Minneapolis - Bismarck - Billings

Milking Salem Sue!

The drive through Western Minnesota, and all of North Dakota was very interesting in many respects.  Having never traveled through this part of the country, not only the landscape of the area, as well as the types of agriculture prominent in the areas was fascinating to me.  Probably not so much to the rest of the people in our car!

We left Minneapolis midday on Thursday (Or at least I think it was a Thursday morning?)  All of the days have begun to blend together for me on this trip.  So I know the dates, but not necessarily the day of the week!  Anyway, let's assume we left Minneapolis on a Thursday.... headed for Bismarck, ND to sleep in a friggen tee pee for the night!  I figure I now have something in common with the mom of a girl I graduated from high school with! (It's a long story I can tell you sometime if you really want to know). 

Having just toured a flour mill museum in Minneapolis, I learned of the different types of wheat that are grown in different parts of the US, as well as what the different varieties of wheat are most suited for when it comes to cooking or baking.  Well, most of Minnesota, North Dakota, and Montana, and a few other areas in the northern US they primarily grow a "hard red" variety of wheat that is primarily used for making bread.  While in the central part of the Midwest, they grown more "soft white" wheat that is used more for making cake.  Well, there was a ton of wheat being grown as we crossed through Minnesota as well as ND!  A lot less corn and soy beans than we saw in OH-IN-IL-WI. One odd thing I noticed, mainly in ND, was that as the farmers find big rocks in their fields, they just make piles of rocks in the middle of the fields instead of carrying them off site.  So as you drive across ND, you see a lot of rock piles out sitting in the middle of farm fields.  I found that to be interesting! (I know, my life is pretty sad if that's what I find interesting!)

Traffic jam in downtown Menden!

On our drive across I-94, we decided to pull off and hit a Gander Mountain in Fargo as they are having a going out of business sale.  We thought we might be able to find a few gemstones that might help to keep us warm the nights we would be camping near Yellowstone NP.  I think we kicked around for 45 minutes or so in GM.  The girls got some thermal underwear, as well as a pair of gym shorts each.  We bought some socks that were "rated for -5 degrees" to help keep our feet warm.  What a joke those were as they weren't thick enough to do much good!  And we also bought some little warmer packs too!  Those little packets that you mix together and they produce heat for a long period of time due to a chemical reaction.

We were taught about the "horse- cow game" during dinner with our friends in MN.  So to help occupy the time while driving, we began to play this game with the girls.  Each kid has the side of the car they are in, and have to keep an eye out for horses or cows out their side windows.  Whichever side/kid counts the most animals, wins for the day.  However, there is a catch, if you go by a cemetery on your side, your animal count drops back to 0!  On our drive to our tee pee, Danica was way ahead of Darby with her cow/horse count... until we drove by a state veterans cemetery about 1/2 mile from the entrance to Abraham Lincoln State Park.  So Darby ended up winning for the day!

Ready to sleep in the tee pee for the night!

Staying in a tee pee was kind of cool, and less hassle than putting up a tent.  We were provided with cots by the park staff, so had less work to do to get settled and then leave.  The tee pee was along the Missouri River in Menden, ND, just South of Bismarck.  Thee were some recreated Indian mound-hut type of structures in the ALSP.  We went for a walk and saw these mud structures.  It was cool to learn about how the Indians had settled here years ago.

An Indian mud hut near our tee pee.

After leaving Bismarck, we stopped and saw "Salem Sue" a huge Holstein cow overlooking the interstate about 30 miles West of Bismarck.  She sat on land that was part of the county fairgrounds, and was up on a hill overlooking the interstate, and was HUGE!  Salem Sue had been built years ago to promote the dairy industry in the area.  So as you drive by, you see this big cow overlooking the interstate.

The Slackettes underneath Salem Sue.

We had been told to try and stop by Theodore Roosevelt National Park along I-94, about halfway between Bismarck and Billings.  So we stopped off there for a bit as well as walked around the local town of Medora, ND.  Most of the park are badlands, basically land that is not of value to be used, that have eroded and formed mounds due to the easily eroded soil type.  It was a very pretty park, and neat to learn how the town was settled initially to be used for beef production.

The badlands of Theodore Roosevelt NP.

We rolled into Billings around 4:30 that afternoon.  We stayed with Clark, my turf professor from Purdue, our night in Billings.  He is a native Montanian and grew up in Billings.  He moved back to Billings after being away for 30 years or so, as he had always hoped to get back to the area as he really likes to fish, and loves the area.

Drinking a beer at Thirsty Street Brewing with Dr. Thirsty!

Visiting with Clark is always a blast.  He showed us around the big town of Billings.  First we went to a local microbrewery called Thirsty Brewing.  Which was actually quite ironic as Clark's nickname is "Dr. Thirsty" per a few friends of mine that were ahead of me in school, and were turfers also.  We had dinner at a local Irish pub, and then he took us up to the butte that overlooks Billings to see the views and get some walking in after dinner.  Since it stays light until almost 10 pm, it was a great after dinner activity.  We wrapped up the evening by going back to Clark's house for chocolate covered Twinkies and a beaker of milk!

Drinking milk out of the beaker glasses Clark had in his cupboard.

We got up Saturday morning and headed towards Yellowstone National Park for our next adventure!  Clark recommended we go into the park via the NE entrance, and man was that a good recommendation!  We headed South and eventually into Red Lodge, MT and then up and over the mountain and into Cooke City, MT before entering Yellowstone NP.  We stopped for lunch in Red Lodge, and all thought it was a neat little town and that we'd like to come back and stay for a few nights.  The drive over the Bear Tooth Mountains was beautiful, and the girls stopped to play in the snow for a bit near a small skiing area that was still open on July 1st!

Slackettes in the snow in the Bear Tooth Mountains.