The Journey North

In my last blog post I talked a little bit about the actual driving part of our trip, so let’s talk more about that.

I noted that we went up thru South Dakota and came home thru Colorado and Nebraska… but here is all the “in between”.

We left home on a Sunday, after our morning church service. We had completely loaded the truck the day before, so all we had to do was throw on comfy clothes, grab the best doggo, Blue, and head out. We left the house at 1:00pm and Brian drove 15 hours straight to Rapid City, South Dakota only stopping for fuel. I had just woken up from a short nap at 2:00am when we ran over, and I mean completely smoked, a coyote. We were afraid it had done some damage to the truck, but there wasn’t anything other than some hair on the spare tire underneath. If we had been in my little SUV, that very well could have ended our trip right there. Grateful for that!

We drove right by Badlands National Park, but at 3:00 am you don’t see much! lol. We finally stopped at the rest area near Rapid City at 4:00am (now Monday) and laid down for a couple of hours in the truck. It wasn’t ideal, but we certainly weren’t going to get a hotel for a couple of hours. I really don’t think either one of us slept but Brian was at least able to rest and that was most important.

Can’t let my chauffeur get too tired 🙂

Around 6:00 a.m, we drove on down to Mount Rushmore and got there when they opened. I think Mount Rushmore is definitely a stop you need to make if you’re in the area and have never been there before. It’s just something neat to see. However, we likely wouldn’t stop again if we were in the area. It’s a “one time” experience in my book.

Once we left Mount Rushmore, we headed to Custer State Park, which is just minutes down the road. Now, this is a place we would definitely go back to… and not just because we didn’t get to see it all. What we did see was so beautiful, BUT it is a little confusing on when you’re in the park and when you’re not because it is a rather large area and there are different “parts” to it. We missed out on the area where most of the buffalo hang out, which was disappointing. But, we did drive the Needles Highway which was SO neat! It is a curvy, winding road with lots of pull-outs along the way so you can take pics and even a couple of short tunnels. When you see all the rock formations, it just gives a reminder of how God has touched different places of this world in such a special way. It was so neat and we would love to go back.

Somehow, we missed driving by the Crazy Horse Memorial. Like I said, it was a little confusing getting around there. Wind Cave National Park is also nearby but the caves are currently closed due to some renovation (as of September 2024), so we chose not to drive down there. We drove on to Spearfish, South Dakota to grab a bite to eat. There were a few places I wanted to visit in Spearfish, but while we were eating, we talked and made the decision to drive on to Billings, Montana that afternoon… just to be ahead of schedule. We were both ready to see those mountains!

We made it to Billings Monday night around 8:00pm and luckily, I was able to book an Airbnb before we arrived. We got showers and settled in for some sleep in a real bed since Saturday night! Blue was thankful I found a place with a fenced in back yard so he could get a little exercise too.

We woke up at 7:00am Tuesday morning, and if you know Brian, you know he has to have coffee and breakfast asap after waking up. Most importantly, coffee. I get cranky if I don’t have a snack. He gets cranky if he doesn’t have coffee lol. I googled “best place to eat breakfast in Billings”, and the first place that came up was the Red Rooster Cafe.. and it just happened to be right down the road from our Airbnb. This was the best little family-owned cafe. The food portions were HUGE, and it was all so good. They make their own jelly, and it was amazing. Once we got our bellies full, and took a biscuit to Blue, we hit the road again.

7 hours later, we topped a hill and laid our eyes on Flathead Lake for the first time. Brian was thrilled. It really is a beautiful lake with the mountains as a backdrop. It just doesn’t get much better. Now, on the west side of Flathead Lake is an island, Wild Horse Island State Park. Obviously, it is only accessible by boat. There is no camping allowed due to the abundance of wildlife on the island, including big horn sheep, mule deer, and of course wild horses. We didn’t get to visit the island because there are no pets allowed, but we would like to try and boat over one day. It sounds really neat.

We couldn’t check into our Airbnb in Hungry Horse until the next day, Wednesday, at 4:00pm, so I booked us an Airbnb near Lakeside, MT with views of Flathead Lake. We also ate at the Harbor Grille on Flathead Lake with amazing views of the lake and mountains. This was such a memorable experience.

After a great dinner, we headed to the Airbnb and got some rest and a good night’s sleep. We were so excited that tomorrow was the day we would reach our destination.

Wednesday was an extra special day. Not just because we were finally going to see those beautiful Rocky Mountains we’d been dreaming about, but because we were going to get to visit with our friends from home…. yes… in Montana!

Wednesday morning we loaded up and hit the road. We stopped in Kalispell at Cabela’s to buy some binoculars for glassing the mountains inside the park, in hopes we would get to see some wildlife. We grabbed a bite to eat and headed on to Whitefish.

Now Whitefish did not disappoint. It is a beautiful little ski resort town with a great walkable downtown area. It sits surrounded by mountains, and their “main street” is so picturesque. We drove around then decided to do a quick hike before we checked into our Airbnb. I pulled up my trusty All Trails app and discovered a nearby hike called the Lion Mountain Trail.

Lion Mountain Trail is a 2.6 mile hike with only a 314 ft elevation gain… so a nice little short in and out hike. It’s also dog friendly. The weather was perfect for us, and the view at the end was worth it! Blue enjoyed it too!

On the hike, we met a couple from Pennsylvania. When they seen Blue, they stopped us. Turns out they were on a 2 week, 25th anniversary trip and they used to raise Airedales. They loved Blue. We enjoyed their company and their advice on his breed. Great couple!

This brings us to Wednesday at 4:00… time to check into our Airbnb.. our Montana home for the next 6 days.

Now here is one of the best parts of our trip! Once we all of our luggage unloaded, we met up with some of our favorite people from home, the Brewer’s! They were vacationing too! This trip would have been great if we could have spent more time with them… maybe next time! But it sure was good for the heart to see some of “our people” so far from home. They are the best!

So this ends the “journey north”. We will save the trip home for another blog. It wasn’t near as exciting, the trip home rarely is, but some things worth mentioning.. so stay tuned!

Thank you for reading… I hope you enjoy my ramblings.

Until next time….

~Cami