C is for June

“Oh darn,” Chrissy says. “This trip doesn’t really go with the C theme.”

My friend Chrissy and I planned our summer trip long before I hatched the idea of working my way through the alphabet month by month. But now, as we scan our itinerary, there aren’t many C words jumping out.

South Dakota:

• Wind Cave National Park

• Mount Rushmore

• The Badlands

North Dakota:

• Theodore Roosevelt National Park

“Hey, we’re going to a cave,” I said. “And besides, your name starts with a C. So we’re covered.”

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C is Not for Texas

But when weather disrupted our flights, we suddenly found ourselves with an unexpected 30-hour layover in Texas. Instead of starting our packed four-day itinerary in the Dakotas, we spent four hours at DFW Airport.

After commiserating over our travel woes, we were ready to chart a new course.

Fort Worth, here we come.

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C is for Cowboys

And, of course, cowboy hats.

Our first stop in Fort Worth: hat shopping at a general store. If we were going to spend the day in Texas, we were going to embrace it completely.

We then headed to the Stockyards for the famous cattle drive.

Next, it was off to the world’s largest honky-tonk, Billy Bob’s Texas, for authentic barbecue and line dancing.

After lunch, we arrived at the Cowtown Coliseum to watch the rodeo. Neither of us had ever seen one, so we enjoyed telling random strangers, “This IS our first rodeo!”

We finished the day with margaritas before finally flying to South Dakota.

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C is for Catching Up

We made it!

Now, could we cram our entire itinerary into two days?

We started the morning at Wind Cave National Park. While I toured the complex cave, Chrissy hiked among the chattering prairie dogs.

We also saw lots of bison and deer.

By early afternoon, we reached Badlands National Park, where we admired colorful wildflowers, birds, and dramatic rock formations. We hiked the Notch Trail, which involved carefully climbing a very long ladder.

After a quick stop at Wall Drug, we spent the evening driving in our crimson Civic, with Chrissy as my trusty chauffeur and me as her expert navigator.

Once in North Dakota, we drove the scenic loop through Theodore Roosevelt National Park, stopping along the way to hike, explore, and photograph wildlife.

It wasn’t our plan to visit three national parks in a 24-hour period, but we made it happen.

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C is for Conestoga Wagon

To be honest, I was a little wary of the part of the trip Chrissy was very excited about—our lodging in North Dakota. I am not much of a camper. I really prefer access to a flushing toilet.

But when we pulled into the campground, exhausted after our long drive, I had to admit our Conestoga wagon was a comforting sight.

After a quick walk to the bathhouse, we settled in for the night—until I woke up and realized I was cold. The canvas cover of the wagon did little to protect us from North Dakota’s nighttime chill.

So we readjusted, putting on socks, hats, sweatshirts, and extra blankets before returning to bed.

Our second night in North Dakota, it poured. Thankfully, we were in a wagon and not an ark, or we might have floated away.

While our campground was flooding on the outside, we thought we’d solved the temperature problem on the inside. Our Conestoga wagon was equipped with a heater.

“Crank up the heat!” we cheered.

The heater worked, but unfortunately, so did the smoke detector.

Every time we turned on the heater, the smoke detector answered with a chorus of blaring beeps.

I may or may not have uttered several choice words that absolutely did not begin with the letter C.

But really, we weren’t upset. By that point, it was comedy.

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C is for Chrissy

On our final day in the Dakotas, we squeezed in a quick visit to Mount Rushmore before our flight home.

Though this itinerary most decidedly didn’t go according to plan, we continued to laugh and enjoy each other’s company.

Over the past ten years, we’ve explored new cities, hiked canyons, and cycled together.

Whenever we travel, I’m thankful for Chrissy, my constantly cheerful, capable, clever companion.

Yes, C is for cowboys, cattle, caves, and Conestoga wagons.

But especially, C is for Chrissy.