Photo Gallery 7-Minnesota and North Dakota 2007

Gallery 7 - Minnesota and North Dakota Scenes

These are some of the scenic pictures taken from a family reunion trip to Minnesota and North Dakota in June 2007:

Our first stop was, after a switch of planes in Minneapolis taking us to Fargo, was the family reunion held at the Fair Hills Resort on Pelican Lake near Detroit Lakes.

Ever heard of going biking on a lake....

Unfortunately, this scene was more typical of the weather. If it wasn't raining, it appeared it might in a few minutes. After the reunion at Fair Hills we went to a lunch with other family members in Fargo, then it was off west to the Badlands in western North Dakota.

We stopped over in Bismarck on the way to the Badlands. The evening was spent having dinner on the replica steam boat seen under the bridge (which carries I-94).

This is the view from the boat, they've tried to keep some of the banks free of development as to resemble what the Lewis & Clark expedition saw, sometimes not so successfully, as you can see in the distance.

This was the view of the other side of the boat, woth the dock and I-94 bridge in the distance. Starting out the next day we visited Abraham Lincoln State Park before heading west.

Part of the park is a recreation of a Mandan Indian village which had been abandoned before Lewis & Clark arrived after it was decimated by disease but which the expedition used as a winter shelter the first year of their journey. The teepees seen above were actually never a part of this village, since theMandan, unlike most Indian tribes, were not nomadic. These were put up for use at a periodic Indian festival that takes place on the site.

These earthen lodges were were the Mandan people actually lived. The houses were made of grass and sod and reinforced by wood posts and had a hole in the center for letting out smoke from indoor heating/cooking fires.

Here's a contrast between the two forms of nomadic and non-nomadic Indian housing.

No, this is not another form of Indian housing but instead the house of George Armstrong Custer, who left from here in June 1876 to put down an Indian uprising west of the Badlands, the rest, as they say, is history.

That afternoon we finally got to the Badlands, which is not named after a Bruce Springsteen song, but rather that the early European settlers found this place a bad land to try to live off of...

This is taken from a rest area on I-94 West, before entering the area of the park.

Another view, also from the rest area. Unfortunately, the clouds prevented seeing better contrasts in the colors of the rocks.

We then checked out the South Unit of the Theodore Roosevelt Park....

This is the view from one of the stops along the Park Loop Road. There was some sun to show the contrast in sand rock colors.

This area shows the type of vegetation and rock formations. The plants tend to be small both due to the lack of water but also strong winds, as we would find out the next day.

This is a view of one of the prairie dog towns located near the tourist road, can you spot any?

That's the Little Missouri River between the land formations, Lewis and Clark traveled along this river in the spring of the 2nd year of their expedition.

Isn't that hill a beaut? Well, its actually a butte with water scouring out the small valleys before it.

A view from one of the hiking trails scattered through the park, there are signs out saying watch out for wild animals....

Such as this, you never know what a wild rabbit might do. Fortunately, it was content to nibble grass and have it's photo taken.

A final photo of the day was another shot of the Little Missouri as it wound its way through the park.

We checked into our hotel in Medora during a hail storm, fortunately, only pea sized and had dinner at a restaurant that had a collection of furs, antlers, and other trophies of Theodore Roosevelt's hunting expeditions on the walls. I chose the beef over the buffalo steak. We had breakfast at the local breakfast buffet before heading north to check out the Northern Section of the park. Here's a map showing where each unit is.

Map courtesy of the National Park Service

The Northern Unit has more grasslands which we were told has several herds of bison (aka buffalo) grazing on them. No buffalo seen from here though (the winds were gusting between 30 and 45 mph, this photo was taken with my back to one of the site reference signs so I wouldn't be blown over).

Here's a good view from the top of a butte, during a temporary lull in the gusty winds, again no buffalo.

Another view of the grasslands, the darker objects seen in the distance are trees, not buffalo.

This photo shows the variety of colors in the rocks and sands as one navigates the North Unit park road. None here either.

Again the Little Missouri River running through the Badlands. Deer, buffalo and other animals it said were sometimes visible from here, but they were apparently smarter than us than hanging out here in the gusty winds.

The wood hut is a covered picnic area where you can look over the Little Missouri. However, with the gusty winds blowing toward the cliff I though it more prudent to take a photo from here leaning back on the information sign to protect me from the wind. No, no buffalo.

Hey, what are those animals in the distance? Yes, an actual bison herd. Still quite far away despite using a zoom on my camera.

Here's actually a closer view, with the zoom off. They were all huddling in the low areas protected from the wind, this did not include any place near the road.

One last view of the scenery as we left the scenic but windy park. We then drove ND 200 and US 83 back to Bismarck, staying at the same hotel as before and then taking off, by car, to Fargo the next day and the taking off, by plane, to Boston.