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Grand Tetons National Park

Our second full day in Gartner, Montana, we decide not to hang out in Yellowstone, but to drive through Yellowstone to Grant Tetons National Park.  I have to say, this was DEFINITELY worth the drive.  The views of the Grand Tetons mountain range is so breath taking.

As usual, we stopped as soon as we got into the park at the first visitor’s center we could find and got the kid’s Junior Ranger books.  The badges at Grand Tetons were so cool, as they were made of wood instead of the usual plastic.  We started driving around while the kids worked on their books, and ended up at the Rockefeller Nature Preserve located in the park.  K wanted to sit and listen to a presentation by a ranger on butterflies, so the boys decided to check out one of the scientist backpacks and take a hike.  What we thought would be like a 30 or 40 minute hike for them turned out to be a two hour hike to a beautiful lake.  K and I started down the trail to find them, but it had been a long week already, and my navigation skills were off.  Yep, I took the wrong path…the LONGER path.  after 45 minutes of hiking, we turned around and gave up.  I knew we were safe and the bears wouldn’t come near us because K wouldn’t stop talking!!!

Once we located the boys, we started driving back towards Yellowstone and stopped at Colter Bay for dinner and to get M Junior Ranger badge (K got hers waiting for the boys to come back from their adventure at the nature preserve).  We at dinner at the Colter Ranchhouse.  The food was ok, but what we really loved was the huckleberry ice cream we saved room for.  All four of us fell in love with huckleberries there!

If you ever take a trip to Yellowstone, make sure to definitely build in a day at Grand Tetons.  Considering they are literally right next to each other, you will kick yourself later if you don’t!

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Mt. Rushmore-Rapid City, South Dakota

First stop, Rapid City, South Dakota!  As we learned from our first road trip there with M in 2016, you really only need about one full day to see what we wanted to see in Rapid City.  The main highlights are of course, Mt. Rushmore, followed by the Pigtails and Needles Highway, Custer’s National Park.  We of course needed to stop at our favorite winery located in Hill City!

The one thing you need to know about Mt. Rushmore is that it opens at 5 a.m.  Yep.  That early.  However, this really worked for us, as our kids are EARLY risers, and they slept in the car the night before.  Before you start thinking we are insane, we didn’t get there at 5 a.m.  Our goal is typically 8 a.m. to start our adventures, and this was no different.  However, just like at Disney, the earlier the better!

The first thing we did was get K’s Junior Ranger booklet to complete.  M already had his, and refused to do it again.  Then it was off to work!  The kids had fun exploring the different areas of the monument and learning how it was built.  With it being not so busy, it was great to be able to take your time and not have a ton of people around you.  K finished the Junior Ranger booklet and received her first Junior Ranger badge of the trip (not her first ever though, she got her first one at the Minnesota Science Museum in St. Paul… There is a secret one there!!).

We have always gotten there early, and every time we go we always see the mountain goats next to the amphitheater.  This is M’s favorite part!  This time, we were able to get REALLY close to them, and the kids loved it!!!

We all took the obligatory picture with the monument in the background.  There are always people willing to help with the photo to get a great shot, but sometimes I just like a good old selfie.  It reminds me that life isn’t perfect, but it is still fun.

When we went this trip, the Scupltor’ shed was closed, as they were doing updates and repairs.  With M’s breathing issues at the time and the fires from Canada sending down a ton of smoke, we didn’t start climbing all the stairs to get closer like we would have wanted to.  So, after a few hours, M and K were ready to move on, and that is what we did.

No trip to Rapid City is complete without a drive through the Pigtails.  Make sure to get out and take in the AMAZING sights of Mt. Rushmore.  K was just excited to drive under a bridge and then over it!  We stopped a few time to climb the rocks, explore, and see what we could find.  The kids loved looking at all the rocks, and M started picking out the veins of quartz that you can see in the rocks.  We also couldn’t miss driving Needles Highway and seeing the signs for where they filmed North by Northwest (I’m a HUGE old movie fan) and of course National Treasure 2.

Once we finished the Pigtail drive, we wandered towards Hill City for a late lunch.  Hubby and I love Hill City, even if it is really because one of our favorite wineries is there!  There was a BBQ competition taking place the day we were there, so parking was a BEAR!  That being said, we couldn’t be deterred.  We at lunch at a little hole in the wall Mexican restaurant called Maria’s Mexican Restaurant.   There food was great!!  We then wandered around Hill City checking out a few of the shops.  M was in awe of all the huge rocks of quartz that were for sale.  If we would have let him, there would have been a 50 pound rock of rose quartz in our car! ( don’t worry, we drew the line!!).

Once we wandered a bit and got the obligatory t shirt for the kids, we headed for our favorite winery in the area, Prairieberry.  We stopped at this winery the first time we were in the area, and always kicked ourselves for not buying more.  They are known for the rhubarb wine, and Hubby loves it.  M and K are kind of used to the fact when we go on vacations, there will be at least one winery or distillery we stop at.  (The funny thing is, we don’t even drink that much!!)  They like it because they get to play their electronics while we pick out wines.  It is a win/win situation!

After taste testing a few wines (you get five tastes for free!), we bought our 7 bottles of wine, and decided it was worth signing up for their quarterly wine delivery.  (I told you we liked the wine!)

Then it was off to Custer State Park, to show K her first buffalo.  We started the Wildlife Loop Road (really the best way to get through the park) and we had to hunt, but we did find animals!  We got to see pronghorns, buffalo and donkeys.

 

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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!!