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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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Glacier National Park

The final stop on the Great American Road Trip was Glacier National Park.  We stayed in a small ski resort hotel called Kandahar Lodge.  The scenery was breathtaking!  If we were skiers, I would totally try to find my way back there in the winter!  M got a kick out of the fact that there was a ski room and a hot tub outside (Minnesota kids, right?!)

The only bad part about our hotel was that we picked the wrong side of Glacier National Park to stay on.  Unfortunately a large portion of the Road to the Sun was closed due to wildfires in the area.  That meant in order for us to get to the east side of the park, we had to drive over two hours AROUND the park.  However, we made the best of it!  The first morning, we stopped on the west side at the visitor’s center and got M and K’s Junior Ranger workbooks.  Then they had the two hour drive to the other side to finish most, if not all of it!

Once we got to the east side (which took a little longer thanks to some road construction and free range cows who decided the road was a good place to be), we stopped at the St. Mary Lake Visitor’s Center and both kids were sworn in for the Glacier Junior Ranger badges.  It was so adorable that one woman there started crying.

Then it was off onto the Road to the Sun!  From the east side, we were able to get approximately 17 miles up the Road to the Sun to Logan’s Pass.  The drive was so beautiful.  K was in awe of the waterfalls and water trickling down the rocks.  At the Logan’s Pass Visitor’s Center, a few of the trails were open still, and we attempted to make it up to one of the Glaciers.  Needless to say, the kids gave up on us half way there.  But a Ranger was nice enough to get a family picture with the glacier in the background!

The next, and last day of the Great American Road Trip, we discovered we were 45 minutes from the US/Canadian boarder.  Considering both kids had never been to Canada, and I just happened to have brought all of our passports (I always plan ahead!) we decided to drive to British Columbia to have lunch!!  We ended up driving to Fernie, a small town in British Columbia.  We had lunch at this cute bistro right by the river.  We had to keep remembering we were in Canada and the US dollar has a different value, but it was definitely worth it.  Considering I had lived in Minnesota my entire life, and our house is closer to Canada than the Twin Cities, you would think I would have been to Canada before this trip.  NOPE!  So I got to mark a country off my bucket list!

Once we made it back into the United States, we headed for the West side of Glacier National Park to check out Lake McDonald.  This lake was so worth going back into the park, as it was so beautiful.  The kids loved skipping rocks (or trying to!) and seeing how many different colored rocks they could discover.  We also had our last helping of Huckleberry ice cream, which I’m missing, even now.

After we finished up on the west side of Glacier, we found the Glacier Sun Winery.  I was super excited because not only does it make wine, but also hard cider!  We came out with two growlers of hard cider and two bottles of wine, all with a little hint or more of huckleberry!

I had gone the whole road trip being in ranch country and hadn’t been able to eat a steak. That just seemed wrong.  So we stopped for dinner at Jazn’s Restaurant on the way back to our hotel.  From the outside, it did not look like it would be the nice, intimate restaurant that it actually was.  Considering we had been kicking and driving all day, we really weren’t completely dressed for the occasion…OOPS!  However, it was DEFINITELY worth eating there.  the food was great, the steak was amazing, and the portions were huge!  The kids each ate fettuccine alfredo, and their portion was probably the size I would have wanted!

Glacier was definitely amazing, and Hubby and discussed coming back here, just us and hopefully the Road to the Sun would be completely open.

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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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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!!