The News from North Dakota

Sticking to our schedule, we drove from the St Paul (Mall of America), though Fargo, ND, to Bismark, ND, which was our kick-off spot for all things North Dakota, more or less.  We learned that Fargo is a manufacturing center for all those windmills we saw in Indiana.  We even saw some piece parts on the road.

This is one of the blades.  The things are huge and you don't really get an appreciation for that when you see them mounted on their pole.  I also happened to see part of the stand and it was labeled Siemens, one of Alcatel-Lucent's competitors. 

Speaking of things German, Bismark was named to that in honor of Bismark in Germany, in hopes that this would stimulate investment from Germany.  There are many folks of German descent in ND.  The name of our watier at dinner in Bismark was Avolt.  Avolt?  I asked him if that was of German origin.  He said his grandfather was from Germany and his name was Evalt and he Americanized it ot Avolt?  Only in ND...

From Bismark we drove north to a spot on the Missouri River where Lewis and Clark spent the winter of 1805 (or was it 06?).  We learned more than we ever really needed to know about the expedition.  For example, the role of  Sacajawea has been embellished quite a bit.  She was the second wife (and the first was still around, they were all together...) of teh French trapper who Lewis and Clark hired to guide them and serve as an interpreter.

Also, there was an African American as part of the expedtion.  But not as a volunleer or soldier.  He was a slave and owned by Lewis or Clark (can't remember which one).

From here we drove north to Lake Sacajawea, the third-largest man-made lake in the US.  We drove over the dam (Garrison Dam) and around the area a little.

From here we drove to a National Historic site on the Knife River for some Indian villiages that were active at the time of L&C and had been for 500 years.

After this we drove west to Theodore Roosevelt National Park (North Unit).  There are two parts to TRNP and we wanted to see them both.  These are the "bad lands" of ND.  It seems that the ones in South Dakota are better known, but we were interested in these because of Matthew's interest in TR and there is just spectacular scenery.  We arrived at about 5 PM, which seems late, but the office was open until 6 and it stayed light until almost 10.  In fact, we saw the sunset from the park.

The badlands were made from erosion, much like the Grand Canyon.  You can see stripes that are made up of different types of material, some harder rock and some clay, etc.  The Little Missouri river cut these over millions of years as it flowed north to join with the Missouri River (that L&C took).  The scenery was beautiful and very expansive.  As we drove, it seemed that each turn revealed another spectacular sight.

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Of course, Matthew and Bill did some climbing.  In one area there were spherical rocks that were somehow embedded in other rock.  It was just one example of the geological activities going on there.

We saw a number of Bison.  In fact, we settled down for a dinner picnic and a curious fellow seemed inclined to join us.  Beth and Matthew cowered in the bathroom while Bill stayed safely behind the car.

After a short time the guy and a friend moved on, but stayed fairly near us.  He seemed totally uninterested in us, fortunately.

We did some hiking to get a little closer to nature.

As we drove around the various areas of the park, there were times when we drove up to the top.  When you are at the top with your back to the canyons and coulees, the land is just rolling grass land.  But behind you are these wonderful canyons.  You realize that everything was carved out of the soil/rock.  I wondered where all that rock went!  I guess the river carried it down to the Missouri and Mississippi rivers and it ended up in the Mississippi delta perhaps.

Sunset as we left the park.  Very full day.