Father daughter dinosaurs or bust road trip

[Tiresmoke410]

Left Ohio this morning for a round trip whirlwind tour of the west and as many national parks we can hit in two weeks. And as the title implies we will be searching for dinos on week two. My hopes are to hit some dirt here and there on our way.

loaded and ready to go!
Third state line and we are in range of our first way point. Wis Dells.

Plan is to hit glacier. A few days in ID. Then south to Yellowstone for a day. A day in thermopolis. Then run through bad lands and Rushmore on the way home.

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[MNBigfoot]

Enjoy the ride.

 

[EquusBronsis]

Hell Creek Formation

 

[frdfan]

Check out https://www.blackhillsbadlands.com/business/museum-black-hills-institute in Hill City SD, for dinosaurs..

 

[sjjohnny]

Dinosaur National Monument is great,

https://www.nps.gov/dino/planyourvisit/directions.htm

 

[IDyeti]

Probably a bit out of the way but we have the Hagerman Fossil beds here in Idaho. https://www.nps.gov/hafo/index.htm

I assume you are planning on coming over Teton Pass to drop into to Idaho, check out Victor Imporium and get some Huckleberry ice cream or shakes. Swan Valley and Palisades Reservoir are awesome this time of year.

 

[KABQ]

I did Dinosaur Nat'l Monument with my dad when I was about her age. It was incredible and still sticks with me to this day! Highly recommend.

 

[dgorsett]

The Mammoth Site in Hot Springs SD. not dinos but super cool. Note: Hot Springs is a misnomer, it sohould be warm springs.

 

[indio22]

Left Ohio this morning for a round trip whirlwind tour of the west and as many national parks we can hit in two weeks. And as the title implies we will be searching for dinos on week two. My hopes are to hit some dirt here and there on our way.

loaded and ready to go!
Third state line and we are in range of our first way point. Wis Dells.

Plan is to hit glacier. A few days in ID. Then south to Yellowstone for a day. A day in thermopolis. Then run through bad lands and Rushmore on the way home.

Unfortunately some parks now have a reservation system. So keep that in mind, to avoid showing up and being denied entry.

 

[Tiresmoke410]

Yea I saw glacier is pretty limited. But we got here early enough in the season it isn’t an issue. Heck we even got a room with no reservations since my daughter did a 180 on the idea of camping after she saw the bear warning signs.

On our way I got some unplanned gravel time. MT takes the safety of their road workers seriously! Pictured is the pace car that kept us half the posted construction zone limit on this “single” lane road.

was amazed when these pumps took a card! And put the co driver to work.

made it

 

[Tiresmoke410]

So MPG talk time.
I’m pretty happy.
70 zones were 23.x and one tank at 24.0
75 zones were 21.x
80 zones were a little painful at low 19s.
I kept a pretty strict 4-5 mph over the posted limit

And for giggles. Couldn’t help taking this water park “mall” picture on our first way point of the trip.

I did strattle a speed bump and parked under an oak!

 

[Tiresmoke410]

Glacier was a bit of a bust since sun road was not open yet. The main point of glacier was to have a snow ball fight in June. I got a fail for this day. Still did a little hiking and saw some cool water falls. Deciding to get an early start to Idaho. These sights put a smile back on my daughters face.

we headed out and stopped at two sisters cafe for some white hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls. Not a bad brunch.

 

[Tiresmoke410]

Made it to ID. A near 35 hours in when we arrived at a good friends house in sand point.

yesterday with the help of that friend we hit some fire roads and found snow. A fight followed and my child’s faith in her dad restored

and snow angles. More like ice angels.

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Enough kid pics. Here are some MT range glamour shots.

can you spot the bronco?
I swear I’m bad luck. I’ve come here three times and each time visibility is poor. It is either cloudy or Smokey. Still amazing views compared to ohio.

 

[Tiresmoke410]

After some more silly pics to send to mom we headed down. Had to stop and check out the bear grass flowers.
we did find some legit off road trails cut in off the fire road. Did a 26 deg climb with loose terrain as easily as a minivan climbs a mall speed bump (sorry no pics of that fun). I was impressed. My daughter was not. She was clearly over her limit for adventure so we reversed direction and got right back on the fire road.

saw a beautiful moth on on of them. Which of course the kid noted that it had a pink butt.

 

[Tiresmoke410]

Today I awoke to see I had a new bronco model. It was a base. Then I put black diamond wheels/tires on it. This must have turned it into a retro model judging by the script font.

No bronco fun today. Went to a local beach on a lake to chill out and play in sand. And then did some shooting. My girl is a natural! She went through 250 rounds today. And this bullseye was very early on and her second one of the day! First time learning to shoot!!

boating fun tomorrow. Bronco updates won’t happen until we head south for Yellowstone in a couple days.

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