Lots of wide open spaces !
“Life is a great adventure –
accept it in such a spirit.” –
Theodore Roosevelt
Day 1 – On the road to Medora
Leaving Bismarck, we were on our way further west, to spend 2 nights visiting Theodore Roosevelt National Park – in the very west of North Dakota. Whilst our main goal is visiting the 50 states, visiting all the National Parks is a further teaser. When we started, there were 59 actual “National Parks” but this has now increased to 61. Luckily we had visited one of the new ones (Gateway Arch in St Louis) and the other we did this tour (Indiana Dunes). Theodore Roosevelt now takes us to 32.
Instead of I94, we had found a scenic byway which pretty much paralleled the interstate, called the “Old Red Old Ten Byway”, so we followed this for the first part of the drive. And the weather was looking much better for us !
I really enjoy these drives as they portray the true American landscape – the vastness, the isolation, the unexpected. I can really understand the feelings of the likes of John Steinbeck and Jack Kerouac and the images they convey in their books about “seeing America” from these drives. And there is always something somewhere to break them up !
As you drive along toward the town of New Salem there is a vision – “you can see her mighty silhouette from neighboring counties on a clear day – a goddess of dairy, ready to be worshipped”. It’s Salem Sue, the World’s Largest Holstein Cow ! She stands 38 feet high, 50 feet long and is well kept – thanks to the local milk subsidies and donations – “Sue is taut and shiny, in excellent shape”.
Must be good pastures around …………
Corn fields udder there ! Who’d have guessed !
Moving right along – Not far along the byway from New Salem, located in Richardton, North Dakota, is a Benedictine abbey founded in 1893 by a monk of the Swiss abbey of Einsiedeln – Assumption Abbey. Given that the town has a population of only about 550, the abbey stands out for miles also.
From one byway to another – at the town of Gladstone, we took a detour south to drive the “Enchanted Highway”. With many small towns trending toward extinction – and we can vouch for that in some of the “towns” we drive through – beginning in 1989 a local self-taught welder/artist Gary Greff conceived of the project and built (currently) 7 massive sculptures to create “The Enchanted Highway”. It is recognised in the Guiness Book of Records !
Each sculpture has a developed pull-out and several have picnic shelters. In 2012, he also opened a motel, The Enchanted Castle, in Regent. How did we not stay there ! 🤣🤣
And you even exit via the shop !
Some are a little worse for wear but really quite amazing ! Unfortunately it was a very windy day as I was hoping to capture a few with my drone – we had one go at the most sheltered one – the grasshoppers – but it was very shaky !
After our enchanting detour, we stopped by the river at Dickenson for our coffee – again in the car so we didn’t get blown away – and then joined I94 for the rest of our drive to Medora, our base for Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We were still quite early in the day so made our way to the park headquarters. The area around Medora is known as the “South Unit” and our first stop was a region called the “Painted Canyons”. This name comes from the different colours in the different layers of the hills, valleys and gullies.
We next drove the main road around the south unit. The drive is usually a full loop however a few months ago there was major subsidence in one section of the loop so a section of the road is now closed. So for now you need to drive out and then back the same way. The Little Missouri River winds its way through the Park.
We managed to see a couple of deer at a distance but really had no luck with any bison in this area. There are a few prairie dog habitats and they were abundant !
The park is named after the 26th President, Theodore Roosevelt. He first came to the area in the 1880’s and later credited his time here as the making of his character. As President from 1901 to 1909 he transformed the national parks service and in 1947 this park was created in his honour. One of his original dwellings used during his time here, the Maltese Cross Cabin, now sits just behind the south unit visitor centre.
After our drive around the park road, we headed for our hotel late in the afternoon. But that was not the end of our day by any means. We had “dinner and a show” booked !
Not quite at the hotel yet – it’s just across the tracks – waiting for the huge train to pass for the level crossing to open !
Not sure Adrienne checked the train line location when she booked !
For dinner we were booked into the “Medora Pitchfork Fondue”, to be followed up with the long running “Medora Musical” stage show. If you have had fondue before you will know the concept – sit around a table, add bits of food – often meat – to long forks and dip them in a pot of boiling fat to cook them. This version goes BIG, really BIG ! Shove a few lumps of 12oz steak on a pitchfork and dump it in a huge vat of boiling oil !
Add a bit of “cowboy authenticity” – tin plates, baked beans and baked potatoes and you have a Cowboy Cookout ! Very tasty indeed !
Next we were off to the adjoining amphitheatre to witness the “Medora Musical”. It is a musical revue produced each summer and is a look back at the “Wild West” days of the region including references to Theodore Roosevelt. It premiered at this amphitheatre in 1965 and is the successor to earlier shows about Roosevelt. Good ole American patriotism at its best !
The set for the Medora Musical
The show was excellent and included a set by comedian C. Willi Myles – never heard of him before but a very funny guy ! It was a great night !
Day 2 – More from Medora
Day 2 of our stop in Medora started with us heading north about 60 miles to the “North Unit” of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
We again had a pretty good looking weather forecast, though temperatures changed dramatically throughout the day ! When we went to breakfast and left this morning, the temperature was about 7C – at 5pm it is currently 34C !
It took us about an hour to get to the North Unit. Despite this area being almost directly north, as we arrived at the park we actually changed time zones and lost an hour for the time we would be there !
Corn fields out here ! Who’d have guessed !
The north unit scenic drive is an “out and back” drive rather than a loop. This unit is also somewhat different in that it has the similar geology to the south unit in some parts but a much larger area of prairie, more suited to the bison as we found out ! It developed quite windy again and some cloud had come over by the time we arrived.
We headed back about the middle of the day, changing back time zones again and when we returned to Medora we walked around the town and had a look at some of the other attractions and shops. There is a flash “Rough Riders” hotel – which was booked out when we were arranging our accommodation – and many old shops re-creating the early era. It is also home to the North Dakota “Cowboy Hall of Fame” !
Medora was founded in 1883 along the transcontinental rail line of the Northern Pacific Railway by French nobleman Marquis de Mores, who named the city after his wife Medora von Hoffman. Marquis de Mores wanted to ship refrigerated meat to Chicago via the railroad. He built a meat packing plant for this purpose and a house named the Chateau de Mores, which is now a museum. The chimney – near the entrance to the national park – is all that remains of the meat packing plant as when it failed it was left empty and was eventually destroyed by fire.
Went looking for a beer – sure I left my ride here ? 🤔
The rest of the afternoon we took it easy out of the heat before heading to the Old Missouri Saloon for dinner. Sat on the balcony and watched the sun go down against the badlands back drop. We had a nice guacamole dip for starters and decided on burgers for main – Adrienne had a Mushroom & Swiss and to compliment my Buffalo Commons beer, a Buffalo Burger – all very tasty !
Tomorrow we start our way south, changing our Dakotas !
Today’s Tour Trivia – North Dakota has around 11 people per square mile, the 4th least densely populated state (The top 3 are – Alaska 1.3, Wyoming 6 and Montana 7.1)