On a recent visit to Montana (Glacier National Park was our biggest highlight) we stopped in Helena for the day and enjoyed the opportunity to tour the state Capitol Building, one of our favorite activities whenever we visit a state capital.
Located on the campus of Montana State University, in Bozeman Montana, the Museum of the Rockies (MOR) has one of the largest dinosaur collections in the world, displaying several dinosaur fossils including a life-size sculpture of a Tyrannosaurus rex cast from the fossil bones of a real T-rex. A Smithsonian Affiliate museum, MOR includes dozens of primary exhibits that feature Yellowstone National Park, American Indians of the Northern Plains, tons of local artifacts (including several early 20th century cars!) and mythical creatures, as well as a whole outdoor living history museum. There are also daily shows in the planetarium and weekly events the whole family will enjoy.
We just returned from an epic trip out west and enjoyed almost a full week at Glacier National Park in western Montana, one of our most favorite parks to date. Glacier National Park, one of the most popular American National Parks with close to three million visitors each year, covers over a million acres across 1,500 square miles (with over 750 miles of marked hiking trails!) There are over 750 lakes inside Glacier National Park (about 130 of them are named), many of which are glacier fed (which gives the lake water the appearance of the vibrant turquoise color in some of our photos). In 2024, there remain approximately 26 glaciers, but each year that number shrinks as the glaciers melt.
This past summer, we enjoyed a few days in Augusta, the state capital of Maine. One of the highlights of exploring the city was our guided tour of the State House.
Whenever our family visits a capital city, we always make time to tour the State Capitol. We love learning about a state’s history, its involvement in American history, and learning fun state trivia and what makes each state unique. This summer, we stopped in Richmond for a second tour (we originally visited in 2014 before we started publishing our blog) of the Virginia State Capitol and enjoyed touring the House and Senate Chambers and other significant spaces throughout the Capitol.
2024 was an adventure filled year for our family, filled with road trips ranging from Mont Tremblant and Québec at the end of 2023 to Montana and Banff during the summer to ending 2024 with a road trip from Miami, Florida back home to Connecticut.