Last week the kids and I piled into the car along with my friend and her two kids for an epic road trip. We headed up north through Minnesota and over to North Dakota where we crashed for the night in a hotel with a kid-approved hotel (Is this the first time a road trip described as epic included an overnight in Fargo? Perhaps). After our night in Fargo we were up early to drive across North Dakota to get to Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park exceeded my expectations. We saw bison, prairie dogs, wild horses, a coyote, and a four-foot-long bull snake (which may have led to me screaming and high stepping away). The cannonball concretions were facinating.There was so much at this park to explore, and I hope to get back again someday.

After two days exploring Theodore Roosevelt we were ready for a new adventure. We headed over to Montana to explore Medicine Rocks State Park, then down to Wyoming to visit Devil’s Tower. We saw pronghorns on our drive, did a bit of hiking, and had ice cream before we headed over to South Dakota for the night. You can’t beat a day like that.

The next day we got up and headed to Mount Rushmore (where we saw a yellow-bellied marmot). Afterward, we headed to Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park for some amazing hiking. We ended the day at Wind Cave National Park. The cave is currently closed for tours, but the kids were able to complete a junior ranger badge, so it was still a win. We headed to Vickie Powers Memorial Park in Rapid City for some playground play to end our day (I mentally waved to Kathy while in her town).

Our last day we headed to Badlands National Park to hike and for the kids to complete their fifth Junior Ranger badge of the trip. The Junior Ranger program provides workbooks for kids at all National Parks and National Monuments. When they complete the required activities for their age group they are sworn in as Junior Rangers and given badges. It is a free program that helps kids (and their adults) learn about National Parks. After our Badlands adventure, we got in the car and drove eight hours home. We pulled into our driveway a little after nine, exhausted and ready for our own beds.

I had a wonderful time on our homeschool holiday. I’m thankful to have a mom friend with a similar sense of adventure. We had so much fun we’ve already started planning our next trip.