The Dakotas

North Dakota here we come!

We went to Fargo, ND! Our first stop was the Fargo Visitors Center, where we saw the "infamous" woodchipper from the movie 🎬 Fargo. I have never seen Fargo.

Based on information from the young lady at the Visitor's Center, we headed back to Minnesota to tour the Hjemkomst Center. We saw a Viking ship and we toured the Hopperstad Stave Church replica.

Hjemkomst Viking Ship

Our tour guide!

Apparently the lepers listened to the
service on the outside.

The artwork was exquisite!

We saw downtown Fargo, we even had to wait for a train.

We had dinner at The Wurst Bier Hall. Rob ordered their Bacon Flight with beer pairings. Peppered bacon with Hefeweizen, Guinness Glazed Bacon with Dunkel (my favorite), Brown Sugar Bacon with Fargo Iron Horse IPA, and Hickory Smoked Bacon with a Porter.

Moscow Mule

We started with the Knoephla soup, a potato 🥔 dumpling soup. We then ordered the Jager Schnitzel (breaded pork loin), topped with mushroom 🍄 gravy, with braised red cabbage & spaetzle dumplings and the Spaetzle Mac & Cheese, spaetzle dumplings in a creamy beurre blanc cheese sauce. Everything was delicious! I would visit this restaurant again.  

We were already to leave and the heavens opened up, it was literally raining sideways. So we decided to wait it out and have one more.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Fargo for one night. The hotel was decent and the staff friendly.

We left Fargo and headed west, as we were driving down the highway 🛣 we could see Buffalo 🐃 on the hill. We then saw a sign for World's Largest Buffalo 🐃. Let’s make a stop. We walked through Frontier Village on our way to the largest Buffalo.

Dakota Thunder built in 1959!

The Saloon was the Visitor's Center, where we met Laurie. She was so friendly and gave us lots of information. She told us about Jamestown, The North Dakota Heritage Center & State Museum, and she told us if we had time to take The Enchanted Highway.

We skipped downtown Jamestown and headed for the North Dakota Heritage Center & State Museum. The staff were very friendly and welcoming. 

I'm always drawn to a license plate!

Chuck Wagon

We arrived in Dickinson, ND, the gateway to Theodore Roosevelt National Park also known as The North Dakota Badlands. The Comfort Inn is our home for 2 nights.

We celebrated Rob's birthday (June 21) at Blue 42 Sports Grille & Bar 🍸.  Someone was a little moody (I think he was hangry), but I had no problem celebrating. I even had dessert (2nd martini).

Calmer than you are -
Pomegrante Martini

Ahi Tuna Salad 🥗 - Raw sliced ahi,
romaine, sesame seeds, Cabbage,
carrots, edamame, fried wonton, ginger soy

Where's your car dude -
Chocolate & Orange Martini

We saw oil 🛢 pumps on our drive 🚗 and they were pumping away! Wished it would help with gas prices.

On our way to Theodore Roosevelt National Park we stopped at the Painted Canyon Nature Trail for a moderate .9 mile loop with steep grade and stairs. Yes, I am still a couch 🛋 potato  🥔. 

The pictures do not really portray the beauty of the Painted Canyon.

We explored 2 areas of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The south unit has an entrance in the town of Medora (cute little touristy area). 

Skyline Vista 

The Little Muddy

This little guy was on the Peaceful
Valley Trailhead

Wind Canyon Trail

We did trail after trail. Boicourt Trail was my kind of trail -- only .3 miles with gentle terrain. Buck Hill was .1 miles with a steep grade. Coal Vein Nature Trail was a .8 mile loop with steep stairs. Each trail had awesome views. 

The North unit is smaller and less crowded. Our first trail with an animal sighting was the Little Mo Nature Trail.

YES, I am watching you!

We stopped to see the Cannonball Mystery site, large round rocks on the ground and protruding from the butte.  The "cannonballs" formed within the sediment layers  and erosion is slowly exposing the buried treasure.

Our last stop was the River Bend Overlook.

We really enjoyed Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We both wished we had stayed longer but our next hotel 🏨 was already booked.

We took the Enchanted Highway as Laurie had recommended as it was in the direction we were headed. What is the Enchanted Highway you ask? A 32 mile stretch of highway featuring some of the world's largest scrap metal sculptures created by Gary Greff.

Geese in Flight

Deer Crossing

Grasshoppers 

Fisherman's Dream

Pheasants on the Prairie 

Teddy Roosevelt Rides Again

Tin Family

We crossed the South Dakota border.

We took a break and stopped at The Full Throttle Saloon (no, not for a drink). According to the internet this place is the world's 🌎 largest biker bar and the epicenter of the infamous Sturgis Motorcycle 🏍 Rally.

There were people milling about everywhere, including tourist like us.  They were definitely getting ready for the August rally.  The place was huge and the artwork very interesting.

I can only imagine what this place looks like in August.

Heading to Wall, South Dakota as you got closer there were all these billboards for Wall Drug. The signs kept me entertained as I read every single one of them to Rob. It was like music to his ears 👂👂.  Here are just a few pictures:

The best one "Something to Crow About"

We were staying at America's Best Value Inn for 3 nights so we could check out the Badlands. We had dinner at The Red Rock 🪨. 

Steak tips

Broasted chicken 🐔 with
mashed potatoes 🥔 

Next stop the Badlands! We had 244,000 acres to explore.

Sage Creek Overlook

Yellow Mounds Overlook

Conata basin Overlook

A Sunning Sheephorn 

Burns Basin Overlook

Panorama Point Overlook

Fossil Exhibit Trail

Castle Trail

Big Badlands Overlook

Saddle Pass Trail

The Saddle Pass Trail kicked my butt to the point where we didn't go any further than the above picture.  It was only a 1/4 mile climb. We were worried about the climb back down since it was slippery.

We stopped at the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site Visitors Center. We could not tour Delta-01 (control center) as tickets are reserved months in advance. From the 1960's to the 1990's, the United States and Soviet Union followed a strategy called MAD, or Mutually Assured Destruction. Neither side would risk launching an attack because the other side would launch an equally destructive counterattack. A very interesting historical site.

You cannot go to Wall, SD without visiting Wall Drug Store. It was a souvenir shop, a restaurant, Ice Cream parlor, entertainment area, historical information, a church, fudge shop, etc. It had it all and yes coffee for 5 cents.

Dinosaur 🦕 comes to life and roars!

Rob looking for some action!

We had dinner at 3 Amigos Cantina, where met a fellow traveler. He was traveling by motorcycle 🏍 and was heading home after being gone since May. Once he returned home, he and his wife were heading to Australia to backpack for 3 weeks. Wish I was adventurous enough to do that.

On June 25th, we went to see the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site Delta-09 (Missile Silo). It's scary 😨 that during the Cold War, parts of South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana and Colorado hid hundreds of missiles across ranch and prairie grasslands. Can you imagine being a twenty year old and being given classified material and put in charge of a nuclear weapon unsupervised? No, not me.

Back to explore more of the Badlands

The Badlands Wall, the wall is
more than 60 miles long. 

Door Trail - area that earned the 
name Badlands

We made it to the end!

We then drove the Stronghold and Palmer Creek unit, which is within The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. We drove through the ghost town of Scenic.

Hay Butte Overlook

Our first Bison 🦬 🐃 

Herd of Bison 🦬 🐃 

Prarie Dog

Sunset over the Badlands was beautiful!

The Badlands were amazing! One of the things I liked about the Badlands was you could pretty much walk anywhere. There were no signs to "stay on the trail" or "off the rocks". A kid's dream to climb away.

Our next destination was Custer. On our way we stopped to check out downtown Rapid City. Their artwork was statues of the Presidents.

John Adams

Lyndon B Johnson

James Monroe

George H. W. Bush

Dwight D. Eisenhower 

Thomas Jefferson

Random pictures of downtown.

We took a round trip train ride from Keystone City to Hill City on the 1880 Train.

This area holds 900 gallons
of recycled motor oil

Once we returned to Keystone, we checked out the little tourist town, before heading to our hotel.

A Saloon!

Our home for three nights was an AirBnb called The Ponderosa. It was an old motel that is being renovated. As always, I'm concerned about what I book, as this was a really good deal. The GPS took us down this little dirt road and said you have a arrived. The only thing around was a trash dumpster and now I'm really concerned 😨! Come to find out we were at the back of the building.  

The room was clean, the bedding 🛌 was very comfortable, had a refrigerator and a coffee ☕ pot. Everything was contactless which was nice.  They still had work to do, but for the price it all worked out.

We had dinner at the Pounding Father's Restaurant. When we first arrived, we were very impressed with the service. Not so much by the time we left. Rob ended up receiving a free beer for having to wait so long. We both enjoyed The Pounding Father's Salad, chicken, mixed greens, shredded carrots 🥕, & cabbage, topped with diced celery, sliced toasted almonds, banana 🍌 chips, craisins, and sweet red wine pears 🍐.

Mount Rushmore was impressive!

Our Florida Flag

Our Maryland Flag

Presidents Washington, Jefferson,
Roosevelt, and Lincoln

Ingersoll-Rand Imperial
Type 10 Air Compressor

Sculptures Model

We walked the Presidential Trail but we did not have ice cream with the Presidents.

We walked the Horsethief Lake Trail around the Horsethief Lake. We drove scenic byways where we went through multiple tunnels -- usually one lane.

Doane Robinson Tunnel

Scovel Johnson Tunnel

We finally checked out downtown Custer where we found the oldest Saloon (according to their bench) in the Black Hills and the local VFW. We were brave and went back to Pounding Father's for dinner, much better service this time ⏲.

VFW 3442

Pounding Father's

Pounding Father's Burger 🍔 

Walleye 🐟 Beurre Blanc

Our plan was to visit the Wind Cave, but the Cave was closed for repairs to the elevator 🛗. We talked to a Ranger and she let us know we could walk 🚶‍♀️ 🚶‍♂️ to an opening where you could feel the wind.  She also told us about her favorite trails for us to try.

We did the Prairie Vista Trail, the Cold 🥶 Brook Canyon Trail, and the Elk Mountain ⛰ Trail. We had a huge Herd of Bison 🦬 🐃 cross the road right in front of us. We were definitely seeing wildlife.

This guy was on the Cold Brook
Canyon Trail

🦬 Crossed the road right in 
front of us.

Our last trail of the day was the Rankin Ridge Trail 👣. A moderately strenuous 1-mile loop through the Ponderosa pine forest to panoramic views at the Rankin Ridge Tower. Another up hill trail that I had to stop 🛑 every 2 minutes. 

Rankin Ridge Tower

A quick stop at the VFW, before heading to Sage Creek Grill for dinner. 

Angel Hair Pasta with Sundried
Tomato 🍅 Basil Butter 🧈 

Spicy Korean Ramen Noodle Bowl

We really enjoyed The Dakotas! The people were friendly and the scenery absolutely beautiful 😍. As much as we have seen, there is still so much we have missed. We will definitely visit again.