Off to Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Medora, ND

Monday July 2, 2012 till Sunday July 8, 2012

Scenic View of Teddy Roosevelt National Park

We are at the South Unit of the Teddy Roosevelt National Park.  We've been here before and really like it.  We came on Monday and plan to stay probably till Sunday.  We are pretty tired of driving all day and not enjoying the country!  The colorful Little Missouri Badlands are the scenic backdrop to this park.  From the entrance, you drive up a 5 mile windy, steep hill to get to the campground itself.  This was the campground where a herd of Bison met us last time we were here!  Beyond the campground there are still dozens of miles to explore the beautiful country along with Bison, Deer and wild horses.

We arrive by 10:30 am so that we can get a good campsite since we are planning to stay awhile and we do.  We set up camp, take out all our goodies and have a cold drink.  It's really hot here today!  Once we were settled, I went into the town of Medora to get our groceries for the week.  Unfortunately, we forgot there is no grocery store in town--or for 30 miles in either direction either.  We are at the mercy of the towns only Convenience store.  Not much to pick from and VERY expensive! A disappointment.

Prairie Dogs

We have an early dinner and take our first drive along the scenic route tonight. We're rewarded with buffalo, prairie dogs, and a momma deer and 2 fawns.  Neat.  Temp is down to 95 degrees.

Tuesday July 3, 2012.  Happy 18th Birthday, Brooksie!  It's a big one!

I heard on the radio today that a cold front is coming in and they are expecting rain with high winds...I don't know where they are talking about, though.  I'm in Medena but no one is saying where the radio station is from.  I don't even know what time it is..Are we in Mountain time or Central time zones?  I could be an earlier hour then I expect:) Does it matter when you're camping for 74 days?

North Dakota is really beautiful.  The landscape is really 'bumpy' which is why they must call it the badlands.  Each of the 'bumps' is multi colored...orange, blue, beige, green..etc...Ed says they were formed by the volcanos that formed the Rockies.  Amazing.

Wednesday July 4.  Happy Fourth of July!!

It's 7:45 pm on our sunset cruise in the Badlands and Ed is looking at the clouds.  It is still 95 degrees but Ed says we need to 'batten down the hatches'.  Maybe those weather reports were for our area after all!

It is 8:52 and we are still cruising.  The sun seems high in the sky and it is now 100 degrees!

Friday July 6, 2012.  Well, the rain missed us on Wednesday night but got us good last night!  The ranger even stopped by the campsite last night to advise us that the forecast predicted between 1 and 2 inches of rain.  No problem!  We buttoned up, played cards and went to bed to the patter of rain.  It almost feels cozy to me when it rains (one day only!) while we are camping.  It was loud, though, and Monty wasen't sure he liked the noise so he came to sleep with us sometime during the night.  By the morning, the rain was gone and there weren't even many puddles.

Flag Lowering Ceremony

Ed took a long hike at the Petrified Forest  while I read and did some Genealogy.  After soaking his feet for awhile, we decided to go to town to have dinner and get Internet.  While here we took in the daily lowering of the flags in Medera