North Dakota: from Fargo to the Badlands

Love this Fargo sign - this is the entrance to the theater.

Fargo: the hip, small-town feel of this city, pleasantly surprised us. It was not a stereotypical western town (rustic, cowboys, and fried gizzards…more to come on this point). As remote as it its located, it has a modern, art deco feel. We ate at a funky, hip restaurant, HoDo, visited the Roger Maris Museum (located in a shopping mall?!?), and saw Tree of Life at the old Fargo Independent Theater, which was built in 1923, as a vaudeville showplace. After spending the night in a Wal-Mart parking lot (the first time on our trip) we ventured towards Bismarck and felt as though we truly entered “the West.” This is also when our day became strange and at night when we reflected on our day, we wondered if we were in a Fellini movie.

Mark loving the museum.

Maris' actual uniform!

The theater in Fargo.

Driving on I-94 West, we witnessed the wrath of flooding that plagued North Dakota a few weeks ago and soon thereafter stumbled onto an exit with “Salem Sue" a giant roadside animal sculpture that is five stories tall. 

Flooding on Route 94 West

Erected in 1974 - Salem Sue

Continuing on my quest for kitschy pop culture, we also ventured down “The Enchanted Highway,” with the world’s largest metal sculptures. 

This one is approximately 50 feet tall.

Getting back to nature, we reached the Colored Canyons of the badlands of North Dakota, in a town called, Medora. Now, this is a western town…cowboys, fried gizzards on every menu, and an All-American Hoedown Variety show, The Medora Musical. It is a blend of cruise-ship song + dance entertainment with North Dakota (or as the locals say, “Nor Dakoda”) themes. Evidently, this musical is a huge draw in the region. The showplace is an incredible outdoor, amphitheater, which is situated on the top of a hill, overlooking the badlands. 

The Medora Musical singers...

For two nights, we stayed at the Red Trail Campground, near the entrance to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Aside from the eclectic mix of travelers, the nightly entertainment was a singing, cowboy couple, that lives in a trailer next to the campground office. They appear every night at 5:45 PM in their cowboy ensemble and perform on a 5X8 “stage” – it is a cutout on the porch of the office. Mark your calendar so you can experience renditions from Patsy Cline, Dr. Zhivago, Hank Williams, and songs you have never heard of in your entire life.

Grammy winners ; )

Theodore Roosevelt National Park: This is an amazing landscape. We toured the park on our motor scooter, taking the 36-mile loop. The park is a combination of multi-color mounds and buttes, expansive grasslands, roaming buffalo and wild horses (and prairie dogs). It was spectacular. 

A great vantage point after we hiked.

We saw about 40 wild horses.

Not wild, but you can take a tour on horseback.

After we checked out of the campsite and continued westward, towards Montana, we stopped at the western rim of the park to explore the Petrified Forest. The forest is located off of a seven-mile dirt road and subsequent two-mile hike into the park wilderness. It was well worth the effort – the forest is acres of large remnants of petrified trees that were formed over 60 million years ago.  On the trail, we met a few hikers who spent the day hiking the optional, ten-mile loop and they told us that they encountered wild buffalo herds of 300-500 at 100 feet away. We would have loved to see these bison roaming in their natural territory, but to be honest; I may have fainted! 

It felt like we were on another planet!

In Montana now. More to come.

Ciao’ for now.