This morning we got on the road at 7:30 am and began the
drive to North Dakota. Our course took
us back through Rapid City (where we finally found the statues of the
presidents on the street corners around Main Street (my mom had mentioned
them), through Strurgis, which is a quaint little town. We arrived at the Southern Unit entrance (in
the town of Medora) around 12:00pm. It’s
strange because the national park sign is literally sitting in the town.
We grabbed hat pins and magnets then drove a very short distance up the road and pulled over in a prairie dog village and made and ate peanut butter sandwiches on the side of the road. At first we had the windows down but it was VERY windy today and cotton wood was blowing into and settling in the van.
We grabbed hat pins and magnets then drove a very short distance up the road and pulled over in a prairie dog village and made and ate peanut butter sandwiches on the side of the road. At first we had the windows down but it was VERY windy today and cotton wood was blowing into and settling in the van.
We decided to go ahead and make the long drive to the north
unit because that’s where I had read, and the ranger confirmed, the best hiking
existed. We drove about 7 miles or so to the Caprock Coulee trailhead – a
4.1mile loop trail that has spectacular views.
I’d read last night that it was one of the best trails in the park. We really enjoyed it. We started around 2:45 and ended around 4:45.
It rained on us just a little bit but nothing major. I think we’ll be fighting the rain the remainder of the trip.
It rained on us just a little bit but nothing major. I think we’ll be fighting the rain the remainder of the trip.
From there we drove back into Medora and checked into the
AmericInn motel. It’s nice – certainly
does the job at least. We walked over
for dinner at the Farmhouse, which was surprisingly good, then walked past an
ice cream store then back to the hotel.
Let’s see: I think I
forgot to mention Ryan’s funny expression.
Yesterday she said something like, “Don’t go Monday night footballing
him.” And she clearly meant “Monday
morning quarterbacking” but it was quite funny.
The kids have been pretty decent on the trip. They haven’t complained much and have only
bickered with each other a little bit.
I’ve determined that despite exercising every day, I’m in bad shape –
had shoulder surgery almost eight months ago, am in more pain than pre surgery
and have unintentionally been scaling back my daily exercise to something that
just isn’t cutting it any more. I need
to do more!
That’s all for now.
Tomorrow should be fairly uneventful.
We just drive to Big Sky, MT to get ready for Yellowstone!
Signing off!
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