Change in plans

Mike and I reached our breaking points yesterday - sad to leave glacier, tired after a 9 hour drive, and annoyed with multiple rude people/bad drivers at TR national park.  Well, we went in with the plan to be flexible if needed,  and flexibility was definitely what we needed. After setting up camp, each drinking a little alcohol, and having a short discussion, we quickly came to a consensus and decided to skip our second night at TR. It's a beautiful park, but we needed to be headed home and also needed some creature comforts. So today we drove about 4 hours to fargo and got a hotel for the night. Bliss! A pool, two comfy beds, and only 3.5 more hours till we get home tomorrow!!! A great way to end our epic family vacation.

Overdue update

So it turns out that wifi and cell service are much spottier than I anticipated, and camping also limits my cell charging abilities. Hence I owe you all big apologies for the lack of blog posts! We are all alive and well, and I will instead force you all to look at the bazillion "real" pictures (i.e., from my camera, not my cell phone) I took once I get them sorted out. :) For now, here are some of the views from Rising Sun Motor Inn, where we are spending two nights.  We are all truly, madly, and deeply in love with Glacier National Park!!!!!

Tomorrow we are off to Teddy Roosevelt!

Rose's first major hike!

She walked the whole way this morning. Rock star!

http://www.americansouthwest.net/wyoming/yellowstone/mystic-falls-trail.html

Grand teton and jackson

So beautiful!!!!  I feel so much more "at home" here than I did in the black hills. This has been a great trip for self discovery and relaxation. :)

Day 5

Long drive number 2.  Cell service is VERY spotty, but Wyoming is gorgeous!  Also, we finally let Rose know that she can watch movies in the car :)

End of day 2

The badlands are hot, arid, and windy! We also explored Wall Drug today. If this campground had a shower (even a pay shower!) I would be 100% happy. As it is, I'm at about 95% due to my overwhelming stinkiness. :)  Hopefully tomorrow's site is truly on a lake, as promised by my guidebook.  For now, Mike is sheapish but happy (see photo - yes, we are camping and he us streaming the basketball finals!), and Rose even rated this vacation "better than the princesses!"  High praise!!!

Badlands!

We survived our first night, complete with 40mph gusts of winds that nearly flattened our tent! Now we're off to explore those badlands...