Friday, July 16, 2010

On the street: Motorcycle Mutt


What does one do when one wants to take their dog with them on vacation but they also want to drive their motorcycle?

This man knows the answer!


It's a little difficult to see in the photo, but there a motorcycle pulling a trailer with a dog seat/enclosure made of plywood screwed to the top. It appears to a chocolate lab, and it's just sitting in it's little compartment, enjoying the breeze!


close up:


Gotta love Medora. In all its weird glory.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

birthday extravaganza!

July 11th was my 21st birthday, and we celebrated Medora style.

Abby, Sarah, Mary and I all had off of work, although Sarah still had to be in the magic show, since she is the lovely assistant after all. Abby, Mary and I went to watch her at the Comedy Corner, since none of us had ever been. It was quite the experience. Sarah was only in one illusion for the show we went to, but she did a fantastic job climbing out of that magic box! We'll have to do a post about Comedy corner on NDICA because it would take too long to explain the joy that comedy corner is in this post.

While waiting for Sarah to finish her second magic show of the day, we shopped around town, got some ice cream and set up an appointment for Todd's Old Time Photo's. It was my 21st, so, naturally, we had to be saloon girls. It was hilarious, Todd is crazy.


At one point during the musical every night, Buffalo Dale announces birthdays and tour groups and like who are in the audience. We thought that would be an entertaining moment, and we have connections with Marilyn, the piano player and leader of the Coal Diggers and her husband, who happens to be Theodore Roosevelt, so kindly asked Dale to announce my birthday. It was a very full show that night, but they very rarely sell the front row, so we sat there. Marilyn came out before the show started to get set up, and when she saw that were sitting right by the band, she handed me a gift from on stage, which was pretty awesome. We waited for the announcements, but as Marilyn later told me, they claimed it wasn't a milestone so they wouldn't announce it. Since when is 21 not a milestone? Lame. We stayed though intermission, and it's always fun to watch the show from the front row, so even though they wouldn't announce my birthday, it was still pretty great. However, I later learned that David, aka Teddy Roosevelt, didn't know we left at intermission, and during the bows at the end when they introduced him he shouted "Happy Birthday Emily!" I'm so sad I wasn't there the hear it, but thanks anyway David! It made my day when i found out.


After intermission we drove to the Applebee's in Dickenson because there is no where in town that is open that late that people under 21 can go to. Then we watched some episodes of 21 Jumpstreet because who doesn't love 21 Jumpstreet?


The next day Abby, Sarah, and I all had off and we decided to make the 2 hour drive to Bismarck to do some shopping at get out of Medora for a while. We went to Goodwill and TJ Maxx. Living it up! We also got Qdoba, which may be the first time we've had food that isn't deep fried all summer.

That didn't last long though, because Mary, Abby, Zach and I decided to use our one free Pitchfork Fondue ticket that night. It's literally steak on a pitchfork deep fried in a 55 gallon drum full of oil. And fruit, vegetables, cole slaw, potatoes, garlic bread and beans. It started raining, but we got a sweet rainbow out of the deal. More on that experience later, it too deserves it's own post.



yup. so pretty much the best birthday ever.

Friday, July 9, 2010

the badlands, the blue skies.


Just a reminder, this is where we live.

horses run wild,



bison control the road,



the views are epic.
and we love it.


Monday, July 5, 2010

4th fireworks


Medora knows how to do the Fourth of July. It's a weekend full of festivities, parades, shootouts, and of course, the musical. The most impressive of these of these was the fireworks. I've seen quite a few firework shows in my life, and these take the cake by far.

The fireworks start around 11:15, after everyone has had a chance to get down from the amphitheater hill after the musical, and they are shot off from behind the main office, which backs up to the buttes on the edge of town. Sheila Schafer's (the queen of Medora) house is directly across the street from the office, and all the employees watch the show from her front lawn. They were directly above us and you could feel them through your body reverberating off the cliffs.

you can see the main office and the butte in the background, they were so close!

Sheila also handed out free ice cream bars, which makes it just that much better. After the fireworks ended and every one had cheered for them, the crowd began shouting "Thank you Shelia" in unison. What a nice bonding moment for the TRMF employees and friends!




grand finale!