We left Billings and headed east across the state of Montana. It was an easy journey with relatively flat terrain and visibility that extended for miles. The best part is that the speed limit is 80 miles an hour, so we made good time. The only downside with the route is the swarms of insects that felt that they were tougher than a speeding car.
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| Our car's windshield after driving through Montana. |
After driving for almost four hours, we reached our destination--the small town of Medora, North Dakota on the western edge of the state. Medora was founded in 1883, by a minor French nobleman named Marquis de Mores. After retiring from the military, he moved to North Dakota to pursue business ventures including ranching and stage-coaching. However, his boldest idea was to create a meatpacking plant in Medora that would ship refrigerated meat to Chicago by railroad. Since this would make their stockyards obsolete, the powerful "Chicago beef trust" colluded with the railroad industry to destroy Mores' plan. The railroads refused to give him equitable rates to transport his product causing his overhead to skyrocket. By 1886, the Marquis had seen the writing on the wall. He shuttered his meatpacking plant and left the United States. He would eventually pursue adventures in colonial Vietnam before being assassinated by the French government in Algeria ten years after leaving North Dakota.
Medora would have remained one of many tiny, anonymous towns in the Midwest if not for another visitor who also arrived in the area in 1883. A young and adventurous New York politician named Theodore Roosevelt initially came to North Dakota to hunt bison. He fell in love with the area and bought a dwelling named the Maltese Cross Cabin. In the following year, his wife and mother both died on the same day. A distraught Roosevelt retired from politics and purchased a larger property north of Medora called the Elkhorn Ranch to become a cattle rancher. During his time in the region, he would become frenemies with the Marquis de Mores. Roosevelt tried his hand at the old west lifestyle for three years before a disastrous winter wiped out herd of cattle. In later years, Teddy Roosevelt would attribute his experience in North Dakota to enabling him to become President of the United States.
During his time in the Medora area, there is no doubt that Roosevelt also gained an appreciation of the importance of the country's natural assets. Therefore, in tribute to America's first conservationist President, the National Parks Service created the Theodore Roosevelt National Park (TRNP) in 1978. There are actually two components of this protected area. The main area of the park is accessible directly from Medora. A second smaller region that contains the Elkhorn Ranch lies 30-40 miles north.
We stopped first in Medora and walked around the town. With less than 200 inhabitants, it didn't take very long to see it all. Most of the town is geared towards serving the tourist who come to visit the national park.
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| The municipal buildings in "downtown" Medora |
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| The sole gas station in town had some old-school pumps that we haven't seen in decades. |
We next visited the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The South Unit Visitor's Center has a couple of displays showing artifacts from the regions history including some of Theodore Roosevelt's firearms. Apparently, in prehistoric times, the North Dakota badlands were a swamp inhabited by some pretty nasty-looking critters.
A short walk from the visitor center is Roosevelt's Maltese Cross Cabin that has been preserved and relocated to the park's grounds. After seeing the size of this quaint, little structure, it's clear to see why the future President invested in the larger Elkhorn Ranch.
Although visitors to TRNP can partake in several activities such as hiking, camping, and horseback riding, we only had a couple of hours in the afternoon to visit. Therefore, we jumped back in the car and took the scenic loop that covered more than half of the park.
The region that TRNP encompasses is considered to be the badlands of North Dakota. Existence can be tough in a typical badland. Rocky outcroppings formed from erosion dominate the landscape. The soil is dry and vegetation can be sparse. Winters can be very harsh with severe cold and snow. Nevertheless, the landscape that we saw didn't look too bad. Since we were visiting in the summer months, we saw plenty of grass and vegetation. The Little Missouri River also runs through the park creating a good source for water for many inhabitants.
In fact, we were able to see plenty of animals while driving along the scenic route. Herds of wild horses roam the countryside.
We also passed several fields teeming with prairie dogs. These rodents are pretty cute to watch, but they are a huge nuisance to farmers and ranchers on the plains.
We passed the now-shuttered Peaceful Valley Ranch which used to offer horseback riding to park visitors. The enclosed pastures are still filled with animals. Instead of wild horses though, it was a herd of bison.
We saw a few other wild animals in the park including the occasional pronghorns.
Overall, TRNP isn't too bad. It is definitely nowhere close to the level of Yellowstone, Rocky Mountains, or Grand Tetons. We possibly would have liked the park better if we had more time to spend there. Regardless, I don't think that TRNP is really worth going out of the way to visit because it is so far away from any other attractions.
We checked into our hotel room at the AmericInn in Medora. It's no five star lodging, but it is pretty inexpensive. We only had a few minutes to relax before we had to head out for our evening entertainment.
For dinner we were eating at a kitschy place called the Pitchfork Fondue. The main attraction is steaks that our speared onto pitchforks and deep fried in large vats of oil. All-you-can-eat sides are also available at the salad bar. Dining is done at large communal tables outdoors. Surprisingly, the steaks were actually well cooked and pretty good. Alternatives to steak were some grilled chicken, BBQ ribs, and bison brisket, but these were all pretty bad.
One of the best parts of the Fondue Pitchfork was the great view that it offered over the town and countryside. One of the nearby attractions that we didn't have time to visit is Marquis de Mores' chateau that he had built in 1883. With 26 ornately-decorated rooms, it stands in contrast to Teddy Roosevelt's tiny and basic Maltese Cross Cabin.
After we finished our dinner, we walked over to the nearby entrance for Medora the Musical. In 1958, the Burning Hills Amphitheater was constructed in the side of a hill for a show that celebrated the centennial of Teddy Roosevelt's birthday. In 1965, the arena was expanded and improved. A new show called Medora the Musical opened and has been playing continuously to the present day. The production incorporates singing, dancing, and other forms of country-western entertainment that ties in with Teddy Roosevelt's life.
When The Wife had initially expressed interest in seeing this production, I rolled my eyes and told her no. It sounded tacky, As always, she eventually got her way. After seeing the show, I now have to admit that it was the best part of our visit to North Dakota. Yes, it was wholesome family entertainment, but it was well done, interesting, and not cheesy at all. One of the best parts was a troupe of jump-ropers called Flight Crew who had competed previously on America's Got Talent.
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| If you don't enjoy your time at Medora the Musical, Sheriff Bear will fill you with lead. |
We did notice that several of the people working at the Medora Musical and the Pitchfork Fondue were obvious foreigners. With such a small population in the surrounding area to draw from, the tourist attractions hires international workers to fill many of the jobs. It's probably a culture shock for many of these peoples as we noticed that North Dakota is a total whitewash. We saw hardly any minority locals or tourists during our time in Medora.
*****
Tuesday, July 31, 2018
*****
We would be on the road again as we would be saying goodbye to North Dakota and visiting its southern relative. Before we left, we drove a few miles over to the Painted Canyon Visitor Center at TRNP. From that area, there are great vistas overlooking the badlands. A 1.1 mile trail also leads down into the canyon below, but we didn't have the time to hike it.
For the next several hours, we drove south through small highways and towns. The farther we went, the more motorcycles we kept seeing. Then it dawned on us that the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally was less than a week away. This giant annual event for motorcycle enthusiasts attracts thousands of visitors to the Black Hills area of South Dakota. We would be spending the next two days in that same vicinity.
Before we arrived at the Black Hills, we decided to take a small detour back into Wyoming to see a curious natural structure that dominates the surrounding countryside. Devils Tower is a 867 foot tall butte that has long been sacred to the Native Americans tribes in the area. Geologists are not quite certain how it was formed, but theories range from a combination of volcanic activity and erosion.
Devils Tower was the first national monument having been given that distinction by President Teddy Roosevelt in 1905. Consequently, this Federal oversight led to a long wait for us to get into the park to see Devils tower. In good federal fashion, there was only one person manning the ticket booth at the entrance to the park. It took us almost half an hour to finally make it to the front of the queue.
Devils Tower is very popular among rock climbers. Thousands of people climb it annually. To preserve the rock monument, the NPS has specific rules on the type of gear that can be used to climb Devils Tower. Additionally, to show respect to the Native American tribes, climbing during their religious festivals in the month of June is frowned upon. We did speak with two men in their fifties who had just finished the climb. They told us it took them about 4-5 hours of constant climbing to reach the top.
Only people who register with the NPS are allowed to climb Devils Tower. However, visitors can scramble up the pile of rocks at the base of the monument. The Kids decided they wanted to do that and, for some unknown reason, I followed them.
I do admit that the views from up there were pretty nice. I can only imagine how much better they would be at the very top of Devils Tower.
After exiting the grounds of the national monument, we continued southeast until we reached the Black Hills of South Dakota. The journey was slow as we often found ourselves stuck on two-lane roads behind groups of motorcyclists. Because their groups would tend to spread out tak up plenty of space, they were almost impossible to pass as they slowly plodded along on their choppers.
We finally reached our destination--the Bavarian Inn on the outskirts of Custer, South Dakota. This hotel didn't have the prettiest or most spacious rooms, but it was charming with great service.
For dinner that night, we headed back into town and ate at the Sage Creek Grille which served standard American-style food. The food was good but nothing too exciting.
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| Tomato basil soup |
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| Almond panko-crusted baked walleye |
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| Buffalo burger |
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| Grilled wild salmon with risotto |
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| Summer vegetable angel hair pasta |
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| Strawberry cheescake |
Since we still had time, we decided to drive to Mount Rushmore National Memorial to see the nighttime festivities. This structure has the faces of three of the United States' greatest Presidents--George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln--carved into the side of a mountain. Theodore Roosevelt somehow also made the cut. The work was commissioned in 1925 and finally completed in 1941. The head sculptor Gutzon Borglum died a few years before the project was finished. Unlike the movie North By Northwest, visitors are not allowed to climb the structure. A walking path can get you close to the base of the mountain. However, you can still only see the presidential faces carved from afar.
There is no entrance fee to visit Mount Rushmore. However, there is a $10 parking fee that is good for an entire year. We arrived at the site with still enough daylight to take a couple of photos and visit the souvenir shops.
We found some seats in the amphitheater and waited for the sun to set. A park ranger then welcomed everybody and a short film was shown on the screen below. Once that was finished, the darkened visages on Mount Rushmore were then illuminated with lights. The national anthem played. People clapped. Armed forces veterans were invited downstage to help with the flag lowering. People clapped again. And it was over.
It was an okay ceremony. It was a nice touch that they honored the veterans at the end. We considered going back to visit Mount Rushmore during the daylight hours, especially since it would be free. However, since we couldn't really go inside, we rationalized that this would be as good as it would get. Hence, we eschewed a follow up visit.
