Quick glimpse of Montana and North Dakota

This year we were headed to South Dakota.  The original plan was for all Grandma G's sisters to be there, as well as some of their kids' families.  As the time drew closer it slowly dwindled down to just Aunt Kirsten and Uncle Justin and their families.  

Daddy wanted to add another state to his "been there" list so our itinerary took us up through North Dakota.  We left on the fourth of July, we decided to skip lighting our own fireworks and see the show in Missoula instead.  We got all packed up and situated and headed out.  Well, in Ellensburgh Daddy notices an oil leak.  This has happened before and all it needed was to readjust the cap over the oil filter.  So we stopped by a parts store, bought some extra oil and some tools and did that.

Not even 10 minutes later he noticed it again.  So we stopped at the Rye Grass rest area.  As he attempted to re-tighten the cap it cracked.  As soon as the engine was on the oil flew everywhere.  Since it was fourth of July it made things pretty complicated.  The part we needed wasn't available through a parts store, we had to get it through Kia.  We were prepared to figure out a way to get to one, except they were closed (not that any of them were nearby).  Grandma and Papa H ended up coming over to rescue us.  Instead of going back with them and switching to our other car they decided to lend us Grandma Peggy's car.  We were barely able to squeeze in all our things but we managed and took off.  We ended up getting to Missoula after the fireworks show was supposed to have happened.  Luckily the show seemed to have been delayed so the kids got to watch from the hotel.  This whole business with the car ended up being a gigantic pain in the butt for a simple part.  It was super generous of them to lend us their car and turned out to be a huge blessing in disguise considering the day after we got back MY car decided to blow a spark plug.  We undoubtedly would've been trying to do that somewhere out in no man's land hours and hours from either set of Grandparents.  

Since we had their car we were able to stick to our original plan and head to Lewis and Clark Caverns.  It's the first time Daddy and Carson have been in to see it. 

Unfortunately we hiked to the entrance, went in and got to "Decision rock" at which point Dillon informed me he REALLY needed to pee. So he and I ended up having to miss the tour.  It kind of stinks considering if we'd known while we were sitting through the first part he could've snuck out, peed in the bushes and continued on to the tour.  

 The beaver slide!  I always remembered it as the "butt slide" because you have to sit on your butt and go through and it's worn into that shape because of it.

While they were in on the cave tour, Dillon and I had a good time talking, and playing different games on our phones.  Unfortunately I hadn't thought to get the car keys from Daddy so we couldn't get any cold treats to eat while we waited.

After another late night to the hotel we headed toward North Dakota.  We had plans to stop at a state park on the way.  Before we even got to the park we saw signs for "Pompey's Pillar National Monument" .  We could see it in the distance so we decided to stop.  We're really glad we did.  It is the first place we've been to where we can actually see the evidence, for ourselves, that Lewis and Clark went through it!

It has William Clark's signature carved into the rock!  Definitely ended up being worth the stop. 

From there we continued on to Makoshika State Park on the Eastern edge of Montana.  This area is known as the Montana badlands.  It was beautiful, but crazy hot. Considering we went from about 70 degrees at home to about 100 there in two days it was a big adjustment. 

They have a Triceratops and T-rex skull there, as well as many other fossils.  We found out that Montana has a "Dinosaur trail" throughout the state with various stops specifically related to dinosaur fossils found there. 

 We went on one little hike to see a fossil vertebrae that was still in the place it was found.

There were some other hikes we could've done but it was simply too hot.  So we drove up and around the ridge.  We ended up finding a really cool overlook.  If we had come a couple weeks earlier it would've been a much cooler temperature but then we wouldn't have been able to walk down the ridge with this amazing view.  The clay would've been slippery and dangerous instead of hard and cracked. 

Kayda and I discovered that both our phones do panoramas (I hadn't looked for it on mine) and had way too much fun taking them everywhere we went. 

 Finally, after the state park, we made it to Medora, North Dakota.

 One of the "must do" things there is seeing the musical.  The first half was questionable, it was nothing like we expected.  But after the first half, they had a guest performer, he was a balloon artist and magician and was amazing.  The kids were completely engaged.  The second half was much more what I was expecting with more of the story of Theodore Roosevelt and how he came to love North Dakota, and how his time here led him to establish the national park system. 

The main reason we were there was to see the national park.  It was very underwhelming.  We actually thought the Montana badlands were prettier and driving the loop there was much less beautiful than the Custer State Park drives.  

 We decided on a short hike so we wouldn't be overwhelmed, the hike we really wanted to do involved crossing the river on foot in 3ft deep water.  We decided that was a bit much for our four foot tall six year old.  We ended up on a guided junior ranger hike.  Dillon got sick on the way so it was just Carson, Kayda and I.  We walked out to the old entrance of the park from before the freeway was put in and it was changed.  I think they were rather bored but they were very polite and did everything the ranger asked.  All three of them (we did the stuff later with Dillon) earned their Junior Ranger badges.

After two nights "resting" in Medora we were on our way to South Dakota.  Carson had been asking from the moment we left home when we would get there.  He was very excited this was the day we would get there.  Daddy has really been wanting to see Sturgis and one route took us through the city, so we stopped there.  We went to the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum and Hall of Fame.  It was kind of neat to see some of the first motorcycles.  They originally just looked like bikes, with a tiny engine.

Carson loved finding a motorcycle his size.  The story follows.

And then... we finally got to Grandma and Papa G's house...