This trip has been full of what we are now calling “over the hill moments”. There have been so many times when we crest a hill and what lies ahead simply takes your breath away. Sometimes it is a stunning vista, of which there are many in the Badlands, other times it might simply be the next big town or the endless expanse of prairie and grassland. We had taken to calling them something else, but that phrase is not appropriate for a mixed audience.
We are currently sitting outside the Roosevelt Inn and suites in Watford City. which is about 15 miles to the north of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park North Unit. Last night was our first night on the trail, in the south unit. Aside from the bugs, which were quite remarkable, it was stunning. We saw our first buffalo, ate breakfast under the watchful gaze of a mule deer, protected from above by a hawk soaring on the currents floating off of the buttes and were entertained by the sights and sounds of the playful prairie dogs. Our little camp at the point of a ridge provided a nice base camp for exploring. We discovered a small petrified forest and felt like we had the world to ourselves. On the drive up we encountered a group of pronghorn antelope in the national grasslands and now eagerly await our two day trip into the north unit where we hear that there is a herd of over 200 buffalo still wandering together.
A note on Coop. I am pretty sure that he is having a great time. His car sleeping skills continue to improve and I am enjoying watching him fall asleep. The rhythmic bobbing of his head as we roll through the prairie provides a nice distraction to the endless expanse of grassland and the dramatic vistas of the badlands.
We have seen big towns and small and acres upon acres of wheat. It’s true that there are many small and dying towns but this is a place full of life and history. The people who call North Dakota home are truly the friendliest I have encountered on my many trips and they have a profound appreciation for where they are. In some ways I think they like that this place and their lifestyle is their little secret but they appreciate that we have chosen to take the time to find out the many things they think are wonderful about their state. We will run out of town before we run out of places to see and things that both amaze us and provide little moments of serendipity.
The stark contrast here is between the old and the new. For every old farm, or homestead, that is slowly being retaken by the land there is an oil well (ND is the 8th largest producer of oil, soon to become the 7th), a coal mine or a wind farm. Susan described it to me as energy rich and people poor. The other prominent feature of the landscape are the high tension power lines that ship the majority of ND’s energy to place like the twin cities which are people rich and energy poor.
I’m still falling behind on stories to tell and fall a little further each day.There is so much to do, so many places to get to and so many experiences (both big and small) to have and that we’ve had that it has been difficult to keep up with them all, but I am keeping notes.
It’s back out on the trail to be awed a little more. When we return from the backcountry we head north to Williston, the heart of North Dakota gas country and then we head east. We know we will hit Rugby, the geographic center of North America, other then that it is whatever the road, and this state, have to offer. If the past is any guide we are sure to have many more “over the hill” moments.
Cheers,
Posted by JW
Showing posts with label JW. Show all posts
Showing posts with label JW. Show all posts
Monday, June 16, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008
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.
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.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Trip to Bismarck
Amongst Coop’s most impressive of skills is the ability to sleep in the car. Rather then being blessed with good company I have the opportunity to enjoy the countryside, listen to the BBC on the XM radio in my rental car and contemplate life. Every so often Coop will actually wake up and want to either talk or listen to music. I am sure we will reach some sort of accommodation as the trip progresses but for now at least the snoring is not too disruptive.
Nothing in this state is close to anything else and there is little in between the places that are far apart. Little except for wheat. There are a lot of wheat fields, and the world’s largest Buffalo, which is in Jamestown. Apparently we are going to be pleasantly surprised by some other bits of randomness that North Dakotans take a tremendous amount of pride in.
The eastern part of the state is flat. Pool table flat. I drove for miles upon miles without ever having to turn the wheel of the car. I did have to keep it cranked over to the left because one of the other qualities that we have discovered over our first few days is the wind. I do not think it dropped below about 25mph until right around dinner time yesterday. Wind, cold and rain has been the theme to date.
As we head west we travel through a large collection of bumps, not quite hills but a little texture to the terrain. Bismarck sits in the Missouri River Valley and seems to have a combination of everything that the state has to offer... flat, flood plain, buttes, hills... except the Badlands.
We arrived in Bismarck in time for dinner with Bob and Susan and were greeted like family. Bob is a former Attorney General for North Dakota and currently a judge in Bismarck. Susan in the chairwoman of the Public Utilities Commission. You will find out as we travel that this state is energy rich and population poor so much of their energy resources are sold to other states. In the continuing theme of niceness Bob and Susan have been awesome. They have opened up their home, made us feel like family, given us great direction for what to do next and made sure we felt like royalty when we visited the capitol.
After dinner we headed out to Fort Abraham Lincoln in Mandan. This was Custer’s fort at what was then the western terminus of the railroad. The fort itself sits on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River and overlooking Slant Village which was populated by the Mandan Indians living in earth dome lodges. The wind on top of the guard towers at the fort were bordering on absurd but the views were spectacular and Coop was actually awake and providing good company. The earth lodges that the Mandan lived in are really neat. It is a log structure creating the dome covered in grass and mud. Inside there is a big fire pit surrounded by all of the living space. In some ways it is similar to a yurt. The earth makes it warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
Family, forts, big buffalo, earth domes and wind. It was a pretty big day.
Nothing in this state is close to anything else and there is little in between the places that are far apart. Little except for wheat. There are a lot of wheat fields, and the world’s largest Buffalo, which is in Jamestown. Apparently we are going to be pleasantly surprised by some other bits of randomness that North Dakotans take a tremendous amount of pride in.
The eastern part of the state is flat. Pool table flat. I drove for miles upon miles without ever having to turn the wheel of the car. I did have to keep it cranked over to the left because one of the other qualities that we have discovered over our first few days is the wind. I do not think it dropped below about 25mph until right around dinner time yesterday. Wind, cold and rain has been the theme to date.
As we head west we travel through a large collection of bumps, not quite hills but a little texture to the terrain. Bismarck sits in the Missouri River Valley and seems to have a combination of everything that the state has to offer... flat, flood plain, buttes, hills... except the Badlands.
We arrived in Bismarck in time for dinner with Bob and Susan and were greeted like family. Bob is a former Attorney General for North Dakota and currently a judge in Bismarck. Susan in the chairwoman of the Public Utilities Commission. You will find out as we travel that this state is energy rich and population poor so much of their energy resources are sold to other states. In the continuing theme of niceness Bob and Susan have been awesome. They have opened up their home, made us feel like family, given us great direction for what to do next and made sure we felt like royalty when we visited the capitol.
After dinner we headed out to Fort Abraham Lincoln in Mandan. This was Custer’s fort at what was then the western terminus of the railroad. The fort itself sits on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River and overlooking Slant Village which was populated by the Mandan Indians living in earth dome lodges. The wind on top of the guard towers at the fort were bordering on absurd but the views were spectacular and Coop was actually awake and providing good company. The earth lodges that the Mandan lived in are really neat. It is a log structure creating the dome covered in grass and mud. Inside there is a big fire pit surrounded by all of the living space. In some ways it is similar to a yurt. The earth makes it warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
Family, forts, big buffalo, earth domes and wind. It was a pretty big day.
114 Joseph Street
The day began by heading east from Fargo on US 10 the 25 miles to Hawley, Minnesota. Our great grandfather, Knud, settled in Hawley in the late 1800’s. Cousin Bob (I believe that being my mom’s cousin would make him my second cousin) had given us some good visual directions, but no street names. Hawley is a tough place to get lost in and while we were not able to use the directions to find the house we never were lost. After 30 minutes or so of driving around fruitlessly we ventured into the Hawley Herald and handed over the directions to the a nice young lady who tried to make sense of that landmarks in the email. After a few minutes she went in the back and brought out Leona Lewis Anderson. She is 87 and has lived in Hawley her entire life. Not only did she know exactly where the Wefald house was, she knew both Knud, his wife Sarah and their children Olav (Bob’s dad), Magnus and Egil (my grandfather and Coop’s great-grandfather). It was pretty neat to meet someone who had a connection to the family. It felt like we were on a treasure hunt and so far it was going pretty well.
A little historical note about Hawley. Hawley was settled in the 1870’s as a depot for the Northern pacific Railroad. It was given its name by Thomas Hawley Canfield, who laid out the current town, in 1872. General Custer visited the town in 1876 not long before the infamous battle at Little Big Horn. More on Custer later...
We followed Leona’s directions to Joseph street and shortly were in front of the house that fit the description. Two story porch, middle of the block, left side of the street. Coop and I stood out front for a few trying to decide if this really was the house. It has fresh vinyl siding and does not look like a house built in 1901 on what was still fairly wild praire. Upon closer inspection I could see that the foundation was made of stone and looked to be pretty old. Coop encouraged me to knock, and we did. We stood out side for a couple of minutes and were turning back to the car thinking no one was home and we would have to simply assume that this was the house. Halfway down the walk the door opened. Ryan Klev walked out and we told him our story. This was indeed the house. He works nights, we woke him up, but he was still nice and genuinely excited to find out a little about the Wefald’s. We have promised him some more information and the house may even become a stop of next year’s Wefald Family Reunion tour.
Searching for our roots is not only exciting, but a little draining. It was time for lunch which brought us back to downtown and the Whistle Stop Cafe. When Coop decided not to get green peppers on his cheese steak, I decided to get them on my burger, which had two of thickest pieces of bacon I have ever seen on a burger. Apparently no in in the Whistle Stop has ever thought to put peppers on a burger and this led to a long discussion amongst the people who work at the Whistle Stop and then into a long discussion with me about the desire for peppers. I’m breaking new culinary ground in Hawley and am sure that if I return I will simply be known as the green pepper guy.
Having successfully left my culinary mark on Hawley, Coop and I took a walk around town. We checked out the train tracks, the grain elevator and tried to go back and thank Leona for the directions to the house but the paper was closed. Hawley is a small and simple place but it is going through somewhat of a growth spurt as it has been heavily promoting itself as a bedroom community for Fargo. Aside from family history, what Haley has the most of is really nice, genuine people.
Off to the cemetery in search of Knud (pronounced kuh-nude), wife Sarah and spinster Emma. We first found Bob’s mom and dad Olav and Walma,, and then found Knud, Sarah and Emma. Coop had the great idea of getting flowers so we went to Tony’s market and picked up the $9.99 bouquet of blue and yellow carnations. Coop also decided that Knud, as the big guy of the family, should get blue. Knud was a pretty impressive guy. He came over from Norway in the late 1870’s, went back and then came back. He is described as a poet, the mayor of Hawley, a congressman and a member of various commissions. His headstone, which may have been stolen from the colosseum in Rome is pretty striking. It is about 8 feet long with columns on either side. Next time we visit, it’s flowers and a toga.
Posted by JW
A little historical note about Hawley. Hawley was settled in the 1870’s as a depot for the Northern pacific Railroad. It was given its name by Thomas Hawley Canfield, who laid out the current town, in 1872. General Custer visited the town in 1876 not long before the infamous battle at Little Big Horn. More on Custer later...
We followed Leona’s directions to Joseph street and shortly were in front of the house that fit the description. Two story porch, middle of the block, left side of the street. Coop and I stood out front for a few trying to decide if this really was the house. It has fresh vinyl siding and does not look like a house built in 1901 on what was still fairly wild praire. Upon closer inspection I could see that the foundation was made of stone and looked to be pretty old. Coop encouraged me to knock, and we did. We stood out side for a couple of minutes and were turning back to the car thinking no one was home and we would have to simply assume that this was the house. Halfway down the walk the door opened. Ryan Klev walked out and we told him our story. This was indeed the house. He works nights, we woke him up, but he was still nice and genuinely excited to find out a little about the Wefald’s. We have promised him some more information and the house may even become a stop of next year’s Wefald Family Reunion tour.
Searching for our roots is not only exciting, but a little draining. It was time for lunch which brought us back to downtown and the Whistle Stop Cafe. When Coop decided not to get green peppers on his cheese steak, I decided to get them on my burger, which had two of thickest pieces of bacon I have ever seen on a burger. Apparently no in in the Whistle Stop has ever thought to put peppers on a burger and this led to a long discussion amongst the people who work at the Whistle Stop and then into a long discussion with me about the desire for peppers. I’m breaking new culinary ground in Hawley and am sure that if I return I will simply be known as the green pepper guy.
Having successfully left my culinary mark on Hawley, Coop and I took a walk around town. We checked out the train tracks, the grain elevator and tried to go back and thank Leona for the directions to the house but the paper was closed. Hawley is a small and simple place but it is going through somewhat of a growth spurt as it has been heavily promoting itself as a bedroom community for Fargo. Aside from family history, what Haley has the most of is really nice, genuine people.
Off to the cemetery in search of Knud (pronounced kuh-nude), wife Sarah and spinster Emma. We first found Bob’s mom and dad Olav and Walma,, and then found Knud, Sarah and Emma. Coop had the great idea of getting flowers so we went to Tony’s market and picked up the $9.99 bouquet of blue and yellow carnations. Coop also decided that Knud, as the big guy of the family, should get blue. Knud was a pretty impressive guy. He came over from Norway in the late 1870’s, went back and then came back. He is described as a poet, the mayor of Hawley, a congressman and a member of various commissions. His headstone, which may have been stolen from the colosseum in Rome is pretty striking. It is about 8 feet long with columns on either side. Next time we visit, it’s flowers and a toga.
Posted by JW
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Fargo...
Coop and I find ourselves at the Best Western Kelly Inn and Suites on the outskirts of Fargo. Yesterday was an early morning (3AM) as we caught our flight to Minneapolis. Yesterday's weather was what you would expect if you have been following the news. Cold, rain and lots of wind. We decided not to make our trek to Hawley and instead bought some final supplies, had a good meal, played in a pool and got a good nights sleep.
Today we are off to Hawley to retrace some Wefald, my mom's side of the family, family roots. The family settled here from Norway on the 1870's and we are going to track down property and family plots. We then head to Bismarck to spend two days with Bob and Susan Wefald. Bob is the keeper of the family history and we hope to get some good stories, a little history and maybe even a sense of connection to our past.
After that we will then retrace some of the Lewis and Clark trail, camp in the Badlands and see where else the trail takes us. We have a lot of idea but no real plan. In this, North Dakota, the least visited state we want to discover what we've been missing and hopefully share a few adventures and misadventures of Coop and John on the road. We will update as much as possible
Today we are off to Hawley to retrace some Wefald, my mom's side of the family, family roots. The family settled here from Norway on the 1870's and we are going to track down property and family plots. We then head to Bismarck to spend two days with Bob and Susan Wefald. Bob is the keeper of the family history and we hope to get some good stories, a little history and maybe even a sense of connection to our past.
After that we will then retrace some of the Lewis and Clark trail, camp in the Badlands and see where else the trail takes us. We have a lot of idea but no real plan. In this, North Dakota, the least visited state we want to discover what we've been missing and hopefully share a few adventures and misadventures of Coop and John on the road. We will update as much as possible
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