Great Plains
Eastern plains of Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and New Mexico + North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma
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On top of Iowa: Hawkeye Point
The one upside to our Black Hills trip falling apart – though truthfully, calling any part of this trip an upside doesn’t feel right – was the unexpected drive past the highest point in Iowa on our way back to Colorado. And when I say we drove past the highest point in Iowa, I mean… Continue reading
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A scenic drive through Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota
As you read about last week last time I posted (whenever that was, it’s been a while), the first stop of our March roadtrip was Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming. Our afternoon at the monument was spent beneath sunny skies, slathering ourselves in sunscreen as the temperature rose to an unseasonably warm 82°F (28°C).… Continue reading
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Visiting Devils Tower National Monument, Wyoming
As you may recall from my previous post, the lead-up to our late-March roadtrip was mired in uncertainty. But, with the forest fire situation much more under control by the end of the week, we were officially settled on a destination: the Black Hills. So off we went, heading north across the dry, barren plains… Continue reading
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A long weekend in Omaha, Nebraska
I’m not really a concert person. I can count on one hand, or maybe two, the number of concerts I’ve attended in my life. It’s just not something I’ve ever prioritized. Tickets are expensive, the concerts themselves are loud and crowded, and I’m very much not a night owl. But there are a few musical… Continue reading
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Nebraska roadtrip: Fort Kearny and Lincoln
I never know what will be the next trigger that sends me into a travel planning spiral, nor can I predict when it will happen. But it does seem – with at least some frequency – to happen after my husband has gone to bed. Such was the case with our recent long weekend trip… Continue reading
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Pioneers on the Plains – Fort Laramie National Historic Site, Wyoming
Ask anyone who has ever gone on a road trip with me, and they’ll tell you I planned far more things than we could possibly fit into the time we had. They wouldn’t be lying. I’m not exactly what you’d call a relaxed vacationer. But every once in a while – usually accidentally – I… Continue reading
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On Top of South Dakota: Black Elk Peak
After summiting the North Dakota high point the day before, Chelsea and I set out to stand on the highest point of South Dakota. Our hotel was only about 30 minutes from the trailhead, so this one involved much less driving. The hike, however, was a little more substantial. The highest point in South Dakota… Continue reading
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On Top of North Dakota: White Butte
Chelsea and I both have the goal to summit as many US state high points as possible. Up to this point, we’d both stood on a few of them… separately. This time, we decided we’d visit a couple together! The states? North and South Dakota. And so we set off for a long weekend in… Continue reading
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Badlands and Bentonite – Toadstool Geologic Park, Nebraska
Following our stops at two of Nebraska’s national monuments, Chelsea and I made our way to the Oglala National Grassland for our final stop in the state – Toadstool Geologic Park. Basically, Nebraska’s version of the badlands. The formations at Toadstool date back more than 30 million years, to a time when now-extinct animals roamed… Continue reading
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The Devil’s Corkscrew – Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Nebraska
After exploring Scotts Bluff and learning the history of the Oregon Trail, Chelsea and I continued north to our next stop: Agate Fossil Beds National Monument. Here, we would learn about a very different time in Nebraska’s history. I hadn’t really had time to do much research on these locations, so I assumed Agate Fossil… Continue reading
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Landmark on the Oregon Trail – Scotts Bluff National Monument, Nebraska
Back in May, Chelsea and I headed to the Dakotas for a long weekend to do some highpointing. Since we were driving all the way up there, we decided to take advantage of the opportunity to detour through Nebraska along the way and visit some national monuments in the western part of the state. Our… Continue reading
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Castle on the plains – Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site
Bent’s Old Fort was in fact not a fort in the traditional sense. It may have resembled military fortifications, but it was actually a trading post. Brothers Charles and William Bent and their business partner Ceran St. Vrain built the fort a few miles outside La Junta in 1833, choosing this particular place because it… Continue reading
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On Top of Oklahoma: Black Mesa
When we told people we were heading to Oklahoma for the weekend, the typical response was a raised eyebrow followed by a confused “why?” In their defense, it’s not exactly a hopping travel destination, especially the panhandle region. But aside from the fact that I had the entire soundtrack of Oklahoma! stuck in my head… Continue reading
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On Top of Kansas: Mount Sunflower
In late April, we set out for our first camping trip of the season. Our ultimate destination was the Oklahoma panhandle to climb the state high point. As it turns out, though, when one drives from Colorado to Oklahoma there’s quite a lot to see along the way. So naturally, we stopped to see as… Continue reading
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On Top of Nebraska: Panorama Point
The highest point in Nebraska, Panorama Point, is located just across the border from both Colorado and Wyoming in the middle of basically nowhere. The elevation at Panorama Point is 5424 feet (1653 m) – higher than I would have expected for a plains state. But one thing differentiates this high point from most of… Continue reading
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A day trip to Pawnee National Grassland
The lands of northeastern Colorado have been inhabited for at least 12,000 years, originally by nomadic hunters. More recently, these lands were the home of the Arapaho and Cheyenne, who were forcibly removed in the 1880s to allow white settlers to establish homesteads and farm the land. As settlers soon learned, though, this shortgrass prairie… Continue reading
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Westward Bound, part II – Kentucky to Colorado
(Read part 1 of this post here) Day #5: I pride myself on being a pretty good vacation planner, but the logistics of this portion of our cross-country trip completely slipped through the cracks. I’d done my best to divide up the driving into relatively equal amounts – about 8 hours – each day. But… Continue reading
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Bad Land – Makoshika State Park, Montana
Destination: Makoshika State Park, also known as the Montana badlands. The name Makoshika (muh-KO-shih-kuh) hails from the Lakota phrase “maco sica,” which roughly translates to “bad land.” Makoshika State Park is located off of I-94 in eastern Montana, just outside the town of Glendive. The contrast between eastern Montana and the western part of the… Continue reading