Farewell Dakotas

The epic journey has begun and instead of starting with a single step, we decided to start with an 8.5-hour drive from Medora, ND to North Platte, NE.  This was the single longest drive of the entire trip and it took Alison and I a mere 12.5 hours to complete.  Did we bite off more than we could chew?  Of course!  Will we make that mistake again?  Nope...not with a 5.5-month-old, anyway.

On Tuesday, the weather in North Dakota had warmed to 50 degrees as if to convince us that Medora was not as inhospitable as we might believe and that maybe we should stay a while longer.  We can't, but we did enter the park to say good-bye and were met with a plethora of bison and gorgeous sun-drenched bluffs.

 2-15-11 - I'm not as quick to shed my jacket in this gorgeous spring weather as Alison was

2-15-11 - Bison: Best viewed from the car

Keeping a baby sane for 12.5 hours is not easy.  Luckily, we took a route through Rapid City, which allowed me to show Alison the ultimate tourist trap: Wall Drug.

 2-16-11 - Wall Drug!

We made it to North Platte safe and sound, despite driving several hours through the dark Nebraska wilderness in what can only be described as prime alien abduction country.  We'll miss the Dakotas dearly, our home for the past four winters, but are very excited to see what lies ahead in this strange, new Eastern land.