New heights in the ND Capitol

We ended up staying in Bismarck for six days but did not do much exploring except for touring the capitol. We replenished our supplies after more than a week of small towns. We took advantage of the walking trail by the RV park and checked out a couple local eateries and the Laughing Sun Brewery. Our travel plans at this point are not only being dictated by the winds, but also by when the Penguins are playing. Both of those things are why we stayed here so long.

This capitol was built in the early 1930's after the original territorial capitol burned. The decision to build a skyscraper in the Art Deco style, rather than the more traditional domed building, was based on how much usable space they could get for the money they had budgeted. At 19 stories the building is the tallest in North Dakota. West Virginia is the only other capitol that is the tallest building in its state. It is one of four skyscraper capitols, Louisiana, Florida and Nebraska are the others. 

On the ground floor is the Theodore Roosevelt Rough Riders Awards Hall of Fame. It honors those whose lives were shaped by their time in North Dakota. After Teddy, the first awardee was Lawrence Welk. Some of the others we recognized were Roger Maris, Peggy Lee, Eric Sevareid, Warren Christopher and Bobby Vee. 

The two outer pieces show the states two main industries, mining and farming. The center is a relief on the elevator doors with scenes of state history with settlers and Native Americans fighting for the land, a covered wagon and a train, an early hunter and buffalo, the two main industries and a farmer and a rancher. The background is the wall of a small anteroom made of California walnut, a tree that has been wiped out.  

The Great Seal of North Dakota has several appropriate symbols of the state. A lone tree surrounded by bundles of wheat, a plow, anvil and sledge, a bow with arrows and an Indian on horseback chasing a buffalo into the setting sun. There are forty three stars on the seal even though North Dakota was the 39th state. When the seal was adopted in October 1889 North Dakota was one of four states, along with South Dakota, Montana and Washington, entering the union that year. Since they did not know the order of their statehood they put 43 stars on the seal. 

Legislative Hall is between the House and the Senate. The hall shows the Art Deco style with plain simple lines and the use of wood on the walls. The hall is forty feet high and has recessed seating areas that have acoustically designed tops making a private conversation possible in this large open space. 

There are 94 members in the House of Representatives who are elected to four year terms with half up for election every two years. The legislature meets for 80 days every two years. The pillars and rails are bronze and the walls are American chestnut.  The desks are American walnut. The lighting here is called Stars and Moon at Night. I missed the moon with my picture.

The rostrum is very simple yet eloquent with the seal, flags and chestnut walls. As with some other capitols, the House chamber is blue.

The Senate has forty seven members elected to four year terms with half up for election every two years. The walls here are English oak and the desks American oak. The lighting here is called Sunrise or Sunset. Again, as with some other capitols, this chamber is red. 

The rostrum again is very simple while accenting the height of the chamber with the lights.

The 18th floor is an observation deck with a great view of the surrounding city and countryside, This is the tree lined lawn in front of the capitol. I guess it is not true that the North Dakota state tree is the telephone pole:)

This is the Library Memorial Building, the oldest building on the grounds and houses the Heritage Center. 

The observation deck has many pictures of the old capitol and the building of this one. How about this one breaking the Guinness Book of World Records for the most snow angels on the capitol lawn. Very cool!!

Like all the plains states, the buffalo has played a big role in their history. This statue really captures this huge majestic animal.

We have been crossing the route used by Lewis and Clark since we were in Helena. This is Sakakawea, the Native American who, along with here French husband, served as interpreters for Lewis and Clark from North Dakota to the Pacific Ocean. She was a Shoshone who had been kidnapped at the age of 12 and taken as a wife by Toussaint Charbonneau when she was 13. She played a major role in the success of the mission exploring the Louisiana Purchase.  

The Pioneer Family statue honors those early settlers who came to North Dakota. They had to be hardy people to leave the east and move to this wild, unsettled land.

The old governor's mansion is being replaced by a new, larger more modern house. 

The North Dakota capitol and grounds is well worth a visit. The Art Deco style, which is different from most other capitols, has its own unique beauty. 

Since leaving Bismarck we have been to Pierre to tour the South Dakota capitol, stopped a couple days in Mitchell to see the Corn Palace and the McGovern Library and are now in Sioux Falls to see my cousin and check out the area. Our plan has changed after we found ball bearings when we opened the living room slide in Mitchell. We have an appointment next week near Omaha to have it checked out. 

Helena to Bismarck

Upon leaving Helena we started our trek east. Next on our list was Bismarck to tour the North Dakota capitol. That was a 625 mile trip so we planned a few stops along the way. We had hoped to see Class of  '07 mates Leland and Kathy in Billings, but they were off on a new adventure in their restored MGB. Maybe the next time.

Our goal was to cross most of Montana on two lane roads so here we are on highway 12. We had one more mountain pass to cross before heading into the plains.

Our first stop was a three-day stay at Conestoga Campground in White Sulphur Springs. The weather was less than ideal but we did get to watch the birds in the park. After so many months in the arid climate of the Southwest, we loved seeing green grass again. People here actually own lawnmowers.

We were treated to a couple of beautiful sunsets.

This was our view from Opus. The snow capped mountains are beautiful, but we are ready to put the snow behind us and get on with more summer-like weather.

The sun came out the last day and we took advantage to check out the hot springs. You know the water was very warm when you get Nanc in a bathing suit on a 63 degree day.

There are three pools at the springs. Each is a different temperature so there is something for everyone. The walls around the pools are covered with neat murals with local animals and Native Americans.

What a bonus!!  A microbrewery in a town of less than a 1,000 people. The 2 Basset Brewery had a great variety of brews. On Saturday the place was packed. We went back on Sunday when it was less crowded to talk to the owner, Barry. Turns out his sister-in-law is a doctor at UPMC in Pittsburgh and he has been to the Burgh a few times. Small world.

The wildflowers were in bloom along the road.

This is the first time we have been across Montana this early in the year and were surprised how green it was. While highway 12 was narrow, this is typical of the traffic we saw. Other than an occasional truck there was almost no one on the road.

No it is not a cowboy on the ridge, just more Western big art.

Our next stop was one night at Rosebud East Campground in Forsyth along the Yellowstone River. This was our 500th stop during our almost ten years on the road. The Yellowstone, which is the longest free flowing river in the country, had plenty of water from the snow melt. This lone white pelican was waiting to fish. 

Our last stop before Bismarck was Medora, North Dakota. The town was dead because it was the week before Memorial Day which is the start of the tourist season. When we were here for a week in August 2011 at the height of the tourist season the place was packed. Here is a link about that visit. 

On our first visit we visited the south unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The park is the only national park named for a person. Since there was so little going on in Medora we decided to drive to the north unit. We were not disappointed, seeing this big buffalo just inside the gate.

Both units of the park are badlands. In this unit there is a 28 mile round trip drive on a paved road through the park. The colors of the land are unique, but were not very bright on this day because it was overcast.

Both units of the park were shaped by the Little Missouri River. The river originally flowed north into Hudson Bay but that was changed by the glaciers that ended here during the last ice age.

The various colors in the soil is clay that moves when it is wet creating the shape of the land along with the erosion from the river below.

We saw this small flock of grouse along the road.

We like to hike when we are in national parks, but not this time. There are several nice trails we could have used but it was way too windy and cold so we just checked out the park from the car and the overlooks. 

There were signs of buffalo all along the road, if you know what I mean. This herd, that had been bedded down on our way into the park, was on the move when we were driving out.

This picture does not really capture the scene. This lone buffalo was standing high up on the side of the hill. Thankfully, at the turn of the last century people had the foresight to save these wonderful animals that were near extinction.

These "cannonballs" are made from grains of sand that were cemented together by other minerals in the water. As the hill side erodes they loosen and roll to the ground below.

The north unit is almost 70 miles from Medora, but it is worth the drive to see these beautiful badlands.

A major concern at the park and the Little Missouri National Grasslands is the oil drilling in the nearby Bakken formation. The flaring off of gas at the wells has already ruined the night skies in the park. You can see oil being pumped from the north unit. 

From Medora it was a short drive on I-94 to Bismarck. One thing you need to be prepared for when traveling in an RV during the spring in the west is the wind. We really lucked out on this leg of the trip because the 25 to 30 mph winds were at our back. We passed the northern entrance to the Enchanted Highway, a unique North Dakota attraction and one we recommend. Here is a link to our blog post from 2011 when we drove that highway.

An old homestead along the road. You see many of these old places that have fallen into disrepair. It would not be an easy life living on the wind swept plains.

More big North Dakota art. This is Salem Sue in New Salem just west of Bismarck. 

Our next post will be about touring the North Dakota capitol. We have moved on and added the South Dakota capitol to our list. We are heading to Sioux Falls for a few days next week. Planning to just kick back there before going to Lincoln, Nebraska.

Traveling Back in Time

The plan was to follow part of the route we traveled 30 years ago when we rode our bicycles from Seattle, Washington to Old Orchard Beach, Maine.  We joined the route in Malta and found many things we had seen before were pretty much the same.  That was until we got to Culbertson, Montana where the boom of oil drilling began.  It was very different from there to Minot, North Dakota where the changes became less noticeable.  Then, for much of the rest of the 550 miles we followed it, the route was much the same as we remembered it.

Our we did not have go to Alaska tour continued in Eastern Montana when we had an 18 mile stretch of highway replacemant.  Even this brought back memories, as we had a road replacement project like this in Canada on our bicycle tour in 1982.  

Eastern Montana and Western North Dakota are in the middle of a huge oil drilling boom so they were totally different than we had remembered.  In Williston we stayed at the same campground we had used on the bike trip.  Big change, we could only get one night because the place was full of workers, some of whom are living in tents.  At the Walmart many shelves were empty and pallets of goods were just left in the aisles.  They can't get people to work because most are making good money in the oil fields. In the middle of the picture is typical housing in the area with people living in temporary tin huts.  Western PA is also having a gas drilling boom, but it is nothing like this.  Here they are just burning off all the gas they find. Go figure.       

We moved on to Rugby, North Dakota, the Geographic Center of North America. The monument is the same as it was on our trek, but some now claim they are off the mark by a few miles.  Route 2 across the state is now four lane so it is totally different.  We stayed at a campground that had a different name, but I am sure it was where we stayed in '82. The town has not changed much because it is outside the oil boom area.  The farmers must be doing okay because they were building a new grain elevator.

Rugby is also the home of the Prairie Village Museum that is a real step back in time experience of life on the Great Plains.

There was a nice exhibit of artifacts that a local had collected in Alaska, so our we did not have go to Alaska tour continues.

Some of the exhibits included an old newspaper office, the last switchboard used in Rugby, a blacksmith's shop, old washing machines and old cameras and projectors.  The big projector was like the one my dad operated at the local theater when I was a kid.

There was a great collection of old cars and tractors as well as the local funeral home.  Left, I am standing with a statue of North Dakota native Clifford Thompson who, at 8'7", was the World's Tallest Man.  Right I'm standing by a 1946 Ford.  That makes us the same age.  

From Rugby we headed north to the Turtle Mountains (not really mountains) and were happy to see the W'EEL Turtle was still where we saw it 30 years ago.  Turns out it was built in 1982 (the year of our last visit) using more than 2000 old tire weels.

A side trip we did not make back then was to the International Peace Garden that was started in 1932 on the border of Manitoba and North Dakota. When I took this picture I was standing on the 49th parallel with one foot in each country.

A memorial to the victims of the 9/11 attacks was funded by the government of Manitoba as a show of friendship

Each side of the Peace Tower is in a different country.

And of course there were the flowers.  We were here the first week of summer but many of the blooms were still spring flowers.  The gardens were still being planted with the summer flowers.

A new addition at the garden is the North American Game Warden Museum that honors wardens from both countries who have lost their lives.  All the displays are animals that have been confiscated because they were killed or transported illegally.  Each had the story of how they were acquired. 

We next followed our trail along route 5 through many small towns that have changed very little in 30 years.  We stopped in Rock Lake were we had a particularly memorable day back then.  After a long day of North Dakota headwinds we stopped at Harry's Bar (top left) for quite an evening.  The bar and Harry are gone, but the building and water tower are still there.  Thirty years ago we passed many ICBM missile silos.  As back then, if North Dakata had left the United States it would have had the world's third largest nuclear arsenal.  Bottom left is the only remaining missile command center we saw on this visit.  Bottom right is the office of the Cavalier Chronicle newspaper that was one of three that published stories about our bike trip.  

We relived some of the old trip with a couple of rides through the mustard fields along Route 5.  On one of the rides we even got to experience one of those terrible headwind days.  It sure brought back many old memories.  Nanc is wearing her I biked coast to coast trip shirt that my Mom made for us 30 years ago.  So you see, she didn't get rid of all the stuff when we gave up the stix and brixs.  Can you believe she still has that shirt?!!!!!