Our first trip of the summer was a road trip! Sean and I have wanted to take this trip for almost 10 years. It just never happened, but we finally said… let’s just go! When we mentioned to people that we were taking this trip together, with three kids, no one really seemed to think it was a good idea. 🙂 Everyone sort of did the “oh, that sounds fun” or “I could never do that” or just a very flat “why Montana…?” But we really felt like it would be such a beautiful trip, and it was! I’m so glad we drove, took the kids and at their current ages. I wouldn’t have changed anything! Here’s a little about the road trip getting to Montana.
We left early on a Sunday morning. My aunt Barb came with us (so brave!), and the six of us ran out to the packed car, in pouring rain, at 5AM. Literally, the rain the first day was terrible. I never realized driving in rain scared me so much but it was really intense. We traveled through Massachusetts and New York, a tiny sliver of Pennsylvania, and landed in Cleveland, Ohio for the night. Our stops (meals, attractions, hotels) were all planned ahead of time. I planned for months.
When I was planning I tried to get us to a destination for the night by 4 or 5PM so that we could move around a little, grab dinner and get a good night’s sleep before the next day of driving. It didn’t always work out. Sometimes we changed the plans mid-day, or added new stops based on the maps given to us at state welcome centers. In Cleveland, we had dinner at a brewery and then walked around near the water. I think it was Lake Erie (?) but it definitely looked like an ocean. We also saw the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Javi was pretty impressed by Johnny Cash’s tour bus outside. His middle name is Cash, after Johnny Cash! We also found a playground — the kids can’t ever resist a playground — and then headed back to the hotel for the night.
The second day of the trip we passed through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Our major stop of the day was lunch in Chicago. I tried to make the American Girl Doll store a major stop but Lola and I were outnumbered so we didn’t go. I still think we should have! One thing I didn’t factor into planning was that we would gain time each day because of the time zones. So we ended up at our hotel in Madison, Wisconsin pretty early in the day, maybe around 3PM. We went for a little hike, stopped at a playground, and then went out to dinner. In Wisconsin, Javi discovered his love for grilled cheese! I discovered that I actually really liked Madison, Wisconsin. 🙂
The third day was July 4th! This was one of our shortest driving days — we left Wisconsin and only got as far as Minnesota. Since it was a holiday, we wanted to be on the road a little less AND I wanted to see Mall of America! We spent the day there, in amazement — did you know there are full size amusement park rides INSIDE?! We ate lunch, walked around and also went to the aquarium that’s inside the mall. The kids loved it. We definitely went with the intention of not buying anything… and we left with stuffed animals, toys, blankets, candy… it was ridiculous!
When we got to the hotel in St. Cloud, Minnesota there was plenty of time to go swimming before we went out to dinner. The hotel pools were definitely a favorite part of the trip. If I’m being honest, we’ve gone back and reflected about this trip with the kids and the two things they always mention loving are the hotel pools and the playgrounds. 🙂
The next day we drove through the rest of Minnesota, North Dakota and crossed into Montana. North Dakota was where the scenery started to change and that felt exciting. If there’s one thing we learned about ND is that they love their dinosaur fossils, and ghost towns. Also, this is where the raccoon hat was purchased and then worn for the rest of the… summer.
This was also the day we started seeing buffalo! We saw lots of real ones and then of course made a stop at the “world’s largest buffalo” statue because who could pass that up? This was all in Jamestown, ND — a ghost town! The kids thought the jails and the schools were the most interesting parts of the ghost towns we visited.
We also made stops at the Badlands Dinosaur Museum, Theodore Roosevelt National Park (so many prairie dogs!), and the town of Medora where Sean got to walk into a real saloon. He enjoyed that very much.
The next morning we woke up in Glendive, Montana, and made stops at the Glendisaurus Statue and Makoshika State Park before arriving to our VRBO in Bozeman, Montana!
We checked out the house, and then went to dinner and the grocery store and ended the day (but really the week) in the hot tub!
More to come soon!
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Hello Jasmine I don’t know how I came across your site but it was perfect and helpful. My husband and I are planning a road trip to Montana a year from now and this is all new to us, I am trying to start planning. Any input would be great.
Lisa
Oh, have fun! It’s still one of our most favorite trips we’ve ever taken. Definitely stop in each state’s “Welcome Center” and grab some maps/pamphlets for cool stuff to see. If you’re doing National Parks, they’re amazing but don’t sleep on the State Parks. There were some places I had never heard of and they ended up being so memorable. Most were in the Dakotas! Oh, and definitely have a paper map, or download maps on your phone because there are tons of places with absolutely no cell reception and no GPS!