Out West

Summer trip by the numbers:

Four states. (North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota)

2,500-plus miles driven.

11 nights in our camper.

One night in a hotel. (Highlight of the trip for both kids. Sigh.)

Nine days in a row without a shower.

Four grizzly sightings.

Two black bears.

One cannister of bear spray purchased.

Six moose spotted, including one 20 feet away from us in the woods. We slowly backed away.

Two National Parks. (Theodore Roosevelt and Glacier)

One National Forest. (Custer Gallatin)

One National Monument. (Devil's Tower)

One party size bag of Doritos eaten almost entirely by me.

One dinner of Bugles and cheese when we couldn't find a restaurant with outdoor seating.

8,367 calories delivered to our hotel room in the form of pizza and mozzarella sticks.  

Zero hours of screen time while at a destination.

Countless hours of screen time in the car.

Two people reaffirming that they are afraid of heights, while hiking on the edge of a mountain. (Me and Christopher.)

One person falling in love with mountain lakes. (Clare)

One person wanting to hike more than we did. (Ben) (Although we hiked a lot.)

33 fights between Clare and Christopher. (Estimated)

One inch worm habitat built by Clare and Christopher. 

One campsite with a double-decker hammock. (Highlight of the trip for Christopher)

Four horses ridden through the North Dakota badlands. (Lakota, Whiskey, Miko, Houdini)

Lots of beers. (Can't be more specific.)

Zero campfires because of dry conditions and nearby wildfires.

Several books read and rounds of Hearts played.

Many hours of fun family time, in between the 33 fights.

Hundreds of pictures taken. Here are a few:

We started the trip with a visit to an old timey village in Jamestown, N.D. (Actually, we started with a 4:30 a.m. wake up call and a trip to McDonald's and Caribou, but this is the second thing we did.)

Largest buffalo in the world. Allegedly.

One of the views from Sully Creek Campground, our home while visiting Theodore Roosevelt.

Prairie dog town in Theodore Roosevelt.

Hiking in the North Dakota Badlands, which are uniquely beautiful. 

Building a bridge in Sully Creek.

More Badlands hiking. The North and South Dakota Badlands are not related geographically - they are both called Badlands because they aren't suitable for farming. Here, the kids are standing in front of a petrified tree from thousands of years ago.

More Sully Creek. Ben took them here while I made dinner and drank wine at the campsite.

Horseback riding! Christopher was on the biggest horse, naturally.

Painted canyon.

Our campsite in North Dakota.

How an introvert gets alone time on a family trip.

Our campsite in Glacier. We camped at Many Glacier, which was lovely, though crowded.

The start of Going to the Sun Road.

Clare loved this lake, and swam even though it was frigid. It was crystal clear and beautiful.

Apikuni Falls hike in Many Glacier.

Red Rock Lake hike in Many Glacier. We went on a guided hike with a ranger, which we all found really interesting. We saw several moose and ate many Huckleberries.

Ice cream and a ranger talk.

Building a habitat for an inch worm they adopted as a pet. Briefly.

Inchy's habitat.

Hidden Lake hike at Logan Pass. It was fairly smoky this day, but still beautiful.

Clare being sworn in as a Junior Ranger.

Hiking in the Trail of the Cedars in Glacier. This wooded area was beautiful and peaceful.

Sleepy time on the shuttle.

Clare rescuing our camper's crank from the roof. 

Double-decker hammock!

Pancake breakfast at Custer Gallatin near Red Lodge, Montana.

Mountain lake swimming. Brrrr.

Beartooth Highway. It was smoky, but still scenic.

Actual cowboys herding cows in Wyoming.

Brewery time in Red Lodge, MT.

The National Forest campsites are so spacious and quiet.

Devil's Tower.

Hotel swimming pool in Sioux Falls, S.D.

An actual bed and a shower felt good after so many days in the camper!