state of even sadder disrepair than they were in when they were in New Mexico. On top of that, kids were running wild and climbing on the smaller coaster and the other abandoned rides scattered about. It appeared the management didn’t mind, and I didn’t even see any signs warning against it. We were also told not to park in the first three rows, since we had a van, but once in, it was nothing BUT large vehicles in the first three rows. Then there was the concession stand. It was full of smoke. I could hardly breathe! Or see! Yet everyone seemed oblivious and happy.
Finally we were able to get back to the car and see the new Lion King movie. The screen was so dark we could only barely see our movie. Luckily we could hear it, but the rest was shadows. The kids were upset about everything and anything, and when Nate took Griffin for a walk, I shut off the car, opened the windows (it was so hot and stuffy in the car) and listened through the outside speakers, but that brought on the mosquitoes! People were rude with their headlights, too, leaving them on for extended periods with no regard for anyone else. The whole place was like some twisted pleasure island full of lawless behavior. Oh well, we still had fun, and it was an experience not to forget.
We finally made it back to our sketchy hotel pretty late. Griffin somehow managed to face plant right on the rug next to what looked like a blood stain, so that was awful. I also expected to find dirty needles, but luckily did not. Ah, Billings, so far you are a special place.
7-20-19
So the motel was a little better in daylight. I still wasn’t brave enough to use the shower, though. We went to breakfast, which was served to order, and paid with ticket vouchers. I had a pretty decent breakfast burrito which Griffin tore apart, mostly ignoring his own pancakes. Oh well, glad he ate. Hyla hardly touched hers and got syrup on her hands and napkin stuck to her. Oh boy. As we packed the car, the motorcyclist parked next to us started talking to me about Sturgis, saying it would be coming up the following week, which concerned me as we’d be near there soon, and we’d need to find a place to stay, but luckily he was off by a week or two. We ran off through town and grabbed a quick geocache behind a Target, and then we headed up to Pompey’s Pillar where we climbed to the top of said pillar (Griffin did it all by himself!) and saw Clark’s carving in the rock. Hyla completed her first Jr. Ranger program, we toured the visitor center, we hiked to the Yellowstone River, and we grabbed yet another geocache.
We continued down the road to Miles City where we got gas. And we discovered yet another beach! Between the beaches and casinos, Montana is one surprise after another. Anyway, the long stretch of eastern Montana wasn’t as boring as I expected. There were certainly some flat, treeless areas, but there were also a lot of hills, trees, and nice scenery in quite a bit of it, too.
We crossed the border into North Dakota at Marmarth – and that was it! I hit my 50th state! Woo hoo!! We made our way over to White Butte, the state high point. On the way, we saw 2 snakes on the dirt road, and I’m pretty sure what was a gopher snake and the other was a rattler, so we knew to be on the lookout.
We parked at the trailhead and a carload of girls told us they’d encountered a lot of mosquitoes out there. We didn’t have spray, but we went out anyway. Hyla complained the whole way, even though most of the hike to this point was flat. Once we started our ascent, that’s she’d had enough. Both she and Nate were being eaten up by mosquitoes, though they were mostly avoiding me. The three of them decided to go back to the car. I continued on, since we were so darned close, and I got to the high point shortly thereafter. It was a pretty mild climb except for a few short steep sections, but very doable at under 4 miles round trip. The biggest concern was cattle. They were around, and it wasn’t clear if they were free to roam where I was. Luckily, I never encountered any directly. I saw some falcons circling atop the buttes, too. And the view of the countryside was nice from the top. I’m sad the rest of the crew didn’t make it – maybe we’ll go back again one day.
I wound up getting back to the car about 10 minutes after the others, so that’s how close we were. (Or maybe how slow they were going back.) As we headed up toward Dickinson, I noticed a tick on the dashboard. I was concerned about that, so tick checks would be the norm from here on out. Out the window with that guy. Oh, and Hyla caught a mosquito in the car with her gallon water jug and was speaking sweetly to it, telling it all would be ok, and how it was her best friend and that she’d keep it warm in a “nest” made out of a blanket. We let it go once we got to our hotel. What a kid.
We got some Wendy’s for dinner, and when we got to our hotel room we found another tick on the bed, so yikes! So far nothing else appeared to have hitchhiked in. This one got a fun ride down the drain in the bathroom sink. And thus ended our first day in a new state for all of us!
7-21-19
Got up, showered, and checked on breakfast, but My Place hotels don’t do breakfast, so I just got ready on my own before getting the rest of the crew up. We headed out to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We went to the visitor center and got our obligatory patches and passport stamps. Then we drove around as much of the park as we could, though the last bit was closed for construction. We saw a number of prairie dog towns, amazing views of the river, and did a few hikes to high points and a coal mine. We even saw a bald eagle fly by! Hyla started getting tired at the coal mine, so we just drove around to see the rest by car and headed back.
We had lunch at the Cowboy Café in Medora. I got the “hot beef” sandwich which came with mashed potatoes, mostly because I just wanted mashed potatoes and gravy. Well, to my delight, gravy not only covered the potatoes, but the entire sandwich, too! I was in heaven. Of course, the kids didn’t want to eat much from there, so we stopped at McD’s to get them SOME sustenance for our journey. We’d considered doing the Enchanted Highway, but Nate suggested we save it for tomorrow and rather motor back to Bismarck to ride the Lewis and Clark Riverboat.
On our way to Bismarck, we stopped to see the world’s largest Holstein cow in Salem: Salem Sue (though I bet the Arabelle the Cow hot air balloon is bigger!). We climbed up the hill upon which she was perched for a close-up view. Then we continued on to town where we were just able to snag tickets for the riverboat after waiting to see if all the reservations were filled. I chatted with a lady and her daughter while in line – she laughed when I told her ND was my 50th state and she actually said she hears that a lot!
Once on the boat, we alternated between sitting in the warm inside cabin which had lots of tables covered in white tablecloths and was nearly devoid of people, and climbing around the upper deck. It was a 1.5 hour tour up and down the Missouri River, with an historic account narrated inside the lower deck. We had such a nice time enjoying the scenery and the novelty of cruising along on a riverboat.
After we docked, it was nearly 10, so we headed back to find our hotel. Griffin was really exhausted, so we sat in our room and watched “Paulie” while Nate and Hyla swam. Poor guy fell asleep next to me on the couch while sitting up. He didn’t argue when I put him to bed, either. As for Hyla her mosquito bites are still driving her nuts. The things these kids put up with. We’re hoping to take tomorrow a bit slower.
7-22-19
What a day! I was alerted by my Fitbit to get up at 9:50, thanks to the time change. I could have definitely slept longer, and I’m sure the kids could have, too. I got ready before waking the rest of the crew up, and we were out the door just after 11. We had noticed an unusual restaurant the night before and decided to check it out for lunch. The Space Aliens Grill and Bar beckoned to us with all its looming extraterrestrial glory. We were greeted to a kids’ arcade/restaurant and bar. We had salads, soup, and pizza, all which were decent, though our vinegar and oil salads came with vinegar on my salad and oil on Nate’s. Weird. We tried to play some claw games and ticket games, but only wound up with 29 tickets. Hyla was still able to redeem them for a yellow crystal bear on a keychain, so that was nice.
From there, we went to the Super Slide Amusement Park where Hyla fell in love with the kiddie swings and rode those 3 times. We both rode the roller coaster, the kids and I rode the teacups, Nate and Griffin rode the carousel (he was so upset when he saw Hyla riding things without him, and when he saw the carousel he stood next to it in the shade and watched it longingly). Finally, we all rode the park’s namesake, the super slide! It was a great deal – 2 rides for one ticket! And what a ride! The second bump absolutely launched me, and I thought I’d fly off on the third, and then I sped off the slide at the bottom, almost to the fence line! We all loved it, even Griffin, who rode with Nate. It was so much fun and probably the best ride in the park, and certainly the best giant slide I’ve ever done. It’s my understanding this park is for sale…maybe we should think about moving to North Dakota??
Once we’d made our way out of Bismarck, dodging copious red light runners on the way, we headed westward, stopping briefly for gas, and to wave at Sue the cow in New Salem again. We made it to the amazing Enchanted Highway at exit 72 on I-94. The Enchanted Highway is a 32 mile stretch of otherwise unremarkable road that is now adorned with enormous and whimsical art structures. The first one, overlooking the interstate, is Geese In Flight, which I’ve heard is the largest sculpture of its kind. We wandered around it, admiring it from all angles, grabbing a geocache, and finding a painted rock from Washington State that we wound up keeping. As for the sculptures, they’re awe-inspiring.
We continued down the Highway, geocaching and playing as we went. The next sculpture we’d encounter was Deer Crossing, a beautiful piece of work that also had a rusty old maze next to it. Of course we made our way through the maze and marveled at the art.
Further still, we came across “Grasshoppers in the Field” that featured three huge grasshoppers and a jungle gym, too!
Fisherman’s Dream was next, and was easily the most ambitious of all of these, consisting of 5 towering fish, a fisherman in a boat, aquatic plants, and another boat you could climb around on and in.
Following that was “Pheasants on the Prairie,” which was nice, but it didn’t have anything extra to climb on, sadly. It consisted of three large and two even larger pheasants.
“Teddy Rides Again” was next, with a two-dimensional sculpture of Teddy Roosevelt on his horse, and a horse-drawn wagon in front of that, which you could climb into. It was also the site of a very cool geocache, in case you’re wondering.
The final sculpture on the Enchanted Highway is the “World’s Largest Tin Family.” We spent a lot of time looking unsuccessfully for a geocache here, but alas. It’s our understanding that they’re working on another sculpture, this time of a dragon, to add to the mix. Driving down this road was definitely a highlight of our trip, and I would make the trip back to see that when it’s complete.
From here, we made our way Lemmon, SD to see the incredible Petrified Tree Park. To say it’s incredible is an understatement. This park takes up an entire city block and is filled with sculpted petrified wood art everywhere you turn. You’ll find a waterfall, a wishing well, a castle, and even an entire museum building (which was unfortunately closed by the time we got there), not to mention hundreds of sculpted piles, all made of petrified wood, rocks, and fossils. It was really worthwhile to visit. We also passed a unique statue in town of a cowboy riding a triceratops. I’m sad I didn’t get a picture of that, but how awesome! Other sightings of the day included a badger crossing the highway and some pheasants doing the same. What an adventure!
We finally made our way to our room in Aberdeen. Another exhausting but awesome day was in the books.
7-23-19
The kids REALLY slept in this morning, and I was glad to let them after all that we’ve been through. When they were finally ready, we drove down to Storybook Land, a nursery rhyme-inspired wonderland located at Aberdeen’s Wylie Park. We wandered around, enjoying all the sculptures depicting almost all the most well-known nursery rhymes. It even had a Wizard of Oz land in which you enter Dorothy’s house and get whisked away by the tornado! We walked the Yellow Brick road, and Hyla liked the Cowardly Lion’s cave a lot (and I did, too!). We bought 10 ride tickets, of course. Hyla and I rode the spinning balloons and the roller coaster (finally got a coaster credit in South Dakota!), both kids and I did the carousel, and the whole family rode the train that leaves Storybook Land and tours more of Wylie Park, heading past the small zoo housing bison, elk, sika deer, and prairie dogs, to name a few. We visited two petting zoos, and admired the young chickens in one of them. With our last ticket, Hyla rode the kiddy teacups, but the sun made them too hot to spin. And on top of all of this, there were countless playgrounds and play structures throughout the park. It was a perfect place to visit! We ended the fun getting a pressed penny and some snacks to rehydrate.
We started our journey westward, stopping briefly to see the Cathedral on the Prairie in Hoven, SD. We arrived just as it started playing music, so that was enjoyable. We listened from across the street before heading on our way.
Next up we made it to Pierre (pronounced “peer”) and saw the state capitol from outside. Then we headed over to the Silver Spur in Fort Pierre for dinner. It was lovely, and I was relieved that the kids finally ate, and quite a bit at that! I had the French dip and mashed potatoes and gravy, and Hyla had mac and cheese. Nate had a salad. Griffin had his own potatoes and shared with all of us. It was delicious, and I’d highly recommend it all.
After dinner, we walked around at the confluence of the Missouri and Bad Rivers, playing at some parks and admiring another fancy riverboat as it prepared to set sail. Then we headed west again, driving through Badlands National Park. We stopped to hike at the first available trail, just at sunset, which was beautiful. Hyla, in particular, loved it and thought it was a natural playground, which is pretty accurate. One of these days, I’d like to take them back there to do an official fossil dig. What better place?!
We continued on to Wall, SD, where we checked into the Econolodge. Hyla was still suffering from mosquito bites, saying they itch worse than the yellow jacket sting hurt. We picked up some calamine, and that seemed to help some, at least. Good night!
7-24-19
Woke up and took a shower – talk about strong shower pressure! I got some in my ear and I thought it was going to rupture my eardrum. Yikes! We headed out and made our way to a shop to get water, wipes, and snacks. Then we headed to the Firehouse Brewery in Rapid City. We’d been there a few years back, and I wasn’t impressed, but we thought we’d give it another go. I tried the gumbo that Nate recommended, and it was really good! Hyla had a great breaded shrimp appetizer and enjoyed it so much that she gave it a thumbs up. Nate and Griffin shared a salad. I also had a flight that was really good – particularly the cider. Glad we gave Firehouse a second chance.
From here, we visited Storybook Island, another nice nursery rhyme and story-themed park with lots of play structures and whimsical statues about, very reminiscent of the one in Aberdeen, but a bit smaller. We enjoyed the carousel and ducks and discovering characters the kids recognized from all sorts of places. It was well done and a perfect spot to take the kids.
Next, we headed up to Sylvan Lake to see what it was like in clear weather. We were here when Hyla was really little, pre-Griffin, and hiked to the state high point, Harney Peak (now called Black Elk Peak), but the entire area was shrouded in thick fog, so we could only glimpse what appeared to be amazing scenery that day. When we arrived, the kids were asleep, so Nate went to the gift shop and got the two of us ice cream bars as we waited in the car (don’t tell the kids!). When they woke up, we walked around the lake. It was beautiful, and the rock formations were so striking. Hyla asked if we came back again, if she could swim at the beach, so she liked it, too. There were a lot of swimmers and boaters and people out enjoying everything the area had to offer. It really was lovely, and I’m glad we finally got a chance to see it on a clear day.
Our next destination was Mt. Rushmore. Again, the last time we were here, it was shrouded in clouds, and we couldn’t see a thing! This time, it was majorly under construction. The visitor center was closed, and the main walkways and state flags were gone. We were still able to do the 700 step hike that gets you pretty close to the faces and still enjoyed some great views. On the way up, I pointed out a huge ant to Hyla and she calls out “Holy crap!” in front of a huge group of people! I was mortified! She’d never said anything like that before, and of course she had to wait for an audience to do it. Yikes!
We also visited the workshop where they discuss how the monument was built and were also able to get passport stamps, so that was good. Then we’d seen everything we could, so we made our way to our hotel, the Rodeway Inn in Keystone. We’d planned to play mini golf, but Nate wasn’t feeling well from all the Griffin carrying and such. Plus, when we got to the hotel, it started pouring with lots of lightning. We waited it out and eventually were able to make a mad dash to the building. We had the Washington suite, which was a regular room, but L-shaped with a hide-a-bed and 2 regular beds. I brought all our luggage up, of course trying to take more than a reasonable amount at once to afford less trips. On the last run, lots of people offered to help. I must have been carrying a ton! How nice of them, though. Overall, it was a weird evening. We ate snacks for dinner. Hyla and Griffin wrestled and watched tv. It was very low-key, which, I suppose, is what we needed. It was good to take it slow and try to have everyone recover for once.
7-25-19
I let everyone sleep in again, and once all were up and refreshed, they were ready to check out Holy Terror Mini Golf. It was a pretty difficult course on a mountainside with numerous steep holes. We had fun! Then we went back to Mount Rushmore to check out Carver’s, the resident restaurant, for lunch. I had buffalo stew, Nate had a bison burger, and Hyla had a salad because she did not want to eat meat that day. Good for her. Griffin shared with us all. We discovered that the state flags that had been removed from the entry walk now resided in the dining hall. On top of that, we had a great view of the faces from the restaurant.
From here, we headed out to Jewel Cave, but we weren’t able to get a tour that day, so instead we walked around the visitor center and did a short hike to an overlook.
We motored southwest and made our way to Fort Laramie. It was really well preserved and had a lot of buildings to explore. We even got to tour Wyoming’s oldest standing military building, Fort Bedlam, built in 1849! What a neat place to explore and learn about the goings-on when the fort was in use.
From here, we zigzagged our way back to the interstate. We wound up getting dinner at Accomplice Brewing Company in Cheyenne. It was cool in that you can get up and pour your own beer as you feel like it, allowing you to mix and match beers if you so wish. I was really impressed with their gose, in fact. Food-wise, I had spicy tuna tostadas, Nate had a pizza, and the kids enjoyed a PB and Nutella sandwich. Then we drove down to Ft. Collins and checked in to our room at the Clarion. Nate went to check in and had been gone a while, so I took the kids to find him and was startled by a woman and her boyfriend who emerged from the dark shadows around the building. We eventually reunited and tried to settle for the night while watching Bunk’d and Hey Jessie. Good times indeed.
7-26-19
We grabbed breakfast in the lovely atrium overlooking the pool at the Clarion. It was voucher-based and self-serve, and very good. We chatted a bit with a couple of farmers from Nebraska, which was interesting. Once we were done, we hit the road to Colorado Springs to visit the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. The last time we were there, I was pregnant with Hyla and we fed the giraffes. I tell her she helped feed them even before she was born. Today’s visit was just as wonderful. Hyla wasn’t keen on petting the giraffes this time around, but I sure was! She did get to pet a snake, though. We were excited to see a hedgehog tenrec – not sure I’d ever seen one of those in person before! It was a good time, and good exercise climbing up and down the mountain.
From here, we got a combination lunch and dinner at Bristol Brewing Company, located in the old Ivywild School building. I had a great tortilla soup, and Nate shared his charcuterie plate with everyone. We each had a very nice beer flight, too. We explored the rest of the school building a bit before continuing down the road to Trinidad. We hoped to get Dairy Queen while there, but it appears it’s no longer in business, so we did Sonic instead. Then we continued down to Raton where we spent the night at the Super 8. Luckily, we only had light rain on the way down, but it appeared to be pretty bad in spots. Looking forward to a peaceful last night on the road.
7-27-19
We headed out to Capulin Volcano first thing after we got up, observing antelope on the way. We toured the visitor center and then drove up to the top. We hiked the rim, seeing many “lovelinesses” of ladybugs on the way. Seriously, they were everywhere! And yes, a group of ladybugs is called a loveliness. We also spied a very young mule deer. The views from up there were amazing. On a clear day, you can see 5 states from the rim, including New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas.
After we completed the rim circuit, Nate and I took turns walking to the crater, since the kids really had enough at that point.
From here, we headed back toward home. We stopped at the Skillet in Las Vegas for lunch. It was fun, but had weird and almost gruesome art on the walls. There were skulls on the windows and some guy with wrists separating from his arms. There was also a free-roaming dog that sat quietly and begged from patrons. We had good tacos, and Hyla had the best chicken fingers ever. Of course she hated them and complained, but I can attest they were great, and I don’t usually like chicken fingers.
We continued on, missing the rain, singing a lot and having a great time. We were so glad to get home and find everything ok. It had been quite a trip, and we’re already looking forward to the next one!
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