ND & (some of) Teddy

 On Tuesday morning we slept in a little, enjoyed breakfast and the hotel lake view, then packed up before a storm rolled in.  We drove through rain into North Dakota-another new state.  After we drove through Fargo, the skies cleared and the topography changed to wide open plains. Our destination was Teddy Roosevelt National Park.

We decided to stop in Jamestown for a lunch break.  It was close to halfway in our drive, had gas stations, a couple of restaurants, a Wal Mart, and a Frontier Village that sounded like a good spot to walk around & explore.

It was a nice little area-made up of old homestead buildings, and set up to look like a homestead village.

And tucked behind the buildings was the world's largest bison sculpture:

Around the corner was the National Bison Museum & that was our next stop.

It was small, but had lots of info on the history of the area, and how we almost made bison extinct.

Leaving the museum we refilled the car, gathered some sandwich supplies at Wal-Mart, ate lunch, then continued west.

Our drive took us past The Enchanted Highway.

We did not take the exit, but did enjoy their kitschy highway displays.

And the topography changed again.

This time to big buttes and canyons.

We rolled into Medora, ND and headed directly to the Visitor Center for Teddy Roosevelt.  After gathering some park info, stopping at the bathrooms, and chatting with some people from SC, we headed into the park.

Not long after we turned into the park we saw this:

a huge prarie dog town and our first bison (of this trip).

We spotted some new birds, and wound up and over some canyons.

Then pulled off, hopped out to check out this view:

Amazing.

And the weather was fantastic-barely 70 degrees and breezy.

We spent a few minutes soaking it all in, then turned back toward our car to see this:

Yup.

That wee fella had popped up from a nearby gully while we were enjoying the view.

We stayed near the car watching him, then as he continued across the road, and closer to our car, we slowly went to other side and got in.

Thankfully he was not concerned with us at all.

After that excitement, we headed back to Medora and our hotel for the next few nights, grabbed some sweatshirts, and headed to dinner.

Great first day in North Dakota.