2020 Family Road Trip, Part Two: The Drive Home

 We left on November 23rd, a Tuesday, around 10 am. We arrive in Superior, MT that evening and stayed at the Sheep Mountain Lodge. There are two lodges on the property, both owned by a retired dentist living in Seattle. Each is a kind of trophy museum housing a variety of mounted deer heads, moose heads, two stuffed bears, and many other random souvenirs. The lodge we stayed in was very nice. We had access to the whole two floors of the lodge. There were two large fireplaces, a kitchen, and on the second floor, a bridge with a kind of cave-like tunnel that goes through the twin fireplaces to a balcony out back. 

We left around 2pm the next day and drove to Bozeman, MT. We stayed around Bozeman for the rest of the day and all the next day, which happened to be Thanksgiving. We were able to put together a modest Thanksgiving dinner that we had at our hotel. 

The next day, Friday the 27th, we had a Thanksgiving breakfast with a family we met in Bozeman. They recommended a hiking trail in Blue Sky, which is an hour south of Bozeman. We ended up driving to Blue Sky that afternoon and reached our hotel just before nightfall.

On Saturday, the 28th, we hiked up to Ousel Falls. The hike was a very nice snow-covered alpine trail, about 30 to 45 minutes each way. I used the chest strap to carry Emily. She fell asleep half-way through the hike and slept four nearly an hour. After the hike we toured the resort area and base camp. One of the hotels had a restaurant open that we had dinner at. Around 9pm we headed onto our next destination, Billings, MT. We arrived in Billings around 12:30 am. 

Sunday, the 29th, we arrived in Billings. The hotel we stayed at had a large in-door waterpark. Lily and Emily spent the day there. Lily was having so much fun that I felt bad dragging her away, but her lips had turned blue and Emily looked like a prune. Helen then took the kids out for the day so I could catch up on work. I worked from around 2 to 10 pm and was able to catch up on a week's worth of work. Helen picked up a nice dinner and we had a pleasant end to the day.

Monday, the 30th, today. Lily is back to school. The girls got up early and had a swim before her class began. Lily then had class from 10 - 1pm. After class Helen took them to the zoo, while I cleaned up the room. I've spent the rest of the time writing this blog. It's hard to guess how long it will take to finish the trip. I hope to drive 6 hours a day. At that rate we will be back on Sunday. There is a Laura Ingalls Wiler house in Minnesota we might do a quick stop at. We will also be passing by Chicago and I thought it might be fun to at least drive through and see the Christmas lights. Both Dakotas have severe Covid outbreaks, so I plan on driving through South Dakota quickly. Other then that, there isn't anything I want to see, but still. It's hard to tell.