Just a week after returning from the North Shore we took on our greatest adventure yet! A road trip west! We left at dinner time on Thursday, June 22nd heading to our first stop in South Dakota, Sioux Falls. This was supposed to just be our staying point for the first night, but we ventured out the am of the 23rd to explore the name sake of the city, and it was beautiful!
Each leg of our trip was planned to take no more than 4.5 hours in the car at a time, this was to keep the kiddos comfy and not restless. It worked beautifully! From Sioux Falls we continued westward through South Dakota visiting lots of places along the way, on Friday the 23rd we hit up The Corn Palace, The Badlands, Wall Drug and ended in Rapid City for the night.
Waking up in Rapid on Saturday the 24th we got ready to do the next journey, kicking off the day with some Starbucks and Mount Rushmore! This was one of our favorite portions of the vacation, if you have never been as an adult we highly suggest you do this trip. It was a beautiful work of art, a wonderful - warm day and an amazing piece of history! We continued our day with a brief stop at the Crazy Horse Monument, a spectacular drive through Custer State Park and a winding drive over around and through the beautiful Black Hills. Eventually crossing the boarder into Wyoming for our next evening layover.
Gillette, Wyoming is a hustling town of hotels, gas stations and truckers stopping areas. Arriving after dinner time we were saved by our hotel having a small indoor water park that gave us a great place to play and let the littles blow off some steam (the reason we picked it in the first place). We had a nice couple of hours playing in the lazy river, water slide riding and a couple of games of basketball. In the morning of Sunday the 25th I brought the little guy into the after hours clinic because he had developed a rash, I didn't want to risk spreading it so we had him checked out while DH and Bel stayed behind for a little more water fun.
When we returned we hit the road again... this time for our main destination... kind of. We picked Gillette because it was a short 5 hours to Bozeman, Montana where we were reuniting with one the best friends a person could ask for. Kristi, her husband Jamie and their little guy Cole. Kristi and I became amazing friends in college and she and her family are in Montana for her husbands job. It had been over 3 years since we saw each other last and it was well overdue and a perfect excuse to have a family vacation. When we got on the road we were an hour in before we changed our plans for the day instead heading further west to go to Yellowstone! Crazy, amazing, beautiful! This turned our 5 hour final leg into a 9 hour drive through the mountains and around amazing sites!
We did finally arrive in Bozeman after bedtime on the 25th, and I have to say it was a fantastic reunion! We stayed with our friends for 3 days and experienced their city and places of work. Most importantly we were able to spend time together, our kids got to play and our friendships spread to them.
On Thursday the 28th we left our good friends, waving goodbye. This was hard, and well lets just say the momma's were crying. The kids were tired and well the daddy's enjoyed their time too. We drove from Bozeman to Bismarck, North Dakota. A long drive with mostly beautiful scenery. When we got to Bismarck, we went to eat and found we had a flat tire... at least we arrived safely and long story very short had it fixed on the morning of the 29th before we finished our last leg of the journey ending at the cabin in time for the fireworks on the 30th!
An amazing adventure that we are looking forward to doing again sometime.
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