I took a slight break from writing but… I’M BACK!

And I want to tell you all about this beautiful little gem of a place we found that is perfect for a pregnant me and 2 year old toddler called Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area. But first we have decided to call this season…

“The Summer of Montana”

Why? For a couple reasons. One of them being that I am pregnant. Another being that… inflation. And the other because Montana is amazing and it is demanding our attention!

The beautiful, family friendly place that we discovered is called Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area outside of Lovell, Wyoming.

It is only a 3.5 hour drive from where we live. Which is perfect road tripping distance for our toddler and me.

We picked this location because of it’s proximity and also because it was supposed to be pouring rain everywhere else.

Upon arriving in Lovell, we went straight the Bighorn Canyon.

Our first stop was the Horseshoe Bend overlook. It immediately took our breath away.

Please see the pictures below as evidence.

After we got our fill of the Horseshoe Bend overlook, we went to town to check into our motel and find some food.

Our motel exceeded all expectations.

It is called the Horseshoe Bend Motel. It’s completely refurbished, turn key place that is clean, fresh, well decorated, and super cozy! AND it has the best pool in Wyoming!

The motel lady told us to go one town up to Cowley for dinner the Bull Pub.

The Bull Pub was delicious!

The only bummer we met there is they ran out of lavender cheesecake.

But oh well.

After checking in, we headed straight back to the canyon for a little evening hike.

We chose one called the State Line Trail. It was short, easy, lead to a beautiful overlook, and perfect for a toddler and pregnant me.

The hike up was slow progress because of the short toddler legs so we took the opportunity to teach him about “Poky bushes” (Cacti), sandstone, and various other desert things. For obvious reasons, once we reached the outlook, we put Ru in his carrier and walked along the edge to get to the best vantage point.

IT WAS AWESOME!

We couldn’t help but just stand in awe over this beautiful canyon.

It started to get dark so we headed back down, went back to the motel and we spent a lovely night there. Our toddler decided that he wanted to sleep with me and I got no sleep because he is a terrible co-sleeper. But that was by no fault of the motel. I’m pretty sure he only wanted to sleep with me because of how comfortable the beds were.

The next day was Sunday.

Patrick and I try to go to church wherever we travel to. We have been in many cities all over the country and in quite a few all over the world.

When we were planning this trip, we didn’t fully comprehend the magnitude of church there. But lo and behold, it is a straight up Mormon community. So it made it very easy to go to church at our leisure.

We got breakfast then walked across the street to church. Ru was stoked. He truly loves church. He talks about it all the time.

Anyways, Church was lovely. The members were super inviting and kind. But church is always good.

It was time to head to the Canyon for one more hike!

For this hike, we chose to do another short and easy hike for our independent hiker child. This one was Sullivan’s knob. It too lead to a beautiful overlook where we had to back Ru up again because of all the big drops.

When I say ‘Pack Ru Up” I mean put him in his carrier. We simply didn’t trust him to not run off the edge of cliff.

The hike in provided more opportunity to teach him about cacti, yucca plants, sage, dead trees, etc. And I’ll tell you what, this was my favorite view. It filled my soul with that joy only a desert can deliver! We were able to teach Ru about echo’s too! A good echo is invaluable.

As all good things do, this hike came to an end.

Unfortunately, it was time to go on to our next destination.

We said our goodbyes, loaded up in the car, and drove off into the horizon, excited for our next big family adventure!

Please check out some more of our adventures with our toddler HERE!