World United States North Dakota Theodore Roosevelt National Park (N. unit)

A Sterling Adventure 2010

Theo. Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota May 31, 2010

We are camped in the middle of a large, green meadow surrounded by tall, stately pine trees with snow-covered mountains lingering in the background. It is peaceful. A light rain is falling and we are freezing our, ah, fingers off. Glacier Park is a beautiful place, at least the part we've seen is. We just got here late this afternoon. We attempted the east entrance. It hasn't opened yet and there are no campsites there. The west entrance is apparently opened. But, when the Glacier Meadow RV park showed up it was decided that we would stay here for a few days. Hopefully the rain will let up. After we left Mount Rushmore we headed north to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. There was another scenic circle to see in SD from Lead to Spearfish. It was a beautiful road that led us into a couple of unique little towns. Waterfalls and rambling creeks kept the cameras busy. It was well worth the time spent there. The trip to North Dakota brought us through the grasslands. Seeing the lush green fields made it easy to understand why the cattlemen of old fell in love with this country. Cattle are the big thing here especially Angus. We continued our "wild game hunt". We saw bison, but we don't count those that are in pastures. Not wild! Milton had to change lanes in order to miss a badger mom and her cute little baby. And, of course, there were plenty of antelope (prong horns), a few mule deers and a couple of elk. When we crossed into N.D. Letha and I both celebrated. This is the 48th state she has visited and my 47th one. All Letha lacks now is Alaska and Hawaii. We camped in Medora, N.D. which was chosen as N.D.'s number one vacation spot for 2010. It was a neat little town and absolutely cowboy. Theodore Roosevelt had a ranch near there in 1883 to 1901. The town is hanging on to their heritage. The park is made up of three "units": north, south and painted canyon. All three are just great. Painted canyon is exactly as you would think. South has the Little Missouri River running through it. North has been set up to re-introduce the once plentiful wildlife. Bison run free and often claim the roads as their own. We saw one herd with babies - lots of them. They released feral horses to build a wild horse herd. It seems to be working since many of the horses had new babies that watched us with those big eyes. We took the time to visit North Dakota's Cowboy Hall of Fame in Medora. It was great. Not only did it cover history well, but had the rodeo hall of fame for the state. Milton recognized many of them. Of course, there were lots of guns. And I thought only Texans loved their guns. The drive from Medora to Lewistown, N.D. was through rolling grass lands. At Lewistown we saw our first snow topped mountain. A solitary thing, but beautiful anyway. The temp has barely gone above 50 and gets colder the farther north we go. The rain has been light but constant. The wind is always there as well which plays havoc with the gas milage. But, it is still a great trip!

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