Day six was a very educational day. We started the day at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument just south of Billings, Montana. We had originally planned to spend about half an hour at the park because I didn’t think the kids would find it as interesting as I did. However, once we got there and started exploring the battlefield and the visitor’s center, we lost track of time and ended up staying for more than two hours. The best part of the tour was the ranger talk on the patio. This particular ranger was actually a college art and history professor from Texas who has dedicated the last 38 years of his life to researching this battle. Another ranger told us that he has actually written several books about the Battle of Little Bighorn. His expertise and passion were evident throughout his presentation. He made it interesting enough to keep the kids entertained, but informative at the same time. His storytelling on the patio overlooking the battlefield made you feel like you were there and could see the battle unfolding. I am so glad we added this park to the road trip agenda.
After the ranger talk, the kids finished their Junior Ranger program. Can I just say how awesome this program is?? It makes learning fun for the kids. Plus, now they give the kids iron-on patches from each of the national parks. They love them! They are already asking about the other national parks they can visit to get more patches.
We ended our tour of the Little Bighorn Battlefield with a walking tour down a few of the trails. Again, they have done a great job of making these interactive and interesting. There are markers all throughout the battlefield showing where the Union soldiers and Indian warriors perished. There are white markers for the Union soldiers and red markers for the Indian warriors. It really makes a visual statement about the significance of battle. Between that and the ranger talk, it really drives home the message that we need to make sure we learn about our history so we can learn from it and not repeat our mistakes. I hope our leaders are remembering the past mistakes of our previous leaders.
Finally it was time to head towards North Dakota. For some reason I think we have all been anxiously awaiting our time in North Dakota more than any other state. And so far, it is living up to the hype! Within 10 miles of entering North Dakota along I-94 East, we entered the Little Missouri National Grassland. We were instantly greeted with incredible views and landscape changes. There was a mixture of grassy fields and canyon-like rock formations. Although, I think the most interesting part of the drive down the interstate was the exit signs. On the Montana side, just before entering North Dakota, we saw an exit for “Bad Route Road.” The kids were not interested in exploring this road. Then on the North Dakota side, we saw an exit for “Home on the Range.” Who knew this was a real place?!?!
When we finally reached our destination of Medora, ND, we instantly fell in love with the old west themed town. The entrance to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park is right on the edge of town. This will make exploring it tomorrow a lot easier. Plus it adds an amazing back drop to this already cute little town.
We are staying at the Rough Riders Hotel, which is where Theodore Roosevelt stayed when he came to North Dakota for the first time in the late 1800’s. You can even reserve Room 501, which is the room Roosevelt slept in at the hotel. The entire hotel has bits of charm and history from the Roosevelt time period. Each room even has an original “Rough Riders Teddy Bear” in it. So far we have been very impressed with the hotel.
After checking in we had a little time to walk around the town and explore. We loved the small old west town charm! All of the buildings and even the homes maintained that 1800’s time period appearance. However, we realized quickly that businesses shut down early in small towns. By 7:30 pm most of the businesses were already closed for the day. This was a little disappointing. Luckily we were able to find the mini golf course that was still open. We had a fun evening playing mini golf, playing at the town playground, and eating pizza at the Badland’s Pizzeria & Saloon. We made it back to the hotel just as a thunderstorm was rolling into town. The view from our room was a perfect place to watch it roll in as we prepared our game plan for tomorrow!
