Girls Weekend 2024, North Dakota. Saturday, October 12

 We have been in no hurry this year to get up early and   get out the door for our daily adventures. Last year we   had a LOT on our agenda and most involved early   mornings, so we decided that this year would be a bit   slower-paced and more relaxed. True to that goal, we g   got up around 8ish or so. The first thing we did was t   toss the states and they ALL went face down but one, l   leaving us with next year’s destination. ALASKA! We   talked a little bit about where to go in Alaska and I   suggested Homer, which is supposed to be a charming place to visit with lots of art, artists, shops and restaurants. We will give this more thought and make a decision later. The rest of the morning was spent playing word games (mostly me), catching up on work e-mails and work-related things (Kathi….I am mostly retired at this point!) We had decided the night before that today we would visit the Chateau de Mores State Historic Site near Medora as well as Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We learned of the Chateau from a woman who sat next to us at the “Ring of Fire” show we went to on Thursday evening and thought it sounded like something that we would enjoy. We had some English muffins and yogurt for breakfast and eventually got ready for our day. We left the house around noon and drove toward Medora (which is about 30 minutes away). We stopped at the Theodore Roosevelt National Park Painted Canyon Visitor Center first and decided that we would walk the nature trail. Now, when I see “nature trail”, I think short, relatively flat trail that showcases the natural elements of the area. All of these things were true of this trail except for the flat part. This trail, while just over a mile in length, dropped down nearly to the floor of the canyon!

It is a beautiful trail and provides great views of the surrounding badlands and takes you through juniper and other vegetation particular to the area, but it was just a bit more strenuous than I was expecting! After finishing the trail and taking a bathroom break at the visitor’s center and some photos at the National Park sign, we moved on to the Chateau de Mores State Historic Site. The site includes the home of the Marquis de Mores who arrived in the area in 1883 and founded the town of Medora, which he named after his wife. The Marquis was a French aristocrat with an entrepreneurial spirit who moved here with hopes of finding a fortune in the cattle industry. He wasn’t really successful in this endeavor and the North Dakota winters proved to be far too cold for him and his family and they only spent 3 summers in the home before moving on. It is an interesting place to visit with a fascinating history and Kathi and I were the only ones touring the home. We had a great guide, Carter, who had fairly recently moved to this area to study history and take the job here. He was quite knowledgeable about the family and their life in North Dakota. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit. Should you be interested in learning more about the Marquis you can do so here: https://www.history.nd.gov/historicsites/chateau/index.html 

Next we went to the main (and ONLY) entrance into the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt NP.  A couple of interesting things to note about this park. One, there is a North Unit and a South Unit and they are 68 miles apart and not at all connected to one another. Secondly, the North Unit operates under Central Time, while the South Unit operates under Mountain Time. Confusing, right? Anyway, after stopping in the visitor center to pick up a park map, we went out the back door to tour Teddy’s cozy little hunting cabin, the Maltese Cross Cabin.

The cabin has quite a history itself, having traveled around the country. “During Roosevelt's presidency, the cabin was acquired for the 1904 World's Fair, hosted in St. Louis, MO. The cabin traveled from Missouri to Portland, OR for the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition. It would spend time in Fargo, ND before settling on the grounds of the state capital in Bismarck, ND. The Daughters of the American Revolution eventually took over the care of the cabin, and acquired many of the items you can see today. In 1959, twelve years after the park was established, the Maltese Cross Cabin came to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Restored to its original state, you can walk in Roosevelt's footsteps by touring the cabin behind the South Unit Visitor Center.” (https://www.nps.gov/places/maltese-cross-cabin) Once we left the cabin, the Park Ranger came and locked it up. Apparently it was closing time for the Visitor’s Center (4:30). 

We went back to the car and were looking over the park map and trying to decide if we still have the energy to do the 38 mile scenic drive this evening or tomorrow. We originally planned to walk several of the small trails that shoot off from the overlook sites on the drive, but were both a bit tired from our earlier hike and had talked ourselves into coming back to the park tomorrow. On our way out, Kathi had a question about what part of the scenic drive was closed and a couple of the park rangers were in the parking lot talking, so we rolled down the window and asked about the closed portion of the drive. Then the ranger went on to tell us that we would be making the drive at a great time to see wildlife and also recommended a couple of good places to watch the sunset. This conversation made our decision for us and we turned onto the road into the park to make the scenic drive. Almost immediately, a mule deer (I think that’s what it was, anyway), crossed the road in front of use and we knew that we had made the right decision.

Next we came upon one of prairie dog towns (there are several in the park) and sat and watched the cute little critters run around for a while. We drove on and I spotted some bison in the distance. We stopped and I gave Kathi my camera to snap a few pics since they were on her side of the car. Not long after we came across some of the wild horses that live in the park. Boy, the ranger was right!

Late afternoon, early evening appears to be a great time to see wildlife!! After getting some photos of the wild horses we hit the road again, only to be brought to a halt while some bison crossed the road right in front of us! What magnificent creatures!
But I would never want to make one mad. We drove a little further and the scenic route and made note of the places the ranger said would be great spots to watch sunset. We turned around before we got to the end so that we could get a spot to watch the sunset. And what a beautiful sunset it was. We were both so very glad that we decided to stay in the park and make this drive today.

The only complaint I have is that the temperature dropped quite a bit and it was COLD outside of the car taking sunset photos!

But, it was worth it. Once we got back to our home away from home, Kathi made dinner (Turkey Shwarma in Lettuce leaves), while I worked on the Thursday journal and looked for a new show for us to watch since we agreed that “The Regime” was just at little bit too out there for our taste. I chose “Murder in a Small Town”, a Canadian show about, well about murder in a small Canadian town. We both liked it and will continue watching it. I could barely keep my eyes open at this point so went bed, while Kathi stayed up a bit longer to work on something, then she went to bed, too. Tomorrow we will travel to another time zone and visit the North Unit of the park.