Leaving Minnesota and Exploring North Dakota

Greetings!

It has been over a month since we have posted and I supposed the excuse is "time flies when you're having fun!"  We so appreciate all of you who follow and our hope is that you will enjoy this lengthy post!!

When last we posted, we had just arrived to the Minnesota Airstream Park located in Clear Lake.  It is such a beautiful place and is for Airstreams only.  We stayed here for a week and it was our "reset" week to run errands and get things done to prepare for the second half of our trip.  Here are a few photos of the campground:

Beautiful gardens were everywhere!

They also have a small golf course - very informal - people can just play whenever they want and start on whatever hole they want!

Chef Paul grilling delicious burgers once again!

Clear Lake is very close to St. Cloud so we spent a majority of our week there - they had Costco, Target, Walmart and all the stores we needed!  We did go into Minneapolis one day (just over an hour away) and met my friend Patsy for lunch (she is the one who has the cabin we stayed at, but their main house is in St. Paul).  We had lunch at the Sea Salt Eatery which is located in a beautiful park at the Minnehaha Falls - it was a lovely visit!

At the end of a very productive and enjoyable week, we were back on the road - destination North Dakota!  Our last few hours in Minnesota were very scenic - beautiful farmland along the way.

Then we arrived to North Dakota - a first time visiting for both of us.  And we noticed a few differences right way - especially the speed limit!

We see so much hay along the road - and this was a first seeing a huge bunch being transported.

Fueling up . . . again!

Our first night was in Fargo - we parked at the Fargo Air Museum and enjoyed the evening.  We didn't explore much - we went to the museum and took a walk around the neighborhood.

The next day we headed to the capital - Bismarck - where we had some work done on our door with a company called Nolox that we've used often and also did some laundry.  This was a quick and productive stop and we didn't even disconnect the trailer!

The next day we headed to Medora, which would be our stopping point for 8 nights.  We were super excited to explore this area and you will soon find out why.  En route, we stopped at the Enchanted Highway, which is a cool road that has 8 oversized metal sculptures that run along the road perpendicular to the highway.  We only visited the first two and they were really awesome!

This one is called Geese in Flight - it is the most photographed sculpture on the Enchanted Highway - completed in 2001, it took 3 years, 8,400 hours of labor, $303,500 worth of materials.

On the drive into and out of the sculpture area, there are 200 geese sculptures lining the drive.

About 4 miles down the road, this one is called Deer Crossing - finished in 2002 - it took 3 years, 8,400 labor hours, $167,000 in materials.  The Buck sculpture is 70 feet tall and the Doe is 50 feet tall.

You can appreciate the size when you see how small our Airstream looks (to the right).

Our check-in time at our campground was 4pm, so we decided to stop at the first Visitor Center of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park which was right off the highway and about 10 miles from Medora.  This is the Painted Canyon Visitor Center and the views were beautiful - we got some good information, took a beautiful 1-mile loop hike in the canyon, and then headed to Medora to check-in.

The photo doesn't do it justice - the colors were beautiful.

Soon after, we arrived to our home for 8 nights - Rough Rider State Park - which was a beautiful campground along the Little Missouri River and less than 10 minutes from Medora.  We loved staying here and below are multiple photos of the park and the campsite.  Paul pulled out the drone and captured some beautiful shots.

The day we arrived, we did a hike along the river and Paul captured this photo of a bald eagle flying away.

The cliffs along the river and campground were so pretty.

This really gives you a beautiful perspective - our Airstream is in the lower right corner.

In this shot, our Airstream is more in the middle.

Another plus about this area is that it was along the Maah Daah Hey Trail, which is a 144-mile trail that cuts through the Badlands and connects the two units of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  We could walk a section of it right from our campsite that took us into the hills for some breathtaking views of the river, the Badlands, and the nearby Bully Pulpit Golf Course.

Our campground is in the distance

The golf course was gorgeous and really challenging!  Best to view it from afar!

We could even see the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library from this hike - more on that soon!

After the hike, we went into Medora for lunch - it's a quaint western town with lots of stores and restaurants and very enjoyable to walk around.

Note the door handle

Wooden sidewalks with the Badlands in the distance.

One thing that Medora is known for is the Medora Musical - which has been running every summer season since 1965.  It's a great high-energy, country-western variety show. It takes place in this beautiful outdoor theater carved directly into a scenic hillside overlooking the landscape.  Before the show, we enjoyed another Medora favorite - the Pitchfork Fondue dinner buffet.  Chefs fondue the steaks on actual pitchforks by cooking them in vats of oil - they were delicious!

Just as we got to the parking lot, the rain was stopping and I was able to catch this stunning rainbow!  The sun came out soon after!

The steaks are lined up for the Pitchfork Fondue

Steaks cooking in the oil

All done - time for the show!

We walked down to our seats - you can see the Medora sign in the background on the hill - it becomes part of the show and lights up at night!

Live horses are part of the show

There are times throughout the show that they open up the set and you can see the Badlands in the distance - Paul captured this beautiful sunset shot.

This was taken as we were leaving after the show - so patriotic!

Taken from the walkway between the Pitchfork Fondue and the Show.

The next day was all about visiting the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, which just opened on July 4th.  We got our tickets in advance and had heard so many great things about it - and it met and exceeded all of our expectations.  The architecture is so beautiful and blends in with the landscape.  As we were in the area for multiple days, we actually came back a few times to walk the outside areas, which are so pretty - including the roof and a circular boardwalk.  There was so much we learned about Theodore Roosevelt and what an accomplished man and President he was.  The library is state-of-the-art and incorporates many interactive exhibits using AI.  As you arrive, you are given a wrist-band with a wooden disc that you program with your photo and throughout you can get AI photos of you during TR's time.  So fun!

In front of the signed with the library behind us - you can barely see it as it was designed to blend in with the beautiful landscape.

Approaching the entrance

The entry walkway

Another perspective from the circular boardwalk outside

AI Generated - Paul at the Ranch

AI Generated - Jen on the prairie - Or is it Laura Ingalls?  LOL

On the campaign trail!

Also on the Campaign trail!

There were multiple exhibits based on the various stages of his incredible life - the election section was really cool.

They had a separate room that displayed his Man in the Area speech - a voice read the speech and highlighted the words on the wall - amazing

Lots of great quotes throughout

The interior lobby was designed to complement the landscape

The roof top garden which was part of the walk

Beautiful views of the landscape along the boardwalk

We went back twice to do this walk - so pretty!

The next day we explored the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park - the entrance to the South Unit is in Medora - right next to the downtown and very close to the library.  We drove the 36-mile scenic loop and stopped many times along the way and did multiple short hikes.  Beautiful landscape and abundant wildlife.

Bison and wild turkeys along the road soon after we entered.

The Ridge Line Hike - beautiful views.

The Coal Vein Nature Trail - featuring Badlands geology shaped by a 26-year underground coal fire.

Lots of wild horses in this unit of the park

More sweeping views at Balcourt overlook.

Our final hike was at Wind Cave Overlook - amazing views of the Little Missouri River

Pronghorn Antelope along the prairie

Multiple Prairie Dog "towns" along the route - they are so cute!

We next visited the North Unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park and that entrance is about 1 hour and 20 minutes from Medora along a beautiful road with many fields of sunflowers!

The north unit is a little smaller and also has abundant wildlife and beautiful scenery.  We did a 28-mile scenic drive (14-miles each way out and back) and did a few hikes and made a few overlook stops.  

We went straight to the end of the 14 miles and hiked the Oxbow Overlook - stunning!

You hike through lots of prairie to get to the overlook.

Working our way back - lots of bison along the road.

This fella was hanging out by himself on a cliffside - it made you wonder how he got there!

The River Bend overlook is about halfway down the road and one of the more known overlooks in this unit of the park.  This historic stone shelter sits on the edge of the butte built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1937.

We then did the Prairie Dog town trail - beautiful colorful cliffs behind us.

Prairie dogs were everywhere along the trail so we got pretty close to them!

You can see the little brown circle to the right of Paul - that's how close we were!

Near the end of our visit, we stopped at the Cannonball Concretions pullout where there are perfectly rounded spherical stone formations created by a unique chemical and geological process where minerals bind sediment layers together.  

This gives you an idea of the size.

And there were multiple formations in the cliffs themselves.

Our final view of TR NP as we were leaving - a truly special place.

It's funny - when we first checked into the Rough Rider campground and told the ranger we were staying 8 days, she indicated that she couldn't understand why we were staying so long.  Although Medora is a tiny town in the middle of nowhere in North Dakota, as you can clearly tell, there is so much to do and we enjoyed it thoroughly.  It was time for our next stop as we made our way to the International Airstream Rally in Minot.

On the way, we saw more sunflowers and beautiful hayfields.  Now I know where the lyric "amber waves of grain" comes from.  North Dakota has so much wide open beautiful space along the roads.

We spent two nights at a US Army Corps of Engineers campground called Downstream Campground and appropriately, it was downstream from the Garrison Dam - a massive earth-fill embankment dam on the Missouri River.  It was a good midpoint between Medora and Minot and it was such a peaceful and pretty spot.  And we also met a few other Airstreamers who were also heading to Minot!

A beautiful peaceful spot

We walked throughout the campground after dinner - beautiful views of the river.

Very close to our campsite was a nature trail that went along the river and through the meadows - it was lovely and we saw lots of wildlife.

There were hundreds of white pelicans in the river - who knew pelicans would be in North Dakota?

A beaver swam by . . . 

This area was VERY rural, but about 20 minutes away was a fabulous museum - the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center.  During their journey, they spent 5 months in Washburn, North Dakota during the winter months.  This stop was significant as they prepared for the next part of their famous exploration venturing into an area of the continent which had not been yet discovered.

This sculpture is of Seaman, the famous Newfoundland dog who accompanied Lewis & Clark on their expedition.  This is located at Fort Mandan, just down the road from the Interpretive Center, where the crew stayed for the 5 months.

The object of our mission is to explore as well!  We enjoyed our brief stay by Garrison Dam and now it was time to head to Minot to attend our very first Airstream International Rally.  More on that in the next post and I promise it won't be over a month until you hear from us again!

As always, thanks for your love and support and for following along - love, Jen & Paul