For the first time since staying at Yellowstone Holiday RV Campground and Marina the haze had somewhat lifted and we were able to get a clearer view of the mountains surrounding Lake Hebgen. It would have been amazing for it to be like this our entire visit but I was thankful to be given a brief glimpse on the morning of our departure.
Our next main destination was Devil's Tower in Wyoming. Since this is 523 miles east we planned to break up the drive with a one night stopover traveling 295 miles to 7th Ranch RV Camp in Garryowen, Montana.
We had been contemplating stopping at a museum on our way to the next campsite. The family camping next to us mentioned they were from Bozeman. Yesterday I asked the mother's opinion about going to the Museum of the Rockies, right in Bozeman. She highly recommended it and we decided to definitely go.
We pulled out of the Yellowstone Holiday RV Campground at 8:30am and drove 85 miles north to the museum arriving at 10:15. Adam had figured out in advance where to park our rig so when we arrived we knew exactly where to go. Right next to our parking spot was a very cool sculpture of a horse made almost completely of metal chains.
The landscaped walkway was beautiful and the girls got excited to see the life-size dinosaur sculpture just before we entered. It was a beautiful view with the mountain range sprawled out in the background.
Because we still had 210 miles to drive we could only stay here for a couple hours. We wandered around through the dinosaur exhibits for about 45 minutes and then decided to see the planetarium show. There was a college student narrating. She literally took us on a tour of outer space and would zoom in on the stars or planets she wanted to discuss. She also spent some time talking about the total solar eclipse which was only eight days away on August 21 and suggested we buy viewing glasses in the museum gift store. This was a great idea and we made sure to do so since we did not have any yet.
When the show was done we headed over to The Eagles Nest section, which was a please touch area designed for kids. One of the girls favorite activities here was flying like birds. They had wings for them to wear. They flapped their “wings” and simulated flying by jumping on the mini trampoline.
Time was flying by and we needed to move on. The museum was running a special exhibit on crocodiles and we explored that before heading back to the truck at 12:30. As is usually the case for our family, we could have spent several more hours here. We barely got to scrape the surface but were grateful for the time we had. Before leaving we took some pictures with the horse sculpture next to our parking space.
With a couple stops for gas and food we pulled up to the 7th Ranch RV Camp at 5pm. The girls were very excited at checkin when the office gave us each a choice of free ice cream sandwich or popsicle. Since we were still in Montana, of course both were available in huckleberry flavor.
There was a playground pretty close to our site and I took the girls over while Adam set up camp. The playground base was sand and there were plenty of sand toys for them to play with.
Once Adam finished he played disc golf with the girls.
The beautiful patch of bright yellow flowers that lined our site made me very happy. Other than this RV Park, there was nothing but rolling hills as far as the eye could see in every direction. It was a very pleasant evening so we ate dinner outside at our picnic table. Once the sky turned to dusk we went inside to relax and get ready for bed. We would be up early to make our way to Devils Tower tomorrow.
