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Devil’s Tower

Our second full day of our Great American Road Trip took us into Wyoming on our way to Yellowstone.  Since Devil’s Tower was on the way, we decided why not!  My biggest suggestion for everyone is if you think there is a gas station off the highway to Devil’s Tower, THINK AGAIN!!!  The gas station is actually 20 minutes further in from even Devil’s Tower.  We literally just made it into the town to the gas station when we hit E.  Yeah, I’m that good.

When we finally filled the gas tank, we headed to Devil’s Tower.  This was the first place we got to use the 4th grade park pass that M got us!  He was pretty excited, and I was impressed how fast he was able to answer the park ranger’s trivia!

Once there, K started working on her next Junior Ranger badge (again, M already had his and refused to get another one.  Where does this stubbornness come from??)  Really Devil’s Tower is all about walking trails.  We walked the trail all the way around Devil’s Tower.  We were so lucky to be able to see a bunch of climbers on the side of the tower, and pasted a few on their way to start climbing!

The views were just amazing, however you could still see the smoke coming down from the wildfires in Canada.

While walking on the trail, the kids were amazed to see a deer and her babies eating lunch.  It was the first time we saw animals there besides the usual squirrels and chipmunks.

By the time we got back from walking around the tower, K had finished her Junior Ranger badge and took the oath!

Now, when we go on road trips, we always plan on only eating one meal out a day, so we decided to have sandwiches for lunch.  Not the smartest idea here.  There are no real picnic tables around the Tower.  Weird, right!  There are some in front of both the KOA and the general store across the street from the KOA, but they aren’t available to the public to just have a picnic.  In the end, we had to drive a while and stop at a rest stop to pull out the cooler and make sandwiches.  As I said, plan accordingly.  Oh, and besides the small restaurant in the general store, there really isn’t a restaurant around.

All in all, while you are driving to Devil’s Tower, you will be thinking you are going off into a crazy direction.  Stay the course!  When you see it in the distance, you will know it is worth it!

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The Great American Road Trip 2018

Well, K didn’t have her summer kid program for the last two weeks before school started, so Hubby and I figured if he needed to take off to hang out with K and M, we might as well throw in a road trip!

It has been two years since our last road trip to Mt. Rushmore and Devil’s Tower, so we figured we would try it again.   Besides, we have had two kids for a year now, what could go wrong with putting them both in the back seat of a car for 8-10 hours a day!  Family bonding right??

Hubby and I looked at a lot of different options, including flying to either Seattle or Sacramento, renting a car and driving to the other place and flying home.  Once we got THAT crazy idea out of our head, we decided on heading out to Glacier National Park.  Our thought process was really selfish, but we all know it is all about me, right?

Once i started really looking into the distance and what we can do there when you don’t camp and aren’t into serious hikes (have you ever tried to do a decent hike with a 6 year old???), we decided to have a really lofty goal of hitting 5 National Parks/Monuments in 9 days.  It’s okay, you can say it out loud, we are nuts!!!

When we started looking, we decided we could really do it.  After learning some VERY useful tips and lessons with our first road trip with M, we figured we could do it!  It would also let us mark off a few more states for M, and start marking off states for K!

So, here was the plan:  we left St. Paul, Minnesota (I had a work meeting I couldn’t miss!) on Friday afternoon, and drive straight to Rapid City, South Dakota.  One full day in Rapid City to see everything we need to see.  The next morning, head off to Devil’s Tower, on the way to Yellowstone National Park.  Hopefully there is enough time to stop at the Hot Springs State Park, located in Thermopolis, Wyoming to be able to swim in some hot springs, which is all M really wanted to do.  Then, one full day at Yellowstone National Park, followed by the next day driving down to Grand Tetons National Park.  Once those two are done, including hopefully a quick trip into Idaho to check that state off the list too, and we are off to Glacier National Park for one full day, and if we really want to push it, part of a second day before driving straight home.  Like I said, ambitious.

So read on friends, and let’s see if we can actually do it!!