Day fifteen

Leaving day

Today is the day we’re leaving Glacier. It has definitely been an experience. It is undeniably beautiful. We have certainly faced challenges together this week and we have stayed together and gotten through just fine.  
Packing up the campsite goes eerily smooth. It seems like we have only about 3/4 as much stuff to pack up here as we did leaving Madora or the Minneapolis KOA. I let the children sleep in as long as I could and did everything else I could without waking them. Eventually though I was down to only they’re sleeping bags and pads that needed to be packed. Once the suburban was all loaded up we all wanted to take one last walk down to the water. To say goodbye or more importantly to show daddy their balance ninja circuit they’d constructed out of logs. 
It was incredibly beautiful and calm and peaceful. 

We leave the campsite about 9. The plan is to go to the gift shop and let everyone pick out a sticker and then to the ranger station for Carlea and Charlotte to get sworn in as junior rangers.

They all wanted a few more pictures and we loaded up in the car. We’re heading to the badlands next because when we came through 4 years ago on cross country trip we got there at dusk and it was beautiful but we didn’t stay long enough. It was a part I wished we had lingered longer. Well Badlands National Park is 12+ hours away so we’ll break that up and in between only a little more than 6 hours away is my still most favorite national park, Yellowstone. I plan to get a drive through of Yellowstone because I know the children will get to see some more wildlife there and I rationalize it’s  “on the way” but really I made it be on the way. The trip from Glacier to Yellowstone is great. I routed us into Yellowstone to come in the top wrap around counter clockwise and leave out the east.  We stopped on the way a few times and got some delicious tree ripened “flathead cherries”  

As a side note, this girl and nearly every girl we saw in Montana was adorable. Pocket knife clipped into the pocket of their jeans and clearly capable women. Very cool.

We all agreed that the mommy would love these.

We made it to Yellowstone about 6 and I was planning it would take 2-3  hours to ride through depending on traffic.

​Yellowstone did not disappoint with the wildlife. 

I had routed us the way I did specifically because the one and only thing that I really really want the youngers to get out and see to remember was the Grand Prismatic.

It was drizzling and chilly at Yellowstone but certainly not unbearable. Unfortunately the cool air was helping the steam be so dense it was difficult to see through. 
We continued around the park and saw more buffalo and elk then eventually made it to the east entrance.

This made two places I’d not been to before when we were here we hadn’t seen the north entrance or the east entrance. Both are beautiful. 
 Out the east entrance and the next town we come to we are getting a room for the night.  
It took what seemed like forever to get to Cody Wyoming. We first stopped at a place that was $300 a night. It was probably 10pm at this point. I needed like 12-15 hours. I was going to do two loads of laundry in the morning.  $300 for  a matter of hours? This is not my place but the guy at the desk was very helpful and pulled up the rates locally and we landed at the  
 Big Bear Motel. This was a cowboy motel that looked like the set of a Tarantino film. Pool, playground and dog friendly this was the place for us. I rang the bell and a guy came out looking like “the dude” sans robe. I apologized for waking him and he was totally cool. “This is what I do maaan this is why we’re here”. Yup, this is the right spot.  He gets us a room and I back in beside three motorcycles with pristine Harley-Davidson covers on them. Knowing they’re probably each worth more than this entire suburban and, their riders are probably partial to them, I give them a wide berth in parking. Sturgus is coming up next weekend and we're seeing a bunch of motorcycles around the the area. 
Waking the children and putting them in bed I’m not far behind them.  Today was another good day.