North Dakota
17th Anniversary
October 3, 2011
State of North Dakota
City of Dunseith
International Peace Garden
Day One
We rose early for a road trip to North Dakota. (Road trip because I, Julie, was 8 months pregnant and not cleared to fly.) As we walked out to load the car, I was surprised to find that Eric was loading a luxurious Cadillac that he had rented to keep me cushy on the long journey. What a sweetie!
We had a lovely drive into Montana only stopping every few hundred feet to let me go to the bathroom. (Okay, I made it a little longer than that between stops.)
Our dear friends from Trinity Church, Ed and Rita Sitko, now live just outside Missoula, and Eric had arranged for us to stay with them our first night. I figured out that surprise when we were about a mile from their farmhouse and was so excited to get to see them again. They have a beautiful 8-acre farm in the Bitterroot Valley with chickens, sheep, ducks, geese, and lamas. Rita cooked delicious fresh meals: home-grown chicken (fried to perfection), freshly canned fruit, eggs from the chicken coop, and home-made bacon. There was a remnant of an enormous forest fire still burning on the top of a nearby mountain, and just before sunrise we could see the fire-glow accompanied by bursts of exploding trees. It was amazing and a little eerie. It was wonderful to hear all of their stories about how full and delightful their lives are. We were ready to sign up for farm life by the time we left and truly soaked up their fellowship and hospitality.
Day Two
After our hearty farm fresh breakfast we hit the road for a long day of driving to get us to our destination state, North Dakota. The terrain changed from mountainous to plains to badlands. It was quite beautiful. We enjoyed listening to an audio presentation of Agatha Christie's Mystery of the Blue Train recommended to us by our friends Gregg and Alice Kniss. 11 hours and almost 700 miles later we entered North Dakota and passed the first town of Beach. People heading west must have been either overly optimistic or severely mistaken since there is no beach in sight. We soon pulled up to the Rough Riders Hotel in Medora. Our room, 501, was the same room Theodore Roosevelt stayed in during some of his travels to North Dakota in the late 1800's. After checking in, we had a lovely dinner at Theodore's Restaurant at the hotel. I had lamb chops with sweet mashed potatoes and Eric had delicious buffalo tenderloin kabobs. After two days and 1200 miles, we were ready to start our adventures in North Dakota.
Day Three
Eric rose early and went for a six mile run through Medora and the surrounding country and saw a North Dakota sunrise. After we were showered and packed, we had a nice breakfast at Theodore's to prepare for our day. We bought a couple souvenirs including a "Teddy" bear dressed to look like Teddy Roosevelt. Our first stop of the day was Theodore Roosevelt National Park where we took a 36 mile driving tour of the North Dakota badlands and grasslands. We saw lots of buffalo up close, wild horses, entire prairie dog towns (I had some great conversations with the prairie dogs), and we enjoyed splashing the car through the piles that the buffalo left on the road. The park was beautiful, and seeing all the wildlife up close was amazing. From our tour of God's creation, we moved on to a tour of one man's creations and drove down the Enchanted Highway. Along this 32 mile stretch of two lane road a man has spent the last 20 years constructing the world's largest metal sculptures out of scrap metal and oil field pipes. They are truly amazing creations. When we got to the end of the road in Regent we stopped at the Enchanted Highway Museum and met and chatted with the creator of the works, Gary Greff. Gary is a native of Regent, North Dakota. He was a teacher and a school principal and had never done any art work or welding prior to 1989. He then began dreaming of ways to bring people and businesses to the small community of Regent -- fearing the town would someday die if it relied solely on farming. He is planning four more sculptures including an 80 foot spider web made from cables and the world's largest motorcycle. From there we headed further east into the heart of North Dakota and stopped in New Salem to see Salem Sue, the World's Largest Holstein. She is perched on a hill facing the freeway and can be seen for miles. It was yet another "world's largest" in North Dakota. We then drove through the state capitol of Bismarck and saw the state capitol building which is the tallest building in the state. Unfortunately it is a sixteen story square box looking distinctly like something out of the 1970's, one of the worst periods ever for architecture. We ended our day in Jamestown to rest and see what "world's largest" we would see the next day. We did have some of the world's largest laughs together today for certain!
Day Four
After oversleeping and a quick breakfast at the hotel, we headed off to the first of the day's "world's largests." This time it was the World's Largest Buffalo located in Jamestown. Named, Dakota Thunder, it stands with its backside to the freeway, mooning everyone entering Jamestown from the east. After Dakota Thunder we headed off to Cooperstown for something completely different, a Cold War Minuteman Missile Site. Named after Ronald Reagan who was a big proponent of peace through strength, it was a fascinating step back into the Cold War. We watched a 22-minute video on how the US developed atomic weapons and how that grew into the arms race. We then toured the facility including the 50 feet underground command center where the soldiers would actually launch the missiles if given the command from the President. Although this site is part of the historical society, there are still several identical missile sites still active. Very impressive. We stopped at a friendly Dairy Queen for lunch in a tiny little town and made our way over small country roads to the town of Rugby: Geographic Center of North America (of course sporting Mexican, Canadian and US flags). Soon after, in the town of Dunseith, we saw the largest W'eel Turtle ever made . . . that is an enormous turtle made from tire rims. Yes, it's true, at the entrance to the Turtle Mountains. We continued on to the International Peace Garden which sits on the border of the U.S. and Canada. We enjoyed the gardens even though there were no flowers due to recent frosts. The architecture was not our favorite, but it was fun to walk both in Canada and in the US. We renewed our vows while standing on the border. (Yes, Eric, head of the family was actually fully in North Dakota so as to have the vows count for the state.) Blissfully married, we exited the gardens and drove through U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (even though we hadn't really left the country). Because we didn't have our passports (Who knew you needed them in North Dakota?) and we had a rental car, we were "detained" while they checked our records and searched our car. We must have looked very threatening, given that I am 8 months pregnant and we looked far too blissful. They realized we were harmless and sent us on our way. We enjoyed a lovely drive on winding roads through the Turtle Mountains covered in bright yellow fall leaves. A fun surprise awaited us as we turned through Bottineau when we noticed the World's Largest Snowmobiling Turtle (named Tommy) right in the middle of town! We had to stop, get some pictures, and belly laugh some more. God won the art contest however as He showed his magnificent sunset across the rich farmlands while we entered Minot where we thought our adventures ended for the day. We turned into our hotel which housed the largest indoor water park in the state! At this point, who could be surprised at what large things North Dakota could put together. Eric splashed down the water slides sporting one of the world's largest grins. (Hey, we have to put forth the effort. . . we're in North Dakota!)
Day Five
Another day, another world's largest . . . wheat! Yes, the largest sculpture of wheat stalks in honor of all of the farmers in the state. Quite. . . large. And, sadly, our last enormous sculpture for the trip. We finished up in North Dakota this morning with the statement, "Thar's oil in them thar fields!" This state is currently experiencing an oil boom, and we witnessed the true hustle of a boom town in Williston and surrounding area. The trucks were flying around with materials, temporary housing was going up for the workers, oil rigs were going up, and pump jack stations were all over the farm fields. Let's hope they continue to strike that black gold. We officially left our anniversary state and returned to Montana on our drive back to Seattle. We stopped for the night in Bozeman, MT thankful for an extra day of travel together before re-entry into regular life.
Day Six
The end of the road. 3119 miles in 6 days in a rented Cadillac DTS. What a trip.
October 3, 2011
State of North Dakota
City of Dunseith
International Peace Garden
Day One
We rose early for a road trip to North Dakota. (Road trip because I, Julie, was 8 months pregnant and not cleared to fly.) As we walked out to load the car, I was surprised to find that Eric was loading a luxurious Cadillac that he had rented to keep me cushy on the long journey. What a sweetie!
We had a lovely drive into Montana only stopping every few hundred feet to let me go to the bathroom. (Okay, I made it a little longer than that between stops.)
Our dear friends from Trinity Church, Ed and Rita Sitko, now live just outside Missoula, and Eric had arranged for us to stay with them our first night. I figured out that surprise when we were about a mile from their farmhouse and was so excited to get to see them again. They have a beautiful 8-acre farm in the Bitterroot Valley with chickens, sheep, ducks, geese, and lamas. Rita cooked delicious fresh meals: home-grown chicken (fried to perfection), freshly canned fruit, eggs from the chicken coop, and home-made bacon. There was a remnant of an enormous forest fire still burning on the top of a nearby mountain, and just before sunrise we could see the fire-glow accompanied by bursts of exploding trees. It was amazing and a little eerie. It was wonderful to hear all of their stories about how full and delightful their lives are. We were ready to sign up for farm life by the time we left and truly soaked up their fellowship and hospitality.
Day Two
After our hearty farm fresh breakfast we hit the road for a long day of driving to get us to our destination state, North Dakota. The terrain changed from mountainous to plains to badlands. It was quite beautiful. We enjoyed listening to an audio presentation of Agatha Christie's Mystery of the Blue Train recommended to us by our friends Gregg and Alice Kniss. 11 hours and almost 700 miles later we entered North Dakota and passed the first town of Beach. People heading west must have been either overly optimistic or severely mistaken since there is no beach in sight. We soon pulled up to the Rough Riders Hotel in Medora. Our room, 501, was the same room Theodore Roosevelt stayed in during some of his travels to North Dakota in the late 1800's. After checking in, we had a lovely dinner at Theodore's Restaurant at the hotel. I had lamb chops with sweet mashed potatoes and Eric had delicious buffalo tenderloin kabobs. After two days and 1200 miles, we were ready to start our adventures in North Dakota.
Day Three
Eric rose early and went for a six mile run through Medora and the surrounding country and saw a North Dakota sunrise. After we were showered and packed, we had a nice breakfast at Theodore's to prepare for our day. We bought a couple souvenirs including a "Teddy" bear dressed to look like Teddy Roosevelt. Our first stop of the day was Theodore Roosevelt National Park where we took a 36 mile driving tour of the North Dakota badlands and grasslands. We saw lots of buffalo up close, wild horses, entire prairie dog towns (I had some great conversations with the prairie dogs), and we enjoyed splashing the car through the piles that the buffalo left on the road. The park was beautiful, and seeing all the wildlife up close was amazing. From our tour of God's creation, we moved on to a tour of one man's creations and drove down the Enchanted Highway. Along this 32 mile stretch of two lane road a man has spent the last 20 years constructing the world's largest metal sculptures out of scrap metal and oil field pipes. They are truly amazing creations. When we got to the end of the road in Regent we stopped at the Enchanted Highway Museum and met and chatted with the creator of the works, Gary Greff. Gary is a native of Regent, North Dakota. He was a teacher and a school principal and had never done any art work or welding prior to 1989. He then began dreaming of ways to bring people and businesses to the small community of Regent -- fearing the town would someday die if it relied solely on farming. He is planning four more sculptures including an 80 foot spider web made from cables and the world's largest motorcycle. From there we headed further east into the heart of North Dakota and stopped in New Salem to see Salem Sue, the World's Largest Holstein. She is perched on a hill facing the freeway and can be seen for miles. It was yet another "world's largest" in North Dakota. We then drove through the state capitol of Bismarck and saw the state capitol building which is the tallest building in the state. Unfortunately it is a sixteen story square box looking distinctly like something out of the 1970's, one of the worst periods ever for architecture. We ended our day in Jamestown to rest and see what "world's largest" we would see the next day. We did have some of the world's largest laughs together today for certain!
Day Four
After oversleeping and a quick breakfast at the hotel, we headed off to the first of the day's "world's largests." This time it was the World's Largest Buffalo located in Jamestown. Named, Dakota Thunder, it stands with its backside to the freeway, mooning everyone entering Jamestown from the east. After Dakota Thunder we headed off to Cooperstown for something completely different, a Cold War Minuteman Missile Site. Named after Ronald Reagan who was a big proponent of peace through strength, it was a fascinating step back into the Cold War. We watched a 22-minute video on how the US developed atomic weapons and how that grew into the arms race. We then toured the facility including the 50 feet underground command center where the soldiers would actually launch the missiles if given the command from the President. Although this site is part of the historical society, there are still several identical missile sites still active. Very impressive. We stopped at a friendly Dairy Queen for lunch in a tiny little town and made our way over small country roads to the town of Rugby: Geographic Center of North America (of course sporting Mexican, Canadian and US flags). Soon after, in the town of Dunseith, we saw the largest W'eel Turtle ever made . . . that is an enormous turtle made from tire rims. Yes, it's true, at the entrance to the Turtle Mountains. We continued on to the International Peace Garden which sits on the border of the U.S. and Canada. We enjoyed the gardens even though there were no flowers due to recent frosts. The architecture was not our favorite, but it was fun to walk both in Canada and in the US. We renewed our vows while standing on the border. (Yes, Eric, head of the family was actually fully in North Dakota so as to have the vows count for the state.) Blissfully married, we exited the gardens and drove through U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (even though we hadn't really left the country). Because we didn't have our passports (Who knew you needed them in North Dakota?) and we had a rental car, we were "detained" while they checked our records and searched our car. We must have looked very threatening, given that I am 8 months pregnant and we looked far too blissful. They realized we were harmless and sent us on our way. We enjoyed a lovely drive on winding roads through the Turtle Mountains covered in bright yellow fall leaves. A fun surprise awaited us as we turned through Bottineau when we noticed the World's Largest Snowmobiling Turtle (named Tommy) right in the middle of town! We had to stop, get some pictures, and belly laugh some more. God won the art contest however as He showed his magnificent sunset across the rich farmlands while we entered Minot where we thought our adventures ended for the day. We turned into our hotel which housed the largest indoor water park in the state! At this point, who could be surprised at what large things North Dakota could put together. Eric splashed down the water slides sporting one of the world's largest grins. (Hey, we have to put forth the effort. . . we're in North Dakota!)
Day Five
Another day, another world's largest . . . wheat! Yes, the largest sculpture of wheat stalks in honor of all of the farmers in the state. Quite. . . large. And, sadly, our last enormous sculpture for the trip. We finished up in North Dakota this morning with the statement, "Thar's oil in them thar fields!" This state is currently experiencing an oil boom, and we witnessed the true hustle of a boom town in Williston and surrounding area. The trucks were flying around with materials, temporary housing was going up for the workers, oil rigs were going up, and pump jack stations were all over the farm fields. Let's hope they continue to strike that black gold. We officially left our anniversary state and returned to Montana on our drive back to Seattle. We stopped for the night in Bozeman, MT thankful for an extra day of travel together before re-entry into regular life.
Day Six
The end of the road. 3119 miles in 6 days in a rented Cadillac DTS. What a trip.