Road Trip: Montana to Massachusetts.

After our cross country road trip, and our stay in Montana — it was time to drive home! We left early on a Tuesday morning and had a packed schedule of sights to see along the way home. On the way out to Montana we drove through North Dakota, so on the way home we made sure to pass through Wyoming and South Dakota.

Our first major stop was Devil’s Tower. It was really crowded and hot! But we made the best of it, didn’t actually walk all the way up to it (I know, I know) but we saw what we wanted to see before turning around. 🙂 We did get split up here (not sure how) and I was sure Eva and I were destined to stay there forever. It was a good 25 minutes of being separated from the others, and there was absolutely no cell reception.

The kids continued their tradition of getting their national park book stamped and picked up their junior ranger badges!

We stayed the night in Hill City, South Dakota and to get there drove through the Black Hills. That was scary. We drove for almost an hour on a completely unpaved backroad that Google Maps very confidently suggested to us. I’m not sure I have ever felt so nervous!

But just like that… the road opened up and become totally normal and comfortable. We found some dinner and ice cream, of course, and walked around a really cute town that I would love to revisit.

We wanted to catch the light show at Crazy Horse, so since it was sort of early and it got dark so late out there… we took a drive through Custer State Park after dinner. We also drove through Needles Highway — this one-car-width tunnel was… tight. AH!

Crazy Horse was really beautiful, but it felt uncomfortable. I can’t explain it and maybe I was just emotional, but the songs and speeches just made me sad. The kids left their sweatshirts in the hotel so since they were “freezing”, they picked up some purple Crazy Horse sweatshirts… which they wore for 5 minutes and then they were miraculously warmed up and didn’t need to wear the $45 sweatshirts the rest of the night! The light show was what I expected it to be 🙂 but it was competing with a crazy thunder and lightning storm so we did leave early (it was still 10PM!) to head back to the hotel. As soon as we stepped into the hotel, it started to pour and it rained all night. I have never seen or heard rain like that before!

We took our time the following morning because the hotel had a great pool and spa! The kids LOVED it so much and wanted to stay all day.

But we had big plans to visit Mount Rushmore! So we packed up and we were on our way. Mount Rushmore was also super crowded. Lola wanted to know why we were looking at “four mans” 🙂 she thinks a girl should be up there and I agree! Eva wasn’t feeling Mount Rushmore either and for most of the visit refused my photo opportunities!

After a bit, we were on our way. We spotted a sign on the highway for “Old MacDonald’s Farm” and decided… why not! So we stopped in to feed sheep (Eva really hated that..), to ride ponies (that was a hit) and to pet some baby animals. It was very cute and a very expensive way to stretch our legs for an hour!

A bit after lunch time we made it to Wall Drug — which was a place I would totally go back to, and you definitely need hours to explore. Javi found a pocket knife with his name engraved on it! We also had some donuts and the girls picked up some jewelry which, honestly, I don’t think made it out of the state before getting lost.

Our final stop of the day was Badlands National Park! This was really cool and a bit scary (!) but we saw lots of wildlife and the pictures made the visit so totally worth it.

The final few days of the trip weren’t all that eventful. We found ourselves passing through many of the same areas as the beginning of the trip. We didn’t stop at anything “big” unless you count the Jolly Green Giant statue! Who knew!

We kept going through Minnesota and Wisconsin and the definite hits of these states were the hotel pools!

Our final night, we stayed over in Erie and visited Presque Isle National Park. I wasn’t a total fan but if I’m being honest I was feeling done. 🙂 I was ready to be home. The kids enjoyed this very short run on the beach and then ice cream.

Does ice cream not fix everything?

The following day we made it home to our cats who had missed us very much over the two weeks! The kids were so happy to see their toys and their beds. It was a fantastic trip but there’s something special about coming home, too!