Lesson #1 –  The key to a great family vacation is flexibility.  Without it you will always be disappointed.   We just had two great days at Glacier National Park soaking up the beauty of the Rocky Mountains. With no cell phone coverage, Internet, television, twitter, face book, and email I felt like we went off the grid.  Ok, I realized today that if you want to get away from people, be a spy, or hide from someone, you should move to Montana.  Despite the lack of contact to the rest of the world, we had a wonderful time recreating.

Today we woke up at what we call “the butt crack of dawn” (hopefully I have not offended anyone), and drove 10 hours to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. I think my husband hit every bug plus two birds on the way so the car looks like it went through a war zone.  20 miles before arriving at our destination (Theodore Roosevelt National Park), we noticed dark ominous clouds from every direction.  Lightening and thunder started rolling in.   It was a magnificent storm, and for us North Westerners, something completely new.  However, the idea of pitching a tent in this sheet of rain and lightning did not seem wise to me, but because I did not want to appear like a wimp, I left the decision to camp up to my family. As the sheet of rain poured down all around us, and the lightning was shaking our car, my husband, without any hesitation said it was not possible to camp in this storm with our tent.  Instead we drove like mad toward Bismarck, North Dakota to get out of the storm.  Tonight we sit in our Bismarck hotel eating microwave hotdogs, baked beans and potato chips.  It’s not quite the campfire we were looking for,  but at dinner tonight, Isabel prayed and thanked God for the beautiful storm and our safety.  She simply said thank you.  The key to a great family vacation is flexibility!