We've had a heatwave for the past several days, it's been in the 100's with smoky haze. Thank goodness for the wind.
Welcome to North Dakota - to quote a favorite DJ- The vacation spot of the stars. Bismark, the state capital of North Dakota has a population of 61,000 and elevation 1653.
Thursday, Aug. 12 It's a short drive from Medora to Bismark only 140 miles. I guess you could say this is our Capital City tour, we're planning to stop at each capital on our way back to Texas. Bismark seems like a nice town - clean, manageable traffic, the scenic Missouri River flows through it and no sign of homeless. (Pay attention west coast!) But then again who would want to be homeless in ND in the winter. We decided to go out to dinner at a local brew pub, the first one, Laughing Sun was packed so we drove across town to Bismark Brewing, the kitchen just closed (it was 8 o'clock) We drove back to the first one, still packed but we were able to get a table. It is one of those restaurants that "encourage" noise. Dinner was good but the hearing wasn't the same for a while.
Friday, Aug. 13 Happy birthday Chris! She's my Friday the 13th baby what a lucky day. Our first stop was the North Dakota Heritage Center located on the capitol building grounds. The Galleries show everything from the beginning of time to the lives of the Native Americans and the influx of the "new Americans". North Dakota is an agricultural state, exhibits showed early farm equipment progressing to modern day equipment and the oil industries growth in the Dakota's. We have seen many beautiful capitol buildings in our travels, we christened Florida's capitol building in Tallahassee is the "ugliest", when we saw ND's we thought maybe it would take over first place - Wrong! Similar to Oregon, their capitol building burned in 1930. A more modern building replaced it, not typical, no rotunda and dome from a distance it loo
ks like an office building. AKA Skyscraper in the Prairie, 19 stories, inside is very elegant. made of white limestone and black granite. On the ground floor is the gallery of Rough Riders, portraits of famous North Dakodans, Angie Dickenson, Lawrence Welk, Roger Maris and Clint Hall (Plus many many more) Clint was the Secret Service agent who crawled on the back of Kennedy's limousine shielding them from further shots. The first floor, Memorial Hall, has 40 foot ceilings, 5 chandeliers,(that look like a head of wheat) each weighs 1,000 pounds and requires 109 light bulbs each. The elevator doors look like works of art, the observation deck on the 18th floor you can see 35 miles on a clear day, we didn't have that kind of luck it was too hazy from smoke.
Saturday, Aug. 14 The former governors mansion in Bismark was built in 1884 for a private residence, a liquor wholesaler. It was home to 20 governors between 1893 and 1960, not as grandiose as the one in Helena. Restored as it would have been in 1893, some of the furniture belonged to former governors and the rest of the furnishings were period pieces. As the temperatures were rising to 100 we went to see Camp Hancock, an infantry post from 1872 - 1877 then as a signal post until 1894. On the grounds were a retired Northern Pacific Locomotive, a Bread of Life church and a weather station. At that point we were melting, deciding the best idea would be to spend the rest of the afternoon at the A/C coach.
Monday, Aug. 16th, A very sad day, we were on our way to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center on the Missouri River 40 miles from Bismark, when I got a call that my dear friend Joan passed away earlier that morning. We took our beginning Quilting class together, we kept each other from quitting several times. played pinochle every Thursday, I babysat her Maltese Toby while she vacationed and had lots of good times together. She is one of the people in my life that I have been blessed to have known. Fort Lincoln State Park was once an important infantry and calvary post, General Custer left there to go to Battle of the Bighorn. Big Mistake! Reminds me of the song lyrics "please Mr Custer I don't want to go!" The reconstructed "On a Slant Indian village" earthen lodges that depicted their lifestyle of the Mandan Indians 1575-1781, further up the hill are 3 reconstructed blockhouses standing guard over the fort and Indian Village. Plus a beautiful view of the Missouri River. A small graveyard that held the remains of the Little Bighorn Battle survivors ( I didn't realize there were any) that were removed and placed at the Bighorn National Monument.
Tuesday, Aug. 17 Time to hit the road again. We left Bismark for the 230 mile drive to Pierre, South Dakota, pronounced Pier, we found out. It was a long hard drive on secondary roads with a crosswind. We're staying at River View RV Park in Ft. Pierre, across the river and up on a bluff overlooking the town of Pierre and Missouri River. Still bloody hot, 106 just wipes you out.
That's it for now, enjoy the pic's!
TTFN
Gary and Pam
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