Our Day 9 in Montana was fairly mellow and spent on the farm visiting with family. However, I could not help but make an extra stop as we drove from the hotel to the farm...it turns out that the fireworks booths are also open on the day after the Fourth of July, so I just had to buy a few more items.

The only unfortunate occurrence so far has been a result of how Montana does road construction. Ya see, first, they tear up the road, leaving all of the gravel and debris sitting there for days (maybe even for weeks). So traveling along the highway becomes a game of inadvertently tossing rocks at windshields. Now, I'm sure my new 35" Goodyear tires caused someone else some window damage, but I also took a big rock at my windshield, which took a big chunk out of my glass. So, with that I say thanks for the souvenir Montana. And dear Insurance company, I'm going to need another new windshield...

And here is the Jeep sitting on the farm as the weather turned cold and rainy on July 5 in Joliet, Montana.

We spent our 2015 Fourth of July with some of Kathy's family in Joliet (pronounced Jolly-ette) Montana. Her Aunt and Uncle also joined us from Michigan and they drove their yellow Transformers Camaro.

We spent most of the day relaxing and enjoying the warm Montana weather (90+ degrees with some humidity) with a good 'ol fashioned BBQ and watermelon and cookies for dessert.

Later in the afternoon, we drove over to the local fireworks booth and bought everything we could possibly fit into the Jeep. After loading up on fireworks, we moved over to the road side ice cream shop for more treats and Kathy modeling herself by the Jeep.

Our little Mouse, who in these parts has been referred to more often as "Cowboy" as he loves to wear cowboy boots and shorts everywhere he goes, including for ice cream...was spotted behind this cobbled together antique car.

Later in the evening, at around 9:30PM, is when the sun really set. At this time, we started up a campfire on the farm, roasted marshmallows and made s'mores which was followed by our fireworks celebreation. We all had a great time, especially me as I loved setting off all of the fireworks. Everything ended around midnight, which is the latest the kids have ever been up (yikes!), but I have to say that everyone had a great time being together and celebrating.

Here are a couple pictures from our Fourth of July celebration.

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Following our Day 6 Bison adventure, we departed the Lake Yellowstone Hotel and drove further east into the park, stopping along the way to see the Upper and Lower Falls.

While driving the side road from one waterfall to another, we happened across a small group of Bison, but this time from a relatively safe distance as we were sitting inside the Jeep.

We also stopped to see a variety of other sights (like the mud volcano and Dragons Mouth), which meant a lot of getting in and out of the Jeep.  But overall, Day 7 was a driving day. To help break up the drive, we stopped to have a roadside picnic and let the kids run around and climb on boulders.

Driving further into the east half of Yellowstone, we happened upon large herds of buffalo grazing out in the open meadows, but that only seemed to moderately entertain the kids. I guess once you have been up close and personal with a Bison, seeing them in the distance is no big deal.  Besides, we were in search of Moose and Bear at this point.

With patches of snow still on the mountain tops and streams of water pouring into larger rivers, we couldn't help but to talk about finding a spot to dip our feet into the water. So, sure enough, we happened upon a dirt side road that meandered down to Rock Creek.  We were all able to put our feet into the icy cold river and take in the sights and relaxation of the water tumbling over the river rocks.  The kids played and had a competition to see who could toss a rock the furthest distance into the river.

Continuing on our drive toward Montana, we climbed Bear Tooth Highway, which has the most incredible views...possibly the best scenic drive in the world.  Bear Tooth Highway ascends up to 10,947 feet elevation where the temperature drops and there are still very large sections of winter snow remaining (during years of heavy winter storms, the mountain top would be still deep in snow at summer time).  Along the road there are a variety of streams running down into large pools of water, which tend to be crystal clear and spectacular to see in person...sorry that photos don't capture this type of beauty.

As we descended down from the top of Bear Tooth Highway and officially entered Montana (our 7th state on this trip), we encountered rain and hail, which of course is exactly when the girls needed to go potty. Luckily, and randomly, there was a roadside rest stop with bathrooms, so they ran between the rain drops and hail so that they did not get soaking wet.

Leveling out at the bottom of the mountain, we entered the small town of Red Lodge, Montana.  We instantly liked this little town and could feel that this was a true cowboy kind of town (with in town rodeos and pickup trucks with gun racks).  We drove thru town and stopped to walk around and visit a shop.  It was at this time we decided we wanted to stay the night in Red Lodge, but with it being 4th of July weekend and a rodeo happening, we knew it was going to be next to impossible to get a hotel room for the night, let alone for multiple nights.

So, following a suggestion from the local shop owner for a dinner restaurant recommendation, we drove to the north end of town to the local pub (Sam's Place).  As we enjoyed dinner, both Kathy and I called every possible hotel, motel, and bed & breakfast in town...but everything was sold out.  Which is when I told Kathy that there is a place available in town, but we needed some magic to make it happen.

As the kids wandered outside to the enclosed grassy area to run around and play, I followed to watch them. And it was shortly after this time that a guy walked up and asked if his little girl could play with our kids. After the guy walked back to his table and the kids started playing together it dawned on me that this guy was the magic we needed...so I walked over to him and we started talking. It turned out that he was somewhat of a local being from Billings. I explained our situation of calling every hotel in town and everything was already sold out, which is when Kathy walked out with two six packs of the pubs Montana brewed Hefeweizen; she confirmed to our new friend (Nate) all of the hotels that we had called. Which is when Nate called the Rock Creek Resort and they magically had a room available.

We spent the remainder of the evening at the Pub with Nate and his wife enjoying the local brews and watching the kids play in the grass with the confidence of having a local hotel to rest ourselves that night.

On Day 6 of our family road trip adventure, we departed our cabin and Teton National Park and drove into Yellowstone National Park, crossing the Continental Divide at 8,391 feet elevation.

While we were really expecting our legs to be  sore from our previous days bicycle ride, we were actually feeling great and ready to tackle more new territory, in particular Yellowstone and all of the different Geysers, like Old Faithful.

We arrived at Old Faithful around lunch time and mistakenly ate at the cafeteria instead of the fancy Lodge.  However, our lunch table provided us a window view of Old Faithful and as soon as the Geyser starting spewing steam, we new it was time to run outside for an up close experience of water shooting into the air.

There are also many other geysers and sights in the area with elevated walking areas that help to provide an up-close experience.

However, the one experience we were really hoping to have by this point was being able to see some of the large animals that are known to be in this area, such as Elk, Moose, and Bison. So, as we finished our walking loop, we had a perfect timing visit to see the unpredictable Castle Geyser display its water and steam spouting show for more than 30 minutes.  I also thought it would be great to capture a slow-motion video of Castle Geyser in action, which is when KK decided to photobomb my video.

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Now in search of ice cream on this hot summer day, we decided to make our way up to The Lodge for a treat. Along the way, we came across a fake Bison and decided that this would have to be our substitute for seeing a real Bison.  So, I led the family along the walking path, observing real Bison poop along the way, and then stepping into the grass in front of the fake Bison so that I would be able to have the kids pose for a picture.  As I stepped up to the Bison, the head turned up at me with pointy horns aimed in my direction. I could then see its eye, at which time Kathy said something about life-like animatronics, and then the tail spun up into the air and everything registered in my head that the Bison we were standing only a few feet away from was really real...EVERYBODY, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!! Of course (and thankfully) this particular Bison had no interest in us at this time, but it sure was a scare. I guess you could liken it to walking up to a lion; would you ever do that?

The point and advice is that if you see a Bison (or other large animal) and it's not stuffed and mounted inside the visitors center, then it is probably real, so take your pictures from a distance.

Here is the Bison, which we almost go too friendly with (I approached up to the edge of the small clearing that he is standing inside of) and for better or worse, we never captured an up-close picture. Also, keep in mind that a Bison can reach its top running speed of 30 miles per hour in just three steps!

We lived to have our ice cream at The Lodge as well as drive to some of the other sights in the park.

And we finished up our Day 6 by staying at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel.

All in all, our big story for the day (including the kids story) was our event with the Bison. However, one of my favorite pictures from the day is this family photo at the Yellowstone River.

Hi, it's me KK Bella. Today was a fun day in Jackson, Wyoming. We rented bikes and rode on a trail for 16 miles. That's the longest distance I have ever ridden on a bike. The trail was twisty and uphill and downhill. Here is a picture of me on my bike; I hope you like it.

We also drove to Jackson Lake in the Teton National Park. We drove and took a short cut, but it was a little bit bumpy because there were rocks. It was moms idea to take a short cut but it was really a long cut because we were off road for a long time. We saw lots of deer on our long cut.

Once we arrived at Jackson Lake, our cabin is on the lake and we went swimming in the water and it was fun. Here is a picture of me with my brother in the lake.

Hi, it's me the Mouse. This is a picture of me with a deer. The deer was eating grass because he was hungry.

Ok, so we had a very full and fun day today. We packed up, headed over for some Cowboy Coffee, toured the visitor center in Jackson Hole, took a dirt road detour and happened upon some horses, and then went on to Moose Junction in the Teton National Park.

We rented bikes and successfully rode a 16 mile loop to Jenny Lake and back. It was great fun; KK was often the leader with lots of energy. Me and the Mouse rode a bike with a "trail behind" so he could help with the peddling and mom also did great.

Jenny Lake is beautiful and we hope to go back some day for the boat ride and waterfall hike. After finishing up our bike ride and maintaining a solid pace for today (including seeing as many sights as possible) we drove deeper into the Teton Park and took one of our first off-road excursions. We had no idea how long this trail would go on for, but it went on for many miles, however we did capture some breath taking views of the Snake River.

We finished our day at a cabin in Teton National Park where I had time to relax and rest my feet in the water as the kids played in the lake.

After arriving into Jackson Hole late on Monday night, we all got a good nights sleep to prepare for a fun-filled Day 4.

My fist task was to find the best Latte in town and so I did with kids stomping my shadow along the way. My hard work (search yelp) paid off. We landed at Cowboy Coffee, yes that's the name of the place and it happens to be right down the street from our quaint hotel. Cowboy Coffee also whips up some delicious breakfast sandwiches as well as hot chocolate for the kids with whip cream and Red, White, and Blue sprinkles. If you are ever in Jackson, give this place a try and you will be pleased.

We also needed to restock our cooler, so a trip to the local grocery store was in order. The kids also needed to get out some energy, so we spent a few hours at the park letting them run wild and kicking the soccer ball to each other.

Our afternoon had us cruising through Grand Teton National park with the roof flipped open so we could take in the tall sights. We really enjoyed seeing the Grand Terons and enjoyed trying to get that picture perfect postcard photo with our Jeep and the mountains in the background.

As we drove around the loop in Grand Teton park, the weather was looking more and more like it was going to rain. We made a few more stops for pictures, but the lighting was not perfect, however I did manage to get this family selfie with one of the Tetons in the background and the Snake River flowing behind us.

And for dinner we went on a Chuckwagon ride and ate with real Cowboys up in the Teton National Forest. The kids dressed up as a Cowgirl and a Cowboy. Once again we arrived back to our hotel late and put the kids to bed as quickly as possible. However, we all had a good time and this may as well be one of the kids favorite pictures from today.

We drove out of Parowan, Utah on day 3 at 10AM and rolled into Jackson Hole, Wyoming at 9PM. It was a long day on the road and I did not even remember to look at today's mileage, but that doesn't matter because we had a great day.

We made really good driving time to Salt Lake City, where we re-fueled the Jeep and refueled our tummies right there at the gas station; thanks to my hunny for having our cooler well-stocked with good food to keep us going. We also finished off lunch with a marshmallow covered in caramel and dipped in chocolate. Here is the Mouse biting in...

Maintaining our momentum and trying to keep up with the 80MPH speed limit, we pushed on into Idaho (our fifth state that was not in our original plan) so we could see Idaho Falls along the Snake River. A quick look at Yelp helped us find this great Tapas restaurant (Republic American Grill and Tapas) located just across the street from the falls.

After dinner, we walked over to the park that provides views of Idaho Falls. While the kids were able to run wild and get some energy out, I was able to get this selfie with me and my sweetie. Which reminds me of how much I appreciate her and enjoying this time we have together on these long drives and not thinking about our hurried lives when we are back at home. So, here is one of my favorite pictures of today...

While we really enjoyed driving through Idaho, we were quite excited to get into Wyoming and start looking for bears, moose, elk, deer, and more. We finally arrived in Victor, Idaho and reached the border of Wyoming. We were all excited and decided this would be a great place for a break. This is before heading up into the mountain pass that climbs at a 10% grade eventually reaching about 8,600 feet in elevation.

As we dropped down into Jackson Hole, it was getting late and we were focused on finding a hotel and getting the kids into bed. So, sorry, we skipped having the kids post a picture today, but reaching the Wyoming border was exciting for the kids, even if it was just for them to stretch their legs and yell out for a bear to come visit.

Now settled in our room with kids asleep, there is a heavy thunderstorm rolling through the valley of Jackson Hole, so we will enjoy the flashes of lightening and booming thunder for now and dream about tomorrow's adventure.

After a good nights sleep, oh wait, the kids woke up at 5:45AM this morning and were ready to go. So, after mobilizing, we decided to drive up to Brian Head. On the way up, we decided to turn off and visit Yankee Meadow and came across our first jam of cows crossing the road. We waited patiently...

After visiting around the lake at Yankee Meadow, we headed up the mountain to Brian Head.

Brian Head mountain ski resort was fairly quiet as the summer season is just getting started. I would really like to come back for some Mountain Biking, so this will go on the bucket list.

We also drove to the very top of Brian Head, getting above the tree line where the temperatures fell to a refreshing 65 degrees.

At the top of Brian Head, we enjoyed views of four states: Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and Colorado. Here is a view from the top overlooking the Brian Head ski resort.

One of my favorite pictures of today was taking this selfie with the kids at over 11,000 feet with views of Utah and Arizona in the far distance.

OK, now for the kids favorite pictures on day 2 in Brian Head.

Hi, I'm the Mouse, that's what my Dad calls me. Today, we drove around in the Jeep and we got our hands wet in the lake at Yankee Meadow and I saw three fishes.

And today, I wanted my Dad to wear the same Jeep shirt as me because I love it (the shirt). Here is my favorite picture from today. It's Mouse (Me) and my Dad in a boat. I hope you like it.

This is my other favorite picture and it's named Aspen tree like my friend. Me and my Sister are in this picture and here we touched the icy cold water in the creek.

Hi, I'm KK Bella and I want to share this favorite picture from my adventure today. We went to Yankee Meadow and I saw lots and lots of Aspen trees. Here is a picture of me with an Aspen Tree.

Here is my other favorite picture from today it is me and my little brother at the top of Brian Head. And I hope you like the picture of me and my brother at the sign for Brian Head.

Tomorrow we are going to drive all day. We are going to drive through Salt Lake City and Idaho Falls before arriving in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

For our first day on the road, we made it through California, Nevada, cut through a corner of Arizona, and into Utah.

We drove 520 miles without any casualties. As we left San Diego, the weather was cool and gloomy with some rain showers. As we drove north, the clouds dissappeared and the sun turned into the blazing ball of fire that it is. Despite having the air conditioning cranked, our bodies wanted only to sweat.

Las Vegas was hot, but as we rolled through Mesquite, UT, the temperature hit 117 degrees!

While it was hot enough to fry an egg on the pavement, the Jeep soldiered on. I watched the temperature gauge climb a few times on some of the long grades, but it came right back down as soon as we were on the downhill side.

The kids had a really good first day on the road. We listened to music and they got creative in the back seat while I enjoyed a homemade iced coffee.

We are close to Brian Head in Utah, so we may head up there in the morning to check out some of their fun activities.

Let us know if you have any recommendations for exploring in this corner of Utah!

A few years back, my wife and I took a trip to Moab and left the kids behind with family. I really enjoyed getting out on the road and seeing new places and doing some wheeling.

So, this year, we are hitting the road for two weeks and bringing the kids with us. It should be quite an adventure. We are planning to see seven states from California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, and Utah.

We have not much of a plan, except to get as far north-east as quickly as possible so we can spend more time in places like Yellowstone and Telluride.

So, similar to when my sweety and I did our last trip to Italy, which seems like it was decades ago even though it was probably like eight years ago, we only have a rough plan and will be going with the flow and some times not quite sure where we will land each night.

And to help keep our kids engaged with the adventure, I told them that they can each post up one picture every day with their own description of what they captured.

So let the adventure begin! And if you see us on the road, give us a wave and we will give you some stickers!