Out of all the states we have visited, it appeared that North Dakota had a lot of sights to see. Between Lewis & Clark, The Enchanted Highway, Grasslands, the Capitol and later on Fargo, we could have stayed here for a while.
We struck camp quickly and we wound back towards Bismarck. While driving towards the capitol, we ran across this park along the Missouri River. A great tribute to Lewis & Clark, along with Sacajawea, featuring 2D images of the traveling group as well as a replica of their keel boats which they used to travel the unknown. The park was a great opportunity to walk along the banks of the river and check out the steam boat. The dogs, who were not on leashes, tried their best to get into the water, but they listened to us and came back. Can you believe it? They came back!
Off to the capitol we went. The building was a tad disappointing to see from the outside. No dome, high risey, blah. I wanted to see if the insides of the building would make up for it's lackluster appearance.
I headed toward the front doors as Tom played some ball with the dogs on the great lawn. I understand the building was built during the recession and thus many embellishments to the building were left off. It actually has an Art Deco appearance on the inside with long lines of metal and lamps. The round building to the West of the 241' high rise holds the House on the left and the Senate on the right.
I left the building after getting my book stamped and easily found Tom and the dogs. No too hard to find as they were the only ball players on the field.
We headed onto the open road again. The dogs slept after an active morning and we were on our way to Fargo and then to Minnesota to camp. In keeping with staying off the highways, we headed North on ND-83. It was there that we ran across the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center and the Fort Mandan Historic Site. It was also the site of Seaman, the Newfoundland that traveled with the Corps of Discovery over 200 years ago.
The statue of Seaman below was dedicated in 2006 and weighs in at over 1400 pounds. Pictures were necessary and a nice older woman was gracious enough to take the picture.
We really had no idea of the existence of the Fort Mandan site. We came to see Seaman. Since it was there, we decided to check it out. We both had a dog on a leash and Tom was extremely hesitant as I walked Luther up to the entrance area of Fort Mandan. My thought was that if there is a big statue of a dog, there should be no reason to not allow a dog into the replica fort.
I entered into the first set of doors and was met by the shopkeep of the gift shop at the entrance of the next. I asked if it would be OK to bring my dog in. I explained my logic and she agreed. All clear, Tom! In comes BuddyJack and Tom. We did not wear out our welcome by hanging out i the gift shop and enclosed exhibits. We brought them in the front and went out the back door towards the fort.
We were met by a docent who was with another couple going through the history of Fort Mandan. We poked around, looking into the myriad of rooms they replicated until he was through. He was nonchalant about the dogs and just kept on talking.
Luther & BuddyJack, both grazers on good grass, chomped on the fresh tufts of grass around the vertical poles inside the fort. The docent asked the obligatory questions of where we were from and how did we hear about the fort. We let him know that we never heard of it. We came to see the dog statue. That was the first time he stopped talking as he was taken aback by my statement.
We listened to the docent until some additional people came in and he started the same conversations with the new folks. It was time for us to move on. Tom took the dogs around the building and back to the car while I stopped back into the gift shop to check out their wares and to check out the additional displays. Seaman below was my favorite.
There's an interesting story of why we took the next picture. Suffice to say, it was a thank you pic for someone who recommended some highlights of ND. Cheers, PE!
Jamestown, ND claims to have the World's Largest Buffalo. Along with the buffalo, they also have a western town that you walk through to see the buffalo. Mercantile, Saloon, Church, Jail...all in a row with a raised wooden sidewalk. Pretty touristy, but cute. They even have a stagecoach ride to take you from one side of "town" to the other.
Turtle Lake offered a roadside attraction of it's own. Rusty the Turtle, weighing in at two tons. Great for relaxing or just a photo op. Thank you Turtle Lake!
So here we are toward the Eastern edge of North Dakota. It would be time to say goodbye to the Peace Garden State. We passed through Fargo, barely noticing what the city would offer us, but it was getting late, we were hungry and we needed to set up camp.
We decided to try the Buffalo River State Park. We pulled in and quickly found out that there was no room at the inn. Crap! There was another campsite a number of miles down the road, but it was Friday. Weekends are never a good time to try to find a campsite late in the day during the Summer. I decided to head back into Fargo to get some grub. At least one of our needs could easily be met.
I had been using Yelp! to check on different options for food/lodging since the beginning of our trip. At the top of the Yelp list for restaurants was a place called Rhombus Guys just down the street. I do love me some pizza and beer.
We sat at the bar so we could quickly order. The place was jammed and we were famished. Two beers and an order of Rhombus Sticks, lightly seasoned Romano & garlic butter bread sticks was a great start. The service was wonderful, attentive & fun. We ordered our pizza and while waiting, spoke with the bartender about where to stay, explaining our situation.
He offered us so much more than the answer of the Kelly Inn for lodging. He talked about the university located near by. How that university brings loads of hipsters to Fargo. Where those hipsters hang out at night. What we should do since we are staying for the night. He was a wealth of information.
We finished our meal and took some doggy bags for the dogs. They love pizza bones! I assume that Fargo has many buffalos painted similar to the one below. Actually, I never saw another one. Oh well...
We took our bartender's advice and headed down the street to check out some of the local establishments. Pub crawl! Stop one, stop two, stop three...each unique with beer taps and lots of people. They all had rifle games. Tried one of them, but failed miserably.
Stop four was a long, narrow bar named Dempsey's with some live music playing. Tom loves live music and was doing the shuck and jive with the rest of the crowd. It was a fun evening until Tom realized he lost his wallet somewhere. We looked under a few tables, but there was so much hooting, hollering and dancing from the patrons we couldn't find it.
He spoke with the bartender and left his phone number. It was moderately okay if he did lose it. The only cards we needed where in our slick iPhone case holder along with our id's. If we needed to, we could cancel the other ones and have them sent to my mother where we could get them when we got to Lawrence. Cash was minimal.
We headed back to the Kelly Inn, a bit deflated after a great night. Sometime during the night, roughly around 3 AM, the bartender called and said they found the wallet and we could pick it up when they open the next day, at 4:00 PM! Ugh! 4:00 PM? That's a whole day of driving gone! Ugh!
We will handle this in the morning. Tonight it's time for bed. The pix below will always remind me of no drinking and dancing allowed in Fargo, unless your wallets in the car, eh?
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