North Dakota

North Dakota surprised me.  I wasn't prepared to like it as much as I did.

We stayed in North Dakota's largest city, Fargo, the first night.  The campground where we stayed was beautiful!  Huge cottonwood trees were everywhere, lush green grass and very well maintained.  After such a hot, dry summer of walking around on brown crunchy grass, you definitely noticed how green it was.  We met the nicest Canadian couple at the campground.  Though the size difference made me nervous, Billie Jean loved playing with their 5 lb. dog.  The kids enjoyed talking with our neighbors so much.  These fine people even gave our children Canadian toonies and loonies to spend when we go to Canada.  That southern charm pays . . . literally.  They gave us their information to look them up when we go to Vancouver.  You just meet the nicest people traveling this way.  Knock on wood.

Our next destination was a hit from day one.  As soon as we pulled in to Theodore Roosevelt National Park, we wished we'd planned to stay longer.

Our campsite.  Seriously.  Right at the base of the North Dakota Badlands, and the Little Missouri River.  Picture taken about .5 seconds after we pulled in.

The cutest little town with loads of history.

The little town of Medora is very picturesque.  It has a very old west feel to it, and is just a few blocks big.  It's not uncommon to see young kids by themselves just riding their horses down the middle of the street.  The Cowboy Hall of Fame is here, and they host old west "shoot out" re-enactments in the parks on Saturdays.  We caught one.

Besides Roosevelt National Park, and the gorgeous scenery, our other favorite was the Medora Musical.  We had never heard of this show, and the tickets weren't cheap, but we took a chance and went.  It was incredible.  The show began at 8:30pm and lasted until almost 11pm.  Our kids never even blinked - well CBR did take one loooooooong blink when he finally fell asleep around 10:30pm.

This is the amphitheater where the show takes place.  It was a full moon that night, so the surroundings were breathtaking the entire evening.

CBR insisted on wearing full cowboy gear to the show.  Chaps and all.

The show was very patriotic and entertaining for the whole family.  They had "bad guys" robbing banks on horseback, and even called all the kids on stage at one point.

Teddy Roosevelt's cabin.  He lived here about 15 months, and attributes his time living the strenuous life in North Dakota to being President.

Driving through the park, we saw horses, bison, prairie dogs, mountain goats and deer.

It was so cold that day!  We had hot cocoa when we returned to the motor home.

The kids loved being able to run as far as they pleased.  At one point the kids were completely out of sight.  We realized that was the first time in a month and half we'd been away from them. 

CBR ended up wearing chaps every day in North Dakota.  You should have seen how proudly he wore them; he walked two inches taller in this outfit.  You might've mistaken him for a real cowboy, except he whined and complained about everything this day.