Juanita Lake, The Big Buffalo and Home…..

After picking up a few goodies in new Rockford, we headed out to Marty and Cindys place on Juanita Lake…..

As always, they were excellent hosts and made sure we had a good stay!

The water was really high….in fact, we had to leave our car about a half mile out and Marty picked us up in his 4wd SUV…..had to ford water about a foot deep…..the lake was approaching their house!

Had a good time visiting…..

They have a pontoon!

In which they took us for a cruise around the lake!

The navigator, Tressa!

 

The other Navigator, “Strike”

A conference with the navigator….

“The Captain”

The Captain was going to slow, so Marcy hijacked the ship….

But the Captain kept a close eye on things…..

Tressa had lots of fun on her jet ski !

Jerome and Karen also came up on Sunday!

Sadly, the weekend had to come to an end…….we headed for Jamestown and had a nice visit with Yvonne and Jack….as usual, Yvonne had a delicious meal prepared for us!

We also stopped at Frontier Village at Jamestown and done one  more tourist thing….

Very interesting place….Many historical buildings from the area have been relocated here, including the original Northern Pacific Depot from Jamestown….

And of course the main attraction!

This thing is HUGE! If you have not seen it, be sure and stop there if you are in the area…..

There is a resident herd of Buffalo in the adjacent valley…..including three white buffaloes….quite rare…the Native Americans considered them sacred….you can see one of them in the next picture….

And…..after approximately 2500 miles, we arrive back in South Dakota…..always good to get home, but we will miss all the friends and family we visited……

So long, until our next adventure!

Good Old North Dakota!

After a lot of sightseeing and visiting with relatives and friends in Wyoming and Montana, we cross a border once again into North Dakota!

The North Dakota badlands are beautiful! This is the view from the Painted Canyon rest area along I-94…..

We overnighted at Medora, ND and took in the Medora Musical I had the good fortune to win two admission tickets for it earlier! The Amphitheater setting is beautiful…..this is the view…..

Just before the show began, we were treated to this amazing sight from our seats!

Even a little cowboy action!

And the musical itself is well worth seeing!

Teddy Roosevelt made an appearance! Much of the show is centered around him……

 

Th next day, we spent in Dickinson visiting with friends……Old friends Willie and Virginia treated us to dinner at the Elks club, and then a nice tour of the town! We also had a nice visit with Paul and Betty Heidt, but was too busy visiting to take pictures… lol !

Virginia and Marcy…..

Willie and Virginia…..Willie finally retired and expresses his feelings on his license plate….lol !

This is the old FAA Flight Service building where I  was Manager 1975-1980…it’s looking quite forlorn….

Our first house in Dickinson….bought it in 1975….our children have many memories of these years……

Our church in Dickinson……

We bought this house in early 1979 and lived in it less than a year before moving to South Dakota……..

Then we headed North through the Oil fields of Western North Dakota!

Stopped at Hazen and had a nice visit with Bill and Marcy!

Next stop, Jim and Karen Bonnets at Bismarck……Had a really nice visit with Jim and Karen, and old pal Dave Mehlhoff also showed up….hadn’t seen him for over 35 years! Jim and Karen treated us all to a delicious grilled chicken supper!

Left to right….Larry, Jim, Marcy, Dave……

Karen, Jim, Marcy, Dave……

Heading North from Bismarck again, we stopped at the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center near Washburn…..

 

Beautiful building and grounds….lots of history!

The sculptures you see in front of the building above are made of steel and are huge!

Marcy is standing directly in front of this dog!

Going through Minot, most of the flood damage was not visible from the road, but there was some evidence…..

Rugby, North Dakota has laid claim for many years to the Geographical Center of North America ….it is a neat place to visit!

Next stop, Spirit Lake Casino near Devils Lake, ND….the lake is very high and they are working on raising Hwy 57 again….what a mess! Luckily, we went through when it was dry and sunny…..

Views from the Marina at Spirit Lake Casino…….

Leaving Spirit Lake, there was construction all the way to Fort Totten…..

Finally made it through that area and headed for our hometown of New Rockford!

 

We hung out in New Rockford for a bit, then picked up a few goodies and head for Juanita Lake, where Marty and Cindy and crew have a place on the Lake……check the next blog for that episode!