Theodore Roosevelt National Park - Scenery

Dear Family and Friends,

We loved this national park.  To me, this is the best thing North Dakota has to offer.  We saw beautiful scenery and a lot of wildlife.

I will be writing three posts about this park.  Scenery, Wild Horses and Buffalo.

The scenery was so beautiful.

This area of North Dakota is known as the Bad Lands.  I guess it would be bad for farming...but for viewing it is awesome.  Take a look.

Our fabulous tour guide and driver.

Chuck enjoying the fabulous view from above.

America the Beautiful!

Love,
Nancy

North Dakota Interstate 94

Dear Family and Friends,

I told you on my last post that I would share with you about Theodore Roosevelt National Park this time, but I was ahead of myself when I said that.  In order to keep the events of this road trip in order, I am going to show and tell about the highway from Bismark to the park.

Now just in case you might think the ride across North Dakota is boring, I am here to prove you wrong.  My goodness, so much to see.

There are not a lot of towns and people along the freeway, so I can understand one's reluctance to come to N.D.

But, near New Salem, not too many miles out of Bismark we saw this huge cow....

She doesn't look so big here, but we stopped and saw her up close.

Here is Chuck standing under her so that you can see her size.  She is the largest Holstien in the world.  N.D. seems to have a theme going.

Of course Matt wanted to clown around with "Sweet Sue."

We were having a good time playing around until I looked up on the hill behind us.  Oh my, that bull did not think we were being very respectful to his girl.

We decided to hop in the car quickly and head on down the road.

I did take a picture of the beautiful mountains we were yet to cross.  LOL

An hour or so later we saw another large display.  We pulled off the road and saw a tribute to migrating geese.

It was so large that you can hardly see Matt standing below the display.

Awhile later, we came to a real town.  Dickerson is where we had lunch.  They had a huge petrified tree stump on display right in the middle of town.  Matt came up with this clever way to pose so the picture would be more interesting.  Good ol' Chuck played along.

Before we knew it we were pulling into the National Park.

As you can see, driving Interstate 94 across N.D. is full of excitement.

The next post will be the awesome scenery in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

We are still having fun!

Love,
Nancy

Custer's last residence

Dear Family and Friends,

Another adventure we had while visiting Bismark, ND was also at Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park. This is where the 7th calvary headed by Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer was stationed.  It was from this location that they set out for Little Big Horn.

Custer and his wife, Libbie, lived on Fort Abraham Lincoln from 1873 until Custer died at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in the spring of 1876.  Approximately 500 troops were also stationed there. Custer's first home at the fort was built in the summer of 1873, but it burned down in February 1874. Today the house and seven other major fort buildings, including a barracks, the fort's makeshift theater, and a stable building have been rebuilt.

Matt took this picture of us with the sign at the entrance to the fort.  If we look cold, it is because we were.

We were able to tour Custer's house which has been rebuilt exactly as it was in 1875.

This is a picture of the main rooms - Parlor and Dining Room.

Another view of the Parlor.

This is the Dining Room.

and the kitchen.

Another interesting room downstairs was a room for bathing.  It was not a bathroom as we know it because it did not have a toilet or shower but it had this funny looking tub.  Mrs. Custer said bathing in it was like bathing in a thimble.

This is a card table in a game room upstairs.

Notice that the cards do not have numbers on them.  You had to count the number of suit characters yourself.

This is Custer's actual field desk.  It was in transit to Little Big Horn but he was killed before it arrived.

The master bedroom.  The bed seemed quite short for a six foot tall man.  The guide told us that it was the custom of the day to sleep propped up.  This was thought to prevent tuberculosis.

Upon leaving the house, we saw their outhouse.

I imagine that was a long walk in the North Dakota winters.

We had a wonderful time filled with history.

Next time I will share some spectacular photos from Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Love,

Nancy

FOTO FRIDAY - 5/16/14

Dear Family and Friends,

When Chuck and I were in Columbus, Georgia for my class reunion, we went to see the oldest cemetery in Columbus, Linwood Cemetery.

It just so happened to be Confederate Memorial Day on Monday,  April 28th.

Here is picture I took of some confederate graves dressed up for the occasion.

This cemetery is also the final resting place for Dr. Pimberton, a Columbus resident and the creator of Coca Cola.

Love,
Nancy

Learning about Mandan Indians

Dear Family and Friends,

To my surprise, there is lots of history in Bismark, ND and a lot to see and do here.

Unfortunately, for us, we are just a few days too early to do some of the things, like take a ride on the riverboat.  The riverboat, like many attractions, opens on Memorial day.

However, we have filled our time here sightseeing and learning a lot about the history of this area.

We spent many hours at the Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park, which is located in Mandan, across the river from Bismark.

We learned about the native people who were here first, the Mandan Indians.  These Indians were a very peaceful people and had lived in this area for over two hundred years.  They lived in earthen houses in On-a-Slant Village.  They hunted buffalo and farmed the fertile land along the Missouri river.

This is a scale model replica of what their village looked like.  The houses were round and covered with earth.  The houses surrounded a central community area.  The largest building was a medicine building.

Here is a recreated example of what their homes looked like.

Here is what the inside of a house looks like.  About 10 to 20 people shared one house.

As foreign fur traders came to the village they were welcomed.  Unfortunately, small pox was brought also and the community was devistated.  About two-thirds of the population died from the disease.

In 1804, Lewis and Clark built a fort to spend the winter near hear.  

It was during this winter that they met French Canadian fur trapper, Toussaint Charbonneau, who lived among these people, and they hired him to be an interpretur for their expedition.  Charbonneau's wife, Sacajawea, was a native women of the village.  

In the spring of 1805, Lewis, Clark, Charbonneau and Scajawea and their baby son, Jean Baptiste, along with the rest of the party, set out for territory no American had ever entered.

Here is a picture of the statue of Scajawea and her son, outside the Heritage Museum.

The dollar coin that we use so much in Ecuador has a picture of Scajawea and her son, Jean Baptiste engraved on one side.

Tomorrow, I will share what we learned about General Custer and his connection to this part of North Dakota.

Love,

Nancy