of cemeteries and mules.

Medora has a cemetery.


It’s up a winding and very, very steep hill near the site of the musical (which starts on Wednesday, get excited!). We visited it after work on Thursday night, it has a lovely view and seemingly random placement of graves.


I guess it’s self-explanatory.



WILLIAM RILEY LUFFCEY
Killed in an argument on June 26, 1883, Marquis deMores had purchased land for his cattle, then closed old hunting trails. A dispute ensued. The Marquis was tried and acquitted 3 times. Many years later a man confessed to the killing. His identity has never been disclosed due to his family’s wishes.




And this is the entire town of Medora, as viewed at night from the butte.



Also, Abby has a funny work story:

Yesterday at work in the call center I received what has been recorded as the strangest call of this season. I answered and the person on the other end of the line said that they needed to rent a camp site, but unfortunately our campground system was down. He claimed loudly that he couldn't hear me and passed me off to someone else in the group. This second person told me that they were looking for a place to keep their 14 mules and 4 wagons, as they were following Custer's trail and they needed to stop here because this is the way he went. Fortunately, he told me, they just needed a place to keep them because they had their own feed and a fence to put up around them. After my manager and the rest of the call center crew were baffled, we decided to transfer them to the boarding stables where hopefully they could help them better. I realized afterward that I should have said something along the lines of "Well fortunately if you're following Custer's trail, you won't need reservations for your return trip."

beginnings.

Well, we made it safe and sound to the lovely little town of Medora, ND. But not without a few stops along the way. Abby drove out to ND from Idaho with her mom on Wednesday and Thursday, and then picked Emily up from the airport in Bismarck on Friday afternoon. On the way back to Abby’s grandma’s, we stopped in to see Salem Sue, the world’s largest Holstein cow:

She’s a beauty.

Our weekend was full of movies, 21 jumpstreet, good food and sleeping. On Sunday afternoon we took a little trip down the Enchanted Highway, and let me tell you, those 32 miles were full of enchantment. And sunshine and pictures and wide open plains. Visit our other blog, www.ndinstituteofcontemporaryart.blogspot.com
Here's a teaser to get you excited:


We checked into Medora around 3 in the afternoon, filled out some paperwork, took a van tour of the town in the pouring rain, and got our room assignment. During check in, some of the returners were talking about a kid from last who was described as follows: “you remember him, he worked in the stable and it was thing to wear his pants inside his boots even though everyone told him not to.” Uhhh… you’re not supposed to wear your pants inside your boots? I think we might not be in Chicago anymore.
Our room is a quaint little cinderblock rectangle right across the hall from the bathroom. It has bunk beds, closets with doors, 2 end tables, a desk and a chair and a sink with a mirror and medicine cabinet. It’s a pretty cute little room.:


Tuesday we both started working.

(emily) I started in the Rough Rider Gift Shop/Corner Corral at 9 in the morning. We sell fancy food things and dishes and garden stuff and western statues and clocks and expensive clothes and jewelry. And a lot of papyrus. There is so much bad typography in that place. It’s a pretty big store, one that requires a map to know where all the lights are that need to be turned on and off. It was a slow day. It was cold and rainy and windy and it’s not quite the start of the Medora season yet, so not many tourists are around. It should pick up in the next week or so.

(abby) I had training all day and it was one of the more overwhelming experiences in my life. It looks like we have to learn 3 separate booking and ticketing systems for working in the call center and hotel front desk. Basically for my job I need to know everything about Medora, no pressure. It seems like it could be fun, aside from the headset and basement cubicle. Fortunately, everyone I'm working with is really nice and I really like the events I will be promoting!

It is finally warming up and the sun is coming out, so we should be able to check out the National Park soon. It’s a beautiful place.