Chapter 4: The Rough Riders
Want to know how we could tell our vacation was getting better? The morning started with Holiday Inn Express cinnamon rolls.
Mmmm…cinnamon rolls…
Hmm? What? Oh, sorry. My mind wandered a bit into the realm of gooey icing. I’m back.
We got an early start, on the road somewhere between 7:00 and 7:30 a.m. Why? Well, you’ll never believe this, but we had a lot of ground to cover that day. And in the middle of all the driving, we were going to try and do some actual sightseeing.
Our first destination was a half-hour west of Dickinson, North Dakota. As we drove west, the landscape finally began to change—we saw actual elevation changes! We took an exit and right there, just off the interstate, was our first stop: the Painted Canyon overlook and visitor center at
Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
Yes, Drew is growing up fast, but he still has yet to master the art of looking at the camera for more than 0.3 seconds at a time.
Or even just sit still.
Painted Canyon marks the spot where the grasslands that make up the majority of North Dakota begin to transition into badlands. “Badlands” are termed as such because of the lack of water features. The foreboding, dry sandstone formations seem to insure that no farming is possible here, hence they’re “bad lands” for settling. But they are, in their own way, quite striking visually.
It was a cool, windy morning, so we broke out our sweatshirts. We didn’t have one for Drew, so we just fished out his pajama top. Fashion-wise, he can pull it off. Whereas people just look at me funny when I do it.
The visitor center there wasn’t open yet, so we just took a few photos and drove on. We drove into the town of Medora, which houses the main visitor center and entrance to the loop road that explores the South Unit of the park. It also houses several hotels, restaurants and all-around tourist traps. We needed some gas for the van so I stopped at the only station in town, which was a real blast from the past. It was an old analog-style gas pump, and I had to run inside the convenience store to give them the pump number and tell them to turn it on for me. Then I had to go back and turn the crank to re-set the numbers on the gallons/price dial before I could start pumping. It was only later that I found out I’d pulled up to the pump for premium, not regular gasoline. Oops.
Theodore Roosevelt first visited this area in 1883 while on a buffalo hunt, and liked the area so much he bought a ranch there. On the tragic date of February 14, 1884, both his mother and his wife passed away. He marked the date with a large “X” in his diary and wrote one sentence: “The light has gone out of my life.” Overcome with grief, he returned to the area and lived in solitude at his ranch. He credited his time spent here, living alone in the wilderness, as being incredibly vital in his development as a leader and in his learning to live with grief. He also developed a fierce conservationist streak and became a huge proponent of the National Parks later in his presidency.
The park consists of both the North and South Units, two separate tracts along the Little Missouri River. The South Unit is adjacent to Interstate 94, so it is the most-visited section of the park. There is a 36-mile loop road that covers the entire South Unit—this is what we were hoping to explore that morning.
We stopped at the visitor center to get the lay of the land and pick up Junior Ranger books for the kids. Sadly, Sarah decided that she was going to bow out of the Junior Ranger programs this year—just the latest of many signs that she’s growing up. And it’s happening way too fast and I can’t stop it from happening and I’m not ready for it and no I’m not crying and STOP LOOKING AT ME!!!
Ahem. Anyway, we piled into the van and started our drive on the loop road. We crossed the interstate into the heart of the park and pulled off to the side of the road by a large grass field. The field appeared to be moving. Or rather, lots of pieces of it appeared that way.
Prairie dogs. Lots and lots of prairie dogs.
Isn’t he cute? They’re pretty fascinating to watch. Prairie dogs have a sophisticated communication system, with several of them acting as lookouts and various calls and chirps, each with their own meaning, used to communicate the presence of predators. Don’t ask me what each call means, though—I don’t speak prairie dog.
We watched for a while and then drove into the badlands. My research had suggested that first-time visitors drive in a counter-clockwise fashion, so that’s what we did.
We took our time, enjoying the morning scenery and occasionally spotting a bison or an elk. We took a short side road that led to a trail to the top of Buck Hill, one of the highest points in the park. It was a little windy up there, but the view was nice.
The park guide said to allow about 2 hours for the drive, and I think that was about right. We didn’t stop at every overlook. The best stop was near the end of the drive, at the northwest corner of the loop road—there’s a short trail that takes you to an overlook of the Little Missouri River. This was a nice view, even though the water in the river was low, and a great spot to get out of the van for a walk.
We saw a bison way off in the distance:
And a small herd grazing on the other side of the river.
Just a short way down the road, we found a herd of wild horses. Wild horses travel in herds, right? I’m never sure how they come up with the various names of groups of animals, such as herds, flocks, gaggles, families, towns, or my personal favorite: the “murder” of crows. All I know is that it seems like they’re just throwing darts when they come up with these things. It also never fails to bring to mind a great line from the TV show Justified, when our hero stumbles upon a meeting of various bad guys and remarks to his partner, “Now, would you call this a herd, a gaggle, or a flock of a------s?”
So anyway, the wild horses were cool. We found another bison fairly close to the road, too.
Once back at the visitor center, Sarah and Julie went to check out Teddy Roosevelt’s old cabin while I stayed with the boys as they finished up their Junior Ranger work. Soon after, they had their first badges of the trip in hand.
Julie made our first PB&J sandwiches of the trip and we ate lunch in the car as we headed out. Before long, we’d entered Big Sky Country.
I wonder why they call it that?
This was one of the drives I was most worried about when planning the vacation. It was 3.5 hours across mostly back roads in Montana and Wyoming—only the first 15 – 20 minutes were on the interstate. We turned south at the first exit on Montana Route 7 and entered The Void. I’d been worried about how the kids would hold up on such a boring drive. Here’s a behind-the-scenes glimpse of our typical road trip:
Luckily, it was Drew’s nap time, so eventually he stopped fussing and fell asleep.
Part of my fears were due to the fact that I wasn’t entirely sure what the road would be like. Google maps had said this was the fastest route, so I went with it. But when looking at the route on Google Earth, I’d noticed that the photos along the way showed Route 7 to be a mostly dirt road. I was sure 3.5 hours on a dirt road would be absolute torture, so I had a moment of panic. Then I did a search basically asking, “Is Route 7 in Montana paved?”
I found that
it had been paved for its entire length in 2010, after decades of planning and debate (insert state highway engineer jokes here). For years, the town of Ekalaka, Montana had been the only county seat in the U.S. that didn’t have a paved road running through it.
Of course, when I started this drive, the GPS in the van directed me to go the other way, through North and South Dakota. I had another moment of panic before deciding that Google was probably more up-to-date than the GPS unit. I hoped.
It turned out just fine. The road was indeed fully paved except for a few miles of a construction project (insert more obligatory state highway worker jokes here). While driving on the unpaved, torn-up road in the middle of nowhere, I told Julie, “You know, you could have married any number of men who were richer or more good-looking than I am. But I bet none of them would have taken you here.”
Eventually, we crossed into Wyoming and then finally arrived at our next destination:
Devils Tower National Monument.
Devils Tower is America’s first National Monument, dedicated in 1906 by (guess who?) President Theodore Roosevelt. It’s a geologic oddity—in the middle of gentle, rolling hills and small mountains of sedimentary rock, this monolith of volcanic rock stands out. There’s nothing like it anywhere in the surrounding area. No one quite knows how it formed or why it’s here. For a few theories on its formation,
check out this link. The Tower has always been an iconic American landmark, but it was made even more so by Steven Spielberg’s 1977 movie Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, in which various people were drawn to this location as a meeting site for first contact with beings from another world.
We drove up to the visitor center and met up with some friends. They were from Delaware, not another planet. Sorry to disappoint you. Although if you’ve ever been to Delaware, you might think the idea isn’t that far off. Anyway, our friends have the same love of travel as we do, and had been taking a massive road trip all the way out to California and back, and we’d made plans to meet up and spend a few days together in the Black Hills area. They have six kids (3 adopted), which officially makes them crazier than we are. When we get together, it tends to be a little noisy.
I hope the park ranger enjoyed giving out all those Junior Ranger badges at once!
While the kids worked on their badges, we admired the view.
The Tower cuts a striking, imposing figure. You can see it from miles around, and it just stands out. I’m glad I made the trip to see it.
However, I would struggle to spend more than an hour or two here. You can hike all the way around the tower, but I didn’t see the need. It looks mostly the same from each angle. You drive up, and there it is. That’s about it. So it was a little different for me as compared to, say, the Grand Canyon, which I feel offers similar yet endlessly fascinating variations in the views you get in that park.
Also, there wasn’t a single UFO in the sky, so that movie was full of crap.
Maybe I needed to hum the 5-note theme in order to get them to appear. Admit it, you were just humming it, weren't you?
The kids got their Junior Ranger badges. With so many kids at the desk, Drew hopped right in line and got his very own badge without having to do any work, once again proving every theory you’ve ever had about the youngest kid being spoiled rotten. We got in the van and headed off once more, stopping for one more look back.
We got on I-80 and headed back east, crossing the South Dakota border and adding another state to our count.
We were staying in Rapid City that evening. After checking into our hotel, we drove a short distance to grab dinner at the
Millstone Family Restaurant.
As you experience life, you encounter some underrated pleasures. These are things that you might not normally seek out every day, but every time you experience them they a) never let you down, and b) make you wonder why you don’t do those things more often. I’m thinking of experiences like
· watching shooting stars late at night.
· Playing sports in the backyard with the family until it gets so dark you can’t see the ball anymore. Then playing another 10 minutes.
· Date nights.
· Making your kids shovel the driveway out from snow while you sip coffee inside.
· Making your kids mow the lawn in 90-degree weather while you sip ice-cold lemonade inside.
· Basically, anything involving using your kids as slave labor.
Among the very best of these underrated pleasures is: breakfast for dinner.
I think I could happily eat breakfast food for dinner for the rest of my life. I have no good answer as to why we don’t do it more often.
Millstone is a diner, with a typical large diner menu full of comfort food. I saw the words “Breakfast Served All Day” and keyed right in on that part of the menu. I got a skillet featuring all my favorites: eggs, hashbrowns, thick slices of bacon, and French toast. What more do you need?
Sarah ordered the exact same meal I did. I think she finished it first, too. You do not want to get between this young woman and her breakfast food. Also, I really miss teenage metabolism.
Scotty ordered “pigs in a blanket”, which in this case was three massive sausages wrapped in more massive pancakes. He didn’t finish, but I admired the effort.
We were all stuffed to the gills after this meal, but in the most pleasant state of food coma possible. It was delicious, good, hearty American breakfast food. Like I said, breakfast for dinner never lets you down. We are happy to award the Millstone Family Restaurant a Drooling Homer Award for Excellence in Unpretentious Dining.
Coming Up Next: A Rope Drop that’s even more vital than the Magic Kingdom.
Well, at least he wouldn't overheat.
You have a very dedicated dad!
We actually went up to Duluth and the North Shore last weekend (just for the day). I saw the lighthouse from the road, but we didn't have enough time to make a stop at Split Rock or Gooseberry this time. (But we made it up to Lutsen to watch my step-mom finish a marathon, so that was good!) Hopefully next summer we can get back up there and show Izzy more than Canal Park in Duluth (well, we also managed to grab some Betty's Pies in Two Harbors JUST before they closed, so that was good too).
He'll probably never notice all the crap we're giving him!
