Fargo, ND to Medora, ND

Thursday, July 8

We were up early and headed out to get to Medora, ND by early afternoon. Weather was pleasant - sunny and not too warm. Traveling through ND was beautiful - THIS is WEST! Wide open spaces, beautiful rock formations, no people.

As we exited 94 into Medora, a large deer (mule deer, probably) crossed the road in front of us. A full rack indicated it was a male.

We arrived at Theodore Roosevelt National Park about 2:00 and headed in to find a campsite. They are first come-first served. No hookups (water, sewer, electric - truly 'dry camping'), and only $10 a night. We settled in site #27 and Haley and I took a walk to 'register' (fill in the info on the envelope and put the $10 in, and drop it in the box), and to give Haley a chance to stretch her legs while Rick set up. On the 5 mile drive in to the camprground from the main gate, we saw a mama deer and her 2 babies, passed a prarie dog village and a bison hanging out in the village. Haley was excited. By 3:00 we were ready to head into Medora.

We wandered through some of the shops (looking for unique and hand-made items rather than the trinkets and clothing that were popular), enjoying an ice cream cone while we wandered. The town, a true western town with boardwalks, is tiny, only about 4 square blocks total, with the main shopping and restaurants on 2 of the main roads, so it didn't take us long to walk around. We settled on the Theodore Roosevelt Hotel for dinner - a very fancy restaurant. My food (coconut shrimp) came with the shrimp (4) placed artfully on the pineapple dipping sauce, with a flower in the center. Had to take a photo, since it was so expensive and pretty :) Rick had seafood fettucini. We were in North Dakota. What was wrong with this picture!? Full as I was, when our waitress came to offer dessert, she didn't ask if she could interest us in dessert (to which the answer would have been 'no'), she asked if she could interest us in Creme Brulee! Well, for me, that is a no-brainer, and Creme Brulee it was!

After dinner, we went back to the camper and got Haley to take her on the 36 mile loop road through the park to see wildlife. (Its her vacation, too!) We saw wild horses just a mile from our campground - she was VERY excited about that. For about 20 miles, we enjoyed the 'eye candy' (awesome scenery), while she popped up once in a while to check out what was going on. No wildlife at all, though. THEN we encountered a bison. The bison was on our side of the road - right on the edge line. After making sure my window and Haley's window were closed, we pulled up along side it so Haley could get a good look. She was inside out with excitement! We traveled on a little more, and saw another horse, a herd of antelope, complete with 2 babies, and 2 more bison - one on each side of the road, but again standing on the edge line. By now she was beside herself with excitement of all these creatures. Finally, we saw a deer cross over the road in front of us and pose for a photo as she stood in the woods.

So, today Haley learned several new words: Bison, prairie dogs and antelope. She really liked those words!

Being in the national park, in a campground with no hookups, the evening was very peaceful - no lights, no extraneous sounds, just nature at its finest. Rick said the sky was brilliant with stars, including several shooting starts (I headed to bed by dark-time, as we are now in Mountain Time Zone and I was exhausted from the early start and long day).

Friday, July 9 - Happy Birthday Cheryl!

Destination - Billings, Montana

Since we didn't have as far to go today, we had a leisurely morning, leaving the campground by 10:00 MT. We stopped at the NP Visitor's Center to get the passport stamped and to watch the 13 minute film about the park. We were on the road by 10:30. We were about 20 miles from the Montana border, so Haley was now in 2 more new states - North Dakota and Montana. It is truly 'Big Sky Country' - with the blue sky dominating the view. The scenery is what my idea of the west should be - lots of hills and gullies, rock outcrops and rock formations, cattle ranches, lots of green and brown, and lots of blue, blue sky.

We arrived at Billings KOA - the world's first KOA campground - about 4:00. We stayed here on our Washington trip. We are camped under cottonwood trees, and as I look out the window, I see a snowglobe that has just been shaken with cottonwood cotton floating everywhere. Almost as much as our 'blizzards' in February at times! The campground has a BBQ restaurant where we will enjoy dinner.