Road Trip: Up The Middle Of The Country

Day 19: Wednesday, May 22, 2024 - Theodore Roosevelt NP, and Bismarck, ND

Day's statistics:
Weather: low 60°s
Steps: Steve 6,511; Linda 6,957
Travel: 360 miles

Today's breakfast was continental.
Linda had a bagel, and I had something else.

We ate, brushed, put the luggage in the car, and headed out to our fourth and final NP of the trip: Theodore Roosevelt.
The ranger at Wind Cave NP (or perhaps it was Badlands NP) suggested making sure we go to the North Unit (NU) of Theodore Roosevelt as that was more spectacular than the South Unit (SU) - which was the same as Badlands.
When we did our planning last night, we took this into account and headed to the NU, which was only a half hour further away than the SU.
Once again there was essentially a whole lot of nothing during the two hour drive, though there were a good amount of oil wells, and some cattle.











We arrived at the Visitor's Center.

And got our stamp.

We headed out into the park. It was nice, but not nearly as spectacular as Badlands...























We stopped at one of the overlooks to take some pictures.






After Chelsea was done helping out, we took a selfie too.

We returned to the car and continued on.




We completed the a-little-less-than eight mile drive to the overlook at the end.




From this vantage point, the hiking trails below were clearly visible. And the person hiking on it - here - was clearly visible too (there were enough cars parked at trailheads to indicaate a lot of people were hiking).


We spent a few minutes and chatted with another retired couple that was doing some traveling as well, mostly visiting NPs.
Then we headed back whence we came - so there really aren't any new sights to see, other than from perspective because Linda had one view going in and my view going out, and vice-versa.
Also, in case it wasn't evident - because it isn't since cell phone camera technology is improving, as is Linda's picture taking - I sometimes stick my arm in front of Linda's face with my cell or the camera in my hand to take a shot or three.






[This was captured just before going into the park.] The fact that the park bordered the Central TZ is what contributed to our scheduling challenge today. Our cell phones could and would synchronize to a tower - like what happened a couple times in Pierre - in another TZ, making it look like it wasn't when it was. So there IS a use for old, analog watches afterall.

It was comparatively early - either 10:30 or 11:30 depending on the TZ.
We still had to a two hour drive to Bismarck, and we had to squeeze a meal in sometime.
But using the Central TZ as our marker - because we sort of HAD to - we still had an hour and a half to tour before we HAD to start making our way toward Bismarck.
When we spoke to the couple at the lookout, they said that "The painted canyon is a must-see."
From where we were, we had about an hour drive to the South Unit, and that also had us pass by the painted canyon.
So we headed toward the SU, stopping at the Painted Canyon first.



From the overlook. The cloud shadow in the middle was an interesting touch too.




Painted Canyon had an overlook - but that is all it had. Park in lot, walk to the overlook... and then leave.
While visiting the gift shop is optional - we did anyway, and that's when I accidentally found that there was actually a separate stamp for the Painted Canyon portion of the Theodore Roosevelt NP. So we got that stamp too.

It was less than a fifteen minute drive to the SU.
We were going in the opposite direction of where we needed to - though only about twenty minutes. But we still needed to consider that time - still two hours - to get to Bismarck, and lunch somewhere, in our schedule. So we knew that we HAD to leave the SU by 12:30 Mountain / 1:30 Central at the latest.
Our schedule meant we couldn't spend too much time in the park.
The layout of the SU, for an easy description, was like a capital 'P' - a short road in, then a big loop. However, a section of the loop - the part at the bottom of the loop on the 'P' - was closed for construction. So even if we reached it, we would have had to turn around and go all the way back. So after visiting the VC to get a map and our stamp, we headed into the SU.

Rather than drive in X miles, we drive in Y minutes. It was 12:00 Mountain, so we drive in fifteen minutes, immediately stopped and turned around and drove out fifteen minutes. While we would like to have seen a lirtle more of the park, we just couldn't.
We were traveling west, exited, crossed the interestate, and found the VC in the town of Medora. After leaving the parking lot out the opposite end from whence we came, we crossed back over the interstate - but on the park road, not a public road, and began our tour.
Here are the highlights, starting at the VC parking lot.











We had to leave and head to Bismarck.

We hopped on interstate 94 and it was pretty much a two-hour straight shot to the capital. We also saw multiple wind farms.









We arrived at the capital, and found a parking space on the oval in front of it.
We exited the car and took our selfie - the last capital selfie for this trip.

We entered the capital and passed through security.
It was after 4:00 already, and the information desk personel had gone home for the day.
I noticed the stamper on the table behind the counter, so I invited myself to grab it for our book. I checked the date and saw that it was already advanced to the next day - confirming the clerk had gone home for the day - so I dialed it back.


I wanted to leave it back for the next person that may visit after us, but Linda wanted me to move it back because if the next person to use it is the clerk, she would possibly / probably assume it was properly set. So I moved it ahead.
By the desk was a capital map that we used to guide ourselves around the facility.
The capital was art deco style, and we didn't care for it.
We began our tour by walking up the stairs to the first floor.

With the seal in front of us, there was a hall to the left and another to the right.


We headed toward the hall to the right.
First there was a row of flags, next to the governor's office, including tribal flags.

We walked all the way to the end, and didn't find the house or the senate chamber.

A woman stepped off the elevator and headed in our direction. We asked her where the house and senate chambers were and she said... she wasn't sure. How could someone work in the capital building and NOT know where the chambers were?!!?
We crossed through the center of the capital to the other hallway, the one that was on the right earlier.

We began with the house.




In sections above the entrance to the chambers, overlooking the hallway between the two, was some interest seating.

In the hallway that separates the two chambers, there was some other interesting seating.



We took the stairs to the second floor - this gave us access to the gallery. We could have accessed the other seating from the image above, but the door to that area was locked.

We first went upstairs at the senate.


Then we went upstairs for the house.


We again crossed through the center of the capital to the other hallway, this time stopping at the elevator bank. We were heading up to the observation deck. Only one of the three cars went to the observation deck - the other three required an ID to access. Interestingly, the ENTIRE government (mabye just most of it) was housed in the capital tower.

We reached the observation floor and we found that the outside areas - that were on two sides - were not accessible, so we saw what we could through the windows.











On the floor there were also historical photos, a city model, and some lounging areas.








We returned to the lowest level.
While we were viewing some of the portraits, a gentleman - who seemed to be a tourist - asked about the artwork on the wall. I said it looked like portraits of famous North Dakotans, but we weren't sure because we'd never been here before. While we had this exchange, an employee passed by and he asked her where a good place to take pictures was, such as at the Governor's office. I said that's upstairs, above that corner over there pointing to one of the corners. He then said "I thought you'd never been here before." I said "I haven't."
We looked at the portraits in the gallery. There were a few names we recognized like Theodore Roosevelt, Angie Dickenson, Roger Maris, Lawrence Welk, Peggy Lee, and Warren Christopher.





Our visit was over and we headed out.


In this curved section, also visible in one of the images from the observation deck, in season flowers spell out "NORTH DAKOTA". While it WAS May, afterall, we were also in North Dakota - so "in season" is probably more like June.

This isn't the only capital that is a tower style rather than a dome - in fact, this is the second one in two states we visited this trip. There's also Tallahassee and Baton Rouge off the top of my head.
I took this on the way out. The tower isn't in the middle - it's to the side. That's just... annoying. The dark glass section is the "front door" and the space between the tower and the dark glass is the center of the building.


We decided to drive around the entire capital. For no particular reason.
Along the way, we saw a couple statues.


At the rear of the capital was a memorial to Peace Officers (I wanted to make it more upright, but straightening it all the way chopped off the tops of the flags).

We have no recollection of, nor can find no evidence that we had lunch today. Prthaps we were just too busy or enwrapped in our last full day of travel, but we didn't seem to miss it.
So after the capital, we plugged Rockin' 50's Café into the Goole machine, and headed out.
The Café was attached to a mall, and was the first "store" on the right at the entrance near where we parked.
.


We decided to eat there, but upon reviewing the sign hanging at the door, found that there were 5:00 dinner specials. It was only about 4:30, so we walked around the mall a little. By 4:45, we were back at the Café, and then also noticed the "Soups of the day".

We asked if there was any flexibility in the 5:00 specials, and after the waitress checked, we were told no.
So be it. We sat and were given menus.


We placed our order and while we waited, we looked around.


I'm sure at one point these table-side juke boxes might have worked. This still might work, but we didn't try.


Linda had the Elvis Presley burger (it had sauerkraut on it) with the Knoephla soup (a potato cream soup), and I had a patty melt with fries.




While we were eating, at the table next to us, the [presumed] owner of the Café was meeting with a new waitress. At the end of our meal, our waitress, along with the new girl, stopped by to see how everything was going. We said fine and then asked the new girl how her first five minutes of work were going.
We paid and headed out to the hotel.

We found the Days Inn where we were staying. Then we drove past it to the gas station on the next street. I turned right from the street where the hotel was, and left my signal on because I was turning right a couple hundred yards down the road, and as I slowed to turn, a bi-otch in her Mercedes rear ended the car.
There was no damage, but after driving 4,000 miles across eight states in nineteen days, and only six miles left, we had an accident...
She didn't even follow me into the station to check for damage or anything.
I filled up so we wouldn't pay whatever the rental agency wanted to charge us to do so.
We then left the station turning left, then turned right, then right again into the Days Inn lot.

I parked in the corner spot and entered to check in.
I was given two vouchers for breakfast to have eggs made-to-order after 7:00.
Since the stairs were near the registration desk, we left the car where it was, retreived the luggage, and headed to the room. On the way I told the clerk we were leaving too early and didn't need the vouchers, but thanks anyway.

It was a little early, but we also had to get up a little early in the morning so we had a relaxing evening, played some Pinochle, washed up, and went to bed.

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