Teddys Cabin

At the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, you can walk inside of a cabin once lived in by Teddy Roosevelt!

I show it on the youtube video I posted, but I wanted to put up just a few photos too!

 

Theodore Roosevelt National Park ND 09 2020

Yeah, I mentioned previously that North Dakota is the last state many roadtrippers visit.  Well, there are some VERY cool spots to visit in North Dakota....  I think, in many ways, North Dakota is OK with keeping its secrets, and keeping the tourists away.  

We were able to visit the south unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  We drove from Rapid City, South Dakota and back in one, very long day.

Its probably 9-10 hours of drive time the way we did it, but it was one amazing day on the road.

Once we were in North Dakota, going on many scenic rural roads, we saw almost no traffic.  

The scenery to the park was great too.  And, we drove the Enchanted High part of the way to the park (see my other post/video).

We passed through a couple of GREAT North Dakota Towns on the way (Dickinson and Medora) that I am already itching to visit again.

AND the Roosevelt National Park can easily justify several more visits.  There is a lot to see.

As we drove back into South Dakota, we stopped by a great little diner/gift shop by Crow Buttes, where a marker stands about a very strange Indian conflict.  This site was worth a visit on its own.

The entire trip was a bit haunting too, as we left when it was still very dark.  Black mountain shapes moved ghostly in the background, as grey deer stood looking at as by the road.

Check out my youtube video for highlights!

Rough Riders Hotel Medora ND

In Medora, JUST outside of the Teddy Roosevelt National Park is the Rough Riders Hotel!

We didn't stay there, but we stopped by briefly and asked a very kind young lady at the front desk about places to eat and things to do in the area!

She was great, and this hotel looks great!  I am itching to get back just so we can stay there!

 

Medora ND Post Office

I took a few photos of the friendly little post office in Medora North Dakota!

 

Enchanted Highway ND 09 2020

 North Dakota......  I have 

mentioned it before...  and so have other roadtrippers...  it is the state that most visit last.  That's not a nock against it.....  but, its location especially makes it kind of hard to get to as you are plotting a trip.  AND, the state under it, South Dakota, is poppin' with must see attractions.

BUT there are some things to see in North Dakota!  One thing that has been on my list for a long time is the Enchanted Highway!

Artist Gary Greff started the project with locals, to design massive sculptures to attract tourists.

This is very unique and a lot of fun!  Check out my youtube video!

Dunn Brother Coffee Dickinson ND

On a trip to Nashville a couple of years back, I found a Dunn Brothers Coffee and really liked it.  Sadly, it looks like they have pulled out of the area.

Dunn Brothers is still around though, but I don't think there are any near me at this point.  So, I was thrilled to be able to stop by one on our recent road trip through North Dakota!

We stopped by the Dunn Brothers Coffee in Dickinson North Dakota after finishing our drive through the Enchanted Highway, and before we made it to Medora.

The store was nice and cozy.  The staff was friendly, and we had some great drinks!

 

Our Mostly South Dakota Road Trip 2020

Yeah.....  so, we went to South Dakota again...  for the 2nd time in 2 years.  This was our 3rd trip there in less than 10 years.  All I can say is timing.  AND covid.

We actually had an Alaskan Cruise/Canadian adventure planned.  It was all set to go.  Well, as you can imagine.........  covid came around and changed a LOT of plans.  

We ended up coming up with a VERY roughly planned New York, Connecticut trip.  Well, some of the stuff we had hoped to do on that trip was looking iffy in many ways.

So we thought about doing something relaxing.  We wanted to do something that didn't involve a ton of social interaction (BUT we still did want to get "out" and do some exploring).

We thought about some trips we have enjoyed in the past.  I am always up for Gettysburg.  Still, that is a social, and often crowded area.

We thought about spending a week in our home state, or Tennessee, but...  well, thats just not really "getting away".

AND, we both really enjoyed our time in South Dakota last year.  We knew we were wanting to get back soon anyway, so....  we did a repeat trip to South Dakota!

Most of the parks are not crowded, there is a lot of room, and you can do a lot of exploring from the comfort of your own car!

Plus, we called our favorite South Dakota Hotel, the Alex

Johnson, and rooms were available and reasonable!  We would be staying several nights in the great town of Rapid City AGAIN!

This was a bit of a last minute trip......  AND we ended up tweaking it a bit right before leaving.

You know that I love Nebraska, and we have always stopped in two of my favorite towns (Fremont and Omaha) on previous trips.  Well, we realized that we could make some impressive stops in Iowa and Minnesota if we cancelled Nebraska.  I hated to do that, but the thought of what we would be getting with the trade off was too exciting.  

We ended up going to the Surf Ballroom and the "Day the Music Died" crash site.  You probably know what I am talking about.  More on that later.

AND, we could hit part of Minnesota, making our first trip through that great state!  In fact, we would mark TWO states off of our list with this trip (Minnesota and North Dakota).  We would ALMOST get to a THIRD new state (Montana) but we had to pass on that one.

One of our rules of visiting a state is you can't go there JUST to go there.  Well, we ALMOST routed a very brief part of the road trip THROUGH Montana (when driving back to Rapid City South Dakota from Medora North Dakota) but it was going to add more time than we could spare to our trip.  AND, we would be doing it for the sake of

doing it.  We chose to save Montana for another day.

We visited a few places we saw in 2012 and wanted to visit again in 2019 but couldn't (Devils Tower and Deadwood).  We visited several sites for a third time (Mt. Rushmore, Custer State Park, the Hotel Alex Johnson and a few restaurants).  AND, we got to see several things for the first time- MAINLY Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota!

As you may have noticed, I have been enjoying filming as we travel lately.  I plan to still blog, but it might be more video focused starting with this trip.  It has brought me a lot of joy watching my videos again and talking about them.