Dixon for Mayor, and Some Dusty Buffalo

After our first two days of home school, it felt only right to take our first field trip. We are incorporating the different states we visit into our American History lessons. Fun fact: did you know that Montana means mountain? Since these kids had yet to see a Montanan Buffalo, we were excited for the adventure!

I like to pull up google maps and often choose the alternative route, the one that avoids highways or well populated roads. I love backroads, off the beaten path sights, and the adventure often found by exploring the road less traveled. This time was a whole new experience!! Eight miles into our 50 mile journey with only GRAVEL road in sight, and Adam was ready to kill me! I laughed and reminded the family that this would make for a good memory some day. We saw rivers, and streams, a whole lot of corn, and not another car in sight! And of course, we eventually made it to our destination.

The National Bison Range felt like a wise place to spot some buffalo. Since it’s a national park, we got in for free through Dixon’s lifetime exploration pass (available to all persons living with a disability and also all 4th grade students). We spotted our first animals right away, and were amazed by the sheer size of these guys!! We also saw antelope (which the kids still call cantaloupe), a road runner, skunk and some massive long horns on the trip!

As we excited the park we took a short eight mile drive to visit Dixon, Montana! Needless to say, our little guy was quite excited about the sleepy town. He now has plans of being mayor, working in his office, and creating Dixon Village. Dixon School K-12 had a large ‘Dixon Pride’ sign outside the football field, but I didn’t get a photo because there were kids at PE class and I didn’t want to be creepy.

Our first field trip was a great experience and we look forward to many more in the months to come. Thanks for following along!