Theodore Roosevelt National Park (Medora, North Dakota Post)

Welcome to Theodore Roosevelt National Park!  This park was founded in 1947.  Shortly after Roosevelt's death, it was decided to honor this great man and conservationist.  Many ideas were bounced around, but turning the area where he gained his conservationist ideas during his cattle-ranching days into a national park was eventually chosen.  The park is home to many diverse wildlife species and landforms.  

The Painted Canyon and North Dakota Badlands

Buffalo (latin name bison bison) strolling down the road past our RV.  

Something interesting about the rock: even though it looks almost sandlike, its actually very hard, well, like a rock...

The local wildlife looks rather friendly.  

Wild horses on the hill.  

Dad in front of the badlands.  

Views so pretty even a dog can enjoy them!

Bison grazing.  Can you spot the babies lying down?

We went on a trail ride around the park.  It was amazing to see the park from that perspective, because you were down in the valleys and on the hills with the wildlife.  The horse I rode was named Rascal, Karen was mounted on Stormy, Dad rode Dude, and Mom rode Tigger.  The horses were really well behaved and quite calm.  It was really a fun way to spend the afternoon.

We are staying in Medora again tonight, and are planning to hike out to the Petrified Forest in the park. That should lead to some interesting photos in tomorrow's post!

From the 1880s, to the Timeless Badlands, to the Wall Drug Store (Hot Springs, South Dakota Post)

This morning, after my earlier post, we found ourselves stepping back in time with the 1880s town.  I had a lot of fun in this town using what I knew to imagine what life would be in the town.  Eventually, my family began leaving me in different buildings, because I was spewing off facts from my Social Studies book.  This town was really interesting, because it was home to so many different antiques.   I also found it interesting to learn that the movie Dances With Wolves was filmed there, and that it was featured on an episode of the History Channel show American Pickers.  

Then, we entered the Badlands.  The Badlands were named by French trappers who realized that the land was bad to cross.   A Native American group also named it something meaning "land bad" in their language.  

Here is a collection of pictures from the Badlands.

     

A macro of the surface of the rock.  

The different colors signify different ages of rock and contain different fossils, as during that time period, the land supported different ecosystems.  

Baby goats on the side of the road! :)

After the Badlands, we stopped at the Wall Drug Store for our free ice water and some shopping.  It was giant inside, filled with many rooms holding different portions.  This isn't even the entire length of the store.  The store began giving out free ice water as a gimmick to draw in customers as the store wasn't doing well. The store's owner noticed many cars driving by, but no one stopping.  On a hot July day, she realized that they were probably thirsty and began offering free ice water.  The store still follows this tradition.