Alfisol's Awesome Trip to North Dakota

I had been planning to visit North Dakota for a few years – only three states left for me, North Dakota, Alaska, and Hawaii. My husband was more interested in going to either Alaska or Hawaii first or to another international destination. I even contemplated taking my first solo vacation to North Dakota. But last year, as a tenth anniversary present, my husband gave me a gift certificate “Redeem for one trip for two that includes North Dakota and one fancy dinner. Valid for one year of 10th anniversary”. North Dakota here we come!!

He is a college professor so I started planning to take the trip right after spring semester ended. I wanted to avoid the really hot weather and possible tornadoes. We thought of taking the train, but decided instead to fly in and rent a car.

I got tourist information from the internet, the ND Tourism Department, and bought a few books to get ready for the itinerary planning. I read “The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt” and “Geology of the Lewis %26amp; Clark Trail in North Dakota”. Both are wonderful ways to get excited about traveling in western North Dakota. I also have a work friend who moved to Bismarck a few years ago and she gave me a lot of ideas. The more we looked at what North Dakota had to offer the longer our trip became. In fact, my husband insisted on more time; he was converted to a ND fan even before we arrived.

We are both soil scientists and were looking forward to seeing the big sky, landscapes, geology, different soils than we have here in Connecticut, the after effects of the recent flooding, as well as anything and everything else ND had to offer.

So, on the first day we flew from Hartford to Minneapolis to Bismarck. Picked up the rental car and drove east to Sterling and then north through Anamoose to Devils Lake. I had read that this drive was scenic and it was. We were very much looking forward to seeing prairie potholes and the saline (salt crusted) soils surrounding the wet areas. We took hours for this drive, stopping the car, snapping pictures, looking at the landscapes, farms, birds, and all the water in the potholes. We arrived in Devils Lake in the late afternoon and checked into the Fireside Inn. It was there that we first met incredibly friendly North Dakotans. There is a “concierge room” at the Inn where you can come in for drinks and appetizers. When folks found out that we were “doing North Dakota” for our vacation, they gave us so many ideas of what to see and where to go. The chatting with local folks and their wonderful friendliness continued for the entire time we were in the state.

Up early on day 2, stopped in to see a local soil scientist (Thanks, Alan) who explained a lot about the saline soils and also about the landscapes in the area. Then we drove across the lake to Sully’s Hill, a wildlife refuge. Devil’s Lake (the lake) is rising higher and higher and we saw a lot of drowned trees and land. We walked up the hill for the view of the lake. The land is rolling small hills, very scenic. Then we stopped at a prairie dog village. We were entranced and took way too many pictures and even a short movie. After that we saw bison, including some babies. We then drove to Fort Totten, the best preserved late 1800’s fort west of the Mississippi River. It wasn’t fully restored, but you really get the sense of what it was like as a fort and later as an Indian school. Had lunch at the store in Minnewauken (too far to drive to a restaurant) and chatted with a few nice men who ate with us. It was such a comfortable lunch experience. Then we drove to Rugby to see the monument at the geographical center of North America. It’s right by the road, but for geography buffs it’s an important site to visit!! On to Minot for the night. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express, a very nice hotel on the edge of town. Since it was late afternoon, we didn’t have time to do anything in Minot except take a walk around a very nice park, Oak Park, and have dinner.

On day 3, we got an early start driving further west. The first stop was the Missouri Yellowstone Confluence Center, with very nice views of the rivers and also nice exhibits. We drove further, into Montana, lunching in Sidney, so my husband could check Montana off his list of states visited. Then we took Route 23 back east into North Dakota and had our first view of badlands and the National Grassland. Wow! Again we took a lot of pictures. Drove into Watford City in the late afternoon. We had a reservation for two nights at the Roosevelt Inn, a good place to stay. We had a good dinner at Outlaws in downtown Watford City, then back to the hotel, chatted with other guests. We left at 8:45 to look for a sunset spot, ended up driving north to Lake Sakakawea. We found a nice spot and waited for the sun to go down. Very very scenic.

***to be continute***

Alfisol's Awesome Trip to North Dakota

Did you go to Fort Union?

Malebird

Alfisol's Awesome Trip to North Dakota

Malebird, No we didn%26#39;t go to Fort Union.

Here are days 4-6 of the awesome adventure:

Day 4 – Up early, it was a very cool morning, 38 degrees, clear and windy. Drove south to the entrance to Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Unit. The park had just opened for the day, stopped by the visitor center, bought the “Roadlog Guide for the South %26amp; North Units” for $3.95. This was an excellent booklet which we read as we drove the 13.7 mile road in the park. It’s not a loop so you drive back on the same road. The scenery was breathtaking. We saw some deer on the floodplain of the Little Missouri River. We stopped at every pulloff. Our favorite was the Cannonball Concretion pullout. The cannonballs are amazing, as are the erosional features at this spot. At another pulloff, we walked up the self guided Capstone Coolee nature trail after picking up the brochure at the trailhead. The trail a gentle walk, a little less than a mile, but you can see lignite coal seams, petrified wood, and many layers of the dissected rock formations. Further up the road, we saw a big group of bison. While the car was stopped, so we could observe and take pictures, several crossed the road right in front of us. We were at the park all morning.

Then we drove south and east to Killdeer, where we had lunch. We were driving on one of the state’s scenic byways, and it sure was scenic. The byway continues north from Killdeer and you can see the Killdeer mountains to the west. Then the road plunges back into the badlands and across the Little Missouri. We entered Fort Berthold Indian Reservation and continued north until we got to Lake Sakakawea and New Town. The Four Bears Indian Museum was a nice stop, learned a lot about the three tribes, construction of the lake, and relocation of the villages which were flooded by the lake construction. We didn’t go into the casino but did cross the bridge over the lake and went to the top of Crow Flies High Butte for good views of the lake and the surrounding area. Drove back to Watford City, ate dinner at the Dakotan Restaurant which is a short walk from the Roosevelt Inn.

Day 5 – It was a cold and rainy morning. We had planned to drive to Medora, where we were going to stay for two days, but because of the rain decided to drive to Dickinson to see the Dinosaur Museum. T Roosevelt Park, South Unit would have to wait until day 6. So we headed down the road and after crossing into Mountain Time Zone the rain turned to snow! And started accumulating! We did a short stop at the Old Sod Post Office in Grassy Butte, a lovely little museum. The snow continued, we even saw snow plows. But at least the roads weren’t too bad. We didn%26#39;t mind the snow at all, just part of the adventure!

We got to the Dickinson Visitor Center, walked across the parking lot to the Dinosaur Museum. Since we were a little cold and wet, we probably spent more time in the museum than we would have done otherwise, but it’s quite an enjoyable place. There were many rocks, fossils, and bones on display. So we liked this museum! Then we drove downtown to the Ukrainian Cultural Center and had a lovely time there looking at the displays and talking to the folks. They were having a special birthday lunch for a lady there, and they ended up inviting us to have some food and watch the movie on egg-dying. I bought an egg, which we had to take extra care of because they’re so fragile. But it did make it home OK and is now displayed in our den. Finally it was time to leave Dickinson, but since it was still snowing lightly, we decided to drive the Enchanted Highway east of town and look at large sculptures with snow falling on them. We didn’t do the entire road, but cut over to New England so we could take pictures of us in front of the “Welcome to New England” sign in the snow. We thought our Connecticut friends would get a kick out of these pictures, and they did!

We wanted to drive by the burning lignite coal seam, but someone told us the fire was out (darn), so we drove to our lodging for the next two nights: Eagle Ridge Lodge outside Medora. It’s a lovely lodge, high up in the hills, with fantastic views, cozy rooms, great food, and good company. I can’t say enough about how much we liked this lodge. There were two other groups of guests (most from ND) and we again had a good time talking about our adventure and the state.

Day 6 – Still rainy and cold, so the hearty breakfast was quite welcome. Drove to Sentinnel Butte, Beach, and then back to Medora. Went to the T Roosevelt South Unit Visitor Center and looked at the Maltese Cross cabin. It was as I had imagined it would be, after reading about it in the TR biography. Then we did the 35 mile loop road of the park. The badlands weren’t as rugged as in the North Unit but you can see red scoria layers in the rock here. Stunning colors on dreary day! Again we followed along with the roadlog, took a brief walk down the Coal Vein trail, and then walked to the top of Buck Hill.

We ate lunch in Medora, then I wandered the shops while my husband checked emails, etc. at the Joe Ferris Store. Then we went to the Chateau de Mores, not a French chateau, but the summer house of the French man who founded Medora. I did like the chateau after having read about the Count, the meat-packing business, and his interactions with TR. Had a great dinner again at Eagle Ridge (dinner is included with the price of the rooms). Too bad it was too rainy to see the Medora Musical, but so it goes!

More to come!!

Can%26#39;t wait to hear more! Sorry you ended up for the one freaky weather June weekend. I%26#39;ve never seen snow in June in ND in my 35 years, but that was my first. We had friends out in Medora that weekend for a gathering, so I know that was especially crazy weather even for ND.

Final Installment:

Day 7 – NOT raining, but still cool. Drove a bit to the east, then got off the highway and drove to Center. We wanted to see the windmill farm. I’m not sure how many windmills there were but there were a lot. ND could provide a lot of energy this way!!

Ate lunch at a small café in Stanton, talked to some park rangers who were eating lunch, then drove the short way to Knife River Indian Villages. The short film is a good introduction to this National Historic Site. Then we toured the restored earthlodge and walked the trail by the field where many more houses were located. All that is left of these Awatixa lodges are circular depressions now covered with grasses. We did see the elusive pocket gopher as we walked back from the Knife River to the visitor center.

We drove north and east, over the huge Garrison earthen dam over the Missouri River which created Lake Sakakawea. Then we headed south towards Bismarck. A friend had told us not to miss Double Ditch, so we navigated there. It’s just north of Bismarck looking over the Missouri. I had expected it to be a park with a visitor center, but Double Ditch is a fenced in area, with some interpretive signs and a short trail around the perimeter. There were earthlodge depressions, but also remains of defensive ditches around the village site.

Then into Bismarck, where we tried to get hotel room on the north side of town. It seemed that all the hotels were full, so we used the phone and the ND Tourism guide to the Bismarck area and called the Ramkota Hotel. So we got a room there; it’s a large sprawling hotel, but nice. They have a huge waterslide/pool area which we didn’t use, but it looked fun. Also there is a huge mall across the street. I decided that we would do “the fancy” dinner in Bismarck, after all we should have a memorable dinner in the state capital of the state we were enjoying so much. We went to Bistro, which had fine reviews, and it was excellent! We had a great dinner there.

Day 8 – I had emailed my Bismarck friend and she said “come on by” the office. So we drove to the Federal Building and had a nice visit with my friend as well as some of her office mates. Then we drove to the State Capitol grounds and took a self tour of the capitol building. The legislative chambers were open but the Supreme Court room was closed. A lady came by us and asked if we wanted to see the room, we said “sure”, and she unlocked it for us. We had a quick snack in the café downstairs and then walked over to the ND Heritage Center, passing statues of Sakakawea and a bison. The Heritage Center is a first-rate museum. You walk through chronological exhibits, from the dinosaur age, to the Native American ages, to the European settlement, and more modern times. They also have a very nice gift store with some ND products.

We decided to spend the night in Jamestown, so we drove directly there. We got a hotel room at the Quality Inn and then proceeded to the National Buffalo Museum. Took a quick tour of the museum then followed instructions to look for White Cloud and her daughter, two albino buffaloes, who were pastured nearby. We did see them at a distance.

We knew Jamestown was still having flooding issues, so we took a ride to look for evidence of flooding along the James River. We drove south to Edgley, then east to LaMoure, then back to Jamestown via the scenic byway along the river. There was quite a lot of water in the fields, we had to follow a few detours along small, dirt roads and in fact decided to go back to the main road because it was raining and getting dark. Luckily our GPS helped us get back to town. We had a nice dinner at Grizzly’s and then called it a day.

Day 9 – Headed east on the Interstate to Fargo, our final destination. As soon as we got to town we followed the directions the Fargo family we met in Medora had given us and drove to the southern neighborhoods of Fargo that had been flooded. We met a nice builder who was working in the neighborhood and he told us to visit Heritage Hills, where he lived, to see the damage at the confluence of the Red River and the Wild Rice River. Unbelievable that the river rose so high. The houses suffered devastating damage and the folks don’t know if they can rebuild or return to that neighborhood.

We had an afternoon appointment with several soils professors at North Dakota State University, so we proceeded to the campus. The professors were gracious hosts and we had a very nice visit there. We went back to our hotel, the Holiday Inn Express, a good place to stay. We then went to a car wash and to Spitfire for dinner. I really enjoyed our final dinner of North Dakota.

Day 10 – Good breakfast at the hotel then we returned to Heritage Hills to look at more flood damage. Then we went to the West Acres Mall to see the Roger Maris Museum. I had grown up in the NY suburbs during the Maris/Mantle era so this museum was a must see. It’s really small, but has a lot of memorabilia. We went up towards the airport, but had time for one more attraction, the Fargo Air Museum. It’s a really nice place. Then to the airport for our flights home to Connecticut. Got home late, the house and dog were fine.

It’s been two weeks since we got home and I have to say that this was the best vacation! North Dakota is a very friendly destination. I’d highly recommend visiting and not just the Badlands. We enjoyed every place we went. We definitely “caught the fever”. Thank you North Dakota!!