the little missouri: an adventure

Well, friends, we are slowly but surely beginning to experience the things you do when you live in North Dakota.

Apparently one of them is go swimming in the Little Missouri river. This is the last thing you would think of doing when you see the little missouri, as it is probably one of the muddiest rivers on record. And then our friends told us they were going to take us to the spot with the best mud pits. how fun!

It is truly beautiful, however, and it was a perfect day with blue skies and sunshine, inspiring a round or two of "the badlands, the blue skies, the shining west" which we learned in our excessive Medora Musical viewings.

We drove to the swimming location first on a paved road out past the Bully Pulpit Golf Course, then on a gravel road which then turned into a 2 track with 2 foot tall weeds ending up in a field in the middle of nowhere.

The river was quite flooded from all the rainstorms we've been getting lately, so much so that the mud pits were covered. Oh darn. It's a rocky river, full of excellent skipping stones and shale as well as an object which was probably a half rotted bone of some wild animal. Good times in the badlands!

Medora tour, part one: Marquis de Mores

The Marquis de Mores is the french aristocrat who founded this lovely town, but more importantly, it is the name of the town's favorite ice cream parlor and bake shop.

The Marquis underwent some renovations the beginning of the

summer, resulting in some early tourists who were saddened to find their favorite ice cream parlor closed. A fresh coat of bright red paint was applied, new freezers were installed and the heart shaped chairs and the giant portraits of The Marquis and his lovely bride Medora

welcome you as you enter.

When it finally opened for the season, employees and tourists alike flocked to get a scoop of their favorite flavor of Medora-made ice cream. I've heard that the Pecan Praline is a favorite, but I couldn't get past this one:

Yes, there is a flavor called Musical Fruit. Is this a jab at the male Burning Hills Singers? is it secretly bean flavored ice cream? or is it really just some really tasty purple ice cream with giant chunks of frozen berries?

If you come visit us we'll buy some for you.

the U.S. Postal Service.

Mail us something. anything, and we will send you something awesome and probably Medora themed in return.

Abby Christensen and or Emily Van Hoff

P.O. Box 443

Medora, ND 58645.

wild, wild horses (couldn't drag me away.)

Last Wednesday we finally toured through the Theodore Roosevelt National Park with our friend Mary. The weather was great and it was real sunny. There is a 36 mile loop through the south unit, taking you past the Scoria Point Overlook, Wind Canyon, and the Burning Coal Vein, and countless prairie dog towns. Now there are tons of hikes we want to explore out there.

The photo credit for this first one goes to Mary Egstad. Isn't it butte-iful?




We kept an animal count so we could keep track of how many awesome wild animals we spotted. Here goes:
-white tail deer: 6
-rattlesnakes: 1 (dead and smashed)
-wild horses: 7 (3 of which were colts) and 1 herd
-buffalo: 6 and 2 herds
-prairie dogs: millions.


We had gotten about halfway through the park before we saw any wild horses and Emily was doubting that they even existed. Finally we rounded a corner and on the right side of the road there were 4 horses and 3 little colts just hanging out and eating and on the left there were 3 big buffalo eating grass and rolling in the dirt. We slowly and quietly got out of the car and sneaked toward the horses but they just looked at us and kept eating (but we made sure to keep the car between us and the buffalo.) It was a total succeed.


But by the time we were on our way out of the park, it was starting to cloud over and the sky was looking a little menacing.

Bad news to end the day: The musical was supposed to open that night. It got rained out and we were drenched. The west did not kick up it's heels on Wednesday June 2.