Maiden Family Adventure: Road Trip through South Dakota, Montana and Yellowstone

I can best describe Bozeman, MT and the surrounding area as the place where my heart lives. My roots are here in MN, which is where I met my WI husband, but fate had us destined for college at MSU Bozeman. It’s also the place we grew into our true selves and did it together. We spent ten remarkable years adventuring and thriving in the outdoors.

We moved back to be closer to family when our son was about 15 months, and my daughter was on the way. It was a tough move but the right one. Our lives sped dramatically and we held on for the ride for about four years. It wasn’t until last March that we were looking into the eye of what felt like an overcoming monster. My daughter was scheduled to have a major surgery to enhance her speech ability, phlaregeal flap surgery. (Please see project Molly’s Eyes to learn more about Molly under Categories if desied.) We have been dreaming about taking our kids back to MT for awhile. My husband has sparks of brilliance. Over a pre surgery dinner, he suggested if all goes well, we should pack up and road trip it to MT in late April/early May. While Molly was in surgery, we talked about our route. It pulled us through.

Late April/early May is not a popular time for a visit to this area. All the better for us. We don’t mind inclement weather, and that meant we had some incredible spots all to ourselves. We also met up with a few old friends, got Chris back in a kayak and were sincerely happy.

Note: We were lucky enough to head back again in Sept. 2012 and had many new experieinces. Another album will be posted when completed.

We began our journey in Rapid City South Dakota.

We spend a few hours in Custer State Park and Wind Cave national Park.

My son, Haven, was smitten with the ranger and spelunking.  Molly acted like the ranger was a celebrity when we snapped a pic with her.

The Badlands

Finally back in white water.  -a very happy guy boating the house rock section of the Gallatin River.

The Madison River

Lower Hyalite Canyon

Cottonwood Canyon trail

(note same images in both spreads… whoops!)

Checking out Bridger Bowl and hiking up to the legendary M.

The Museum of the Rockies and our gracious house hosts/friends.

Ousel Falls- Big Sky, MT

Yellowstone’s grand, original gate

Haven’s first geyser experience and the inspiration behind his recent science fair experiment.

Old Faithful, paint pot, mud pot and more thermic awesomeness…

Long story short- my dad led the kids to believe he lost big long johns in MT and they were hanging somewhere in the mountains waiting to be found.  On a whim, I purchased a pair and we later led the kids on a successful long john hunt.  They reacted like it was Christmas morning.  Of course they had to attract Grandpa’s long johns by wearing their own.  🙂

The last stop in an inspiring adventure, Artist Point.

Can’t wait to see this album in print!