June Vacation, Part 2: Camping

One of our favorite vacation spots is the "Old West" town of Medora, N.D. It is such a cute, fun little town in (nearly) the middle of nowhere, set in the late 1800s when Theodore Roosevelt lived in the area. If you want to get away from the busyness of everyday life in the 2000s, Medora is the perfect getaway...complete with sporadic cell phone coverage, and no public wifi access! The first vacation Dan and I took to Medora was in 2006, before we had children...we loved it so much, we've gone back each year since!

Some years we stay in a hotel, but our favorite experiences there have been when we camped in Theodore Roosevelt National Park--which we did again this year. My parents made the drive too, and joined us for a night of camping and experiencing the renowned Medora Musical. The campgrounds are located next to the Little Missouri River, which was extremely flooded this spring and early summer. The day we got there was actually the first day the campgrounds were open, due to the flooding. Some camp sites were still under water, but we were able to find fairly dry ground. And because of the flooding, we were some of the only people camping--it was a very peaceful place to stay!

Exploring the campgrounds.

Throwing rocks into the flooded Missouri River.

Wild horses, near our camp site!

We went for a drive around Theodore Roosevelt National Park, which put our tired buddy to sleep. I tried to move his head back up into his headrest, but he went right back into this position--I'm surprised he didn't wake up with neck pain!

Fun with Grandpa before the Musical. They were rocking back and forth, and the kids had the biggest belly laughs!

For Dan and me, this was our sixth Musical--the show doesn't change a whole lot from year to year, but it is always a lot of fun! Once again, this year's musical did not disappoint, and we had front-row seats (well, fourth row seats--but nobody sat in the first three rows).

Children are invited onto the stage at the beginning of the show. Toby decided he didn't want to go up, but I brought Zach up there. He lasted about 5 seconds, then came running back to me!

Each year, they take a few minutes in the show to honor all military--those in the audience who have served or are currently serving in our armed forces are asked to stand and be recognized. Then everyone is asked to stand and sing the National Anthem. This always gives me goosebumps, and I was holding back tears throughout the song. I blame it on the pregnancy hormones. ;)

The boys really enjoyed the show, and Zach especially loved all the music--he was swaying his little body to the beat throughout most of the songs!

The special act during the Musical was Sylvia Fletcher, Ventriloquist. Seeing my dad in front gave her an opportunity to pick on him! Her first character, Smolder, said he was scared of my dad because he gave him an angry look. That turned into a lengthy conversation between my dad (Andy), Smolder, and Sylvia. After Smolder was put back in the trunk, out came Portia, the diva...who lit up when she "saw" Andy in the audience--she had quite the crush on him! It was hilarious--my dad was a great sport, and played along with the whole set-up.

 

Sylvia and Smolder

Sylvia and Portia

We had a visitor in the campgrounds. This bison literally walked within a foot of our tent. Exciting, but also scary!

Flooded Missouri River

We drove on this road--yikes! Thankfully, there was no water running over the road at this point.

 After our night of camping, my parents took the boys in their car and drove to Mom and Dad's place--while Dan and I had a weekend of no kids. The two of us drove to my hometown for my high school class reunion. I attended a small school, so our class was a pretty tight-knit group. It had been several years since I'd seen some of my classmates, and it was great to catch up with them a bit. My best friend from high school, Kasey, organized most of the weekend, and I'm not sure we would have had a reunion without her. Thanks, Kasey, for all your hard work in putting this together--it was a really fun weekend!

Class of 2001

Before we left town, we met up with some of our dear friends who recently moved to my hometown. This was the one part of that weekend where I wished we'd had the kids along--they would have loved to see their old friends again. We all had some treats at Dairy Queen, then followed them back to their house to visit. It was great to see you again John and Katy, and your beautiful children!



Next stop: My parents' house on the lake...check back soon!