North Dakota, Montana

We've travelled through two states in 48 hours. Highlights from western North Dakota include watching Mike fall asleep at the Little Missouri river after the long drive. It was too hot in the tent so he tried to get comfortable under a shady tree. Fortunately N. Dak. doesn't have high humidity and he fell asleep for awhile. The kids and mom ventured in the park exploring all the wildlife the park has to offer: bison, mule deer, rabbits, wild horses, praire dogs and lots of birds. We hiked about a mile and decided to turn around because it was so hot, about 95 degrees. Instead of the hike we ventured to town for the Cowboy Museum and ice cream. Happy kids equals a happy mom:)

Mike inquired about rain fall of the ranger at an evening hike we took and she couldn't remember the last time it rained. Ironically we were awoken by sprinkles on our faces as it began to rain thorugh out tent because we opted to not put on the rainfly. Go figure! We packed up camp in about 30 minutes:)

The signature Lewis and Clark Bicenntenial event at Pompeys Pillar had about 25, 000 people travel through the past few days. Boy, there were some hard core Lewis & Clark afficianados there. There were some excellent reenactors, displays and presentations. Sabrina asked if we could follow Christopher Colombus' explorations next! Gabriel has said on many occassions how happy he is to be doing this because "he is interested in animals", "this is funner than fun", etc. Either he really enjoys this or he wants something:) We are hoping for the first. We adults are amazed at the breadth of knowlege we have gained thus far and would say that this event surpasses all the others in size and scope.

Yellowstone for the next few days! We look forward to more wildlife and exploration. We may not post for a few days as it will be difficult to get connected.

Tonight, we are "roughin' it in a hotel in Red Lodge Mt. Tomorrow we head up into the mountains on the Beartooth Highway.

Gabriel says: We are having fun in Montana. I liked climbing the Pompey's Pillar rock, I liked seeing his signature. I liked the Native American fashion show. I loved seeing all the buffalo at our hike when the buffalo came close to us yesterday. We are almost to California. We are also having a lot of fun swimming. We are doing lots of things together. We are having a fun time.

Cecilia says: Hi friends. We saw prairie dogs. We had a good time climbing the rocks, where Clark carved his name. I liked seeing the fashion show.