Royalty...

Day three... Word is getting out that we are spending our entire vacation in North Dakota and the people around here are no less surprised then some of our friends are. We set off this morning to the State Capitol with Bob. Before we hit the capitol we stopped by the courthouse to check out the courtroom where Bob conducts himself. Like many The capitol itself is the tallest building in Bismarck at 18 stories. Outside it looks like a government building. Inside is impressive.

We were treated like royalty and made to feel like two of the most important people in the state. It seems as if Bob owns the place. We were able to see both the governor and lieutenant governor’s offices. Neither were there but we were told we would have been invited in for coffee, not because we were with Bob but because that is the North Dakota way. - On a side note... This state has the friendliest, most genuine people I have ever met. We have only had one encounter with someone who was less then friendly and I attribute that more to the fact she was working the cash register at K-Mart then to any knock on the state. - We had an audience with the secretary of state, Al Jaeger, who even showed us the monkey room which is the secret entrance to the secretary’s office.

A lot of people have been surprised that we have decided to spend so much time in the state, people from here included. North Dakotans know how wonderful the state is but I think they kind of accept that it will continued to viewed as a dying state not a state vibrant with great people, natural beauty, large quantities of energy resources and some of the most productive farmland anywhere. Besides, I think they kind of like that it is their little secret. A few people have asked what we are going to do for almost two weeks and I assure you that we will run out of time before we run out of things to do, and it won’t even be close. We will be back.

Time is short right now. Coop and I are now in Medora, site of Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the Badlands. We have a trail ride on horses and then are going into the back country for some camping with the buffalo. We have more stories and experiences to share including Dakota the dinosaur, the world’s largest Holstein Cow in New Salem, Fort Saurkraut in Hebron, Brick City, Fort Lincoln (Where Custer mustered up the men for Little Big Horn), Fort Mandan (Lewis and Clark’s first winter camp), Coop’s visit to and old school soda fountain, Pitchfork fondue and the Medora Musical and many more.

It will be a few days before we update again, but so far it has been an amazing trip. Montana may be big sky country, but it begins here in North Dakota.