Roadtrip: July 2017
Been a while since the last roadtrip, and given Erik had a legitimate need to go on one... Throw in the opportunity to see Yellowstone National Park, Mt. Rushmore National Monument, Badlands National Park, and a few other sights on the way, plus the good luck to grab one of the last available hotel rooms inside Yellowstone on short notice, it was an offer I couldn't refuse!
By leg:
~554 miles from Portland to Twin Falls, ID over about 10 hours. Nice and leisurely.
~344 miles from Twin Falls, ID to Yellowstone National Park for the afternoon.
~208 miles from Yellowstone National Park to Billings, MT, including a half day in the park and the scenic Beartooth Highway (US-212).
~500 miles from Billings, MT to Wall, SD, with stops at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, Sturgis, Mt. Rushmore National Monument, and Badlands National Park.
~720 miles from Wall, SD to Madison, WI. The long day of the trip.
~490 miles from Madison, WI to Cleveland, OH. Can't forget the stop in Chicago for Italian food!
3,026 miles and just over 50 hours total.
Even the "long" day of driving was only 11 hours on the road (with stops), we had a few other days that were just as long, if not longer, due to all the sightseeing at Yellowstone and Badlands. Yellowstone, though, is definitely a great stop, and is worth far more time than we had! Badlands, while equally beautiful, is not nearly as varied or vast-- but is another highly recommended stop! Mt. Rushmore I'm a little more ambivalent about; it's a great stop and is definitely worth more than a few minutes, but it's not of the same caliber.
Day 0 - Celebrating Erik and Dawn's last Independence Day as Portland residents.
Day 1 - Nice easy start to the trip, hitting Pendleton (meh) and Boise (surprisingly nice) on the way to Twin Falls.
Day 2 - Fun with construction delays on the way to Yellowstone, and a solid afternoon and evening including Old Faithful and Grand Prismatic Spring.
Day 3 - Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and most of the north loop, an unexpectedly incredible drive up Beartooth Highway (US-212) out of Yellowstone and ending in Billings.
Day 4 - More sightseeing. Little Bighorn, Mt. Rushmore, and Badlands National Park, ended at the tourist trap Wall Drug in Wall, SD.
Day 5 - Brief stop at Minuteman National Historic Park, then straight on to Madison.
Day 6 - Quick exploration of Madison, even quicker stop in Chicago, and the end at last in Cleveland!
Day 7 - Bumming around Cleveland for the day til it was time to go home!