28 July 2013
We were still in the dinosaur region of Alberta, so we started off the day at
Dinosaur Provincial Park, and then headed for Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
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| Hoodoos near Dinosaur Provincial Park |
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| Uncovered dinosaur bones at Dinosaur Provincial Park |
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| This is what eastern Alberta looks like--oil and wheat. |
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| This is what Saskatchewan looks like |
About 50 miles west of Moose Jaw, we encountered my new favo(u)rite town--
Morse, Saskatchewan.
We rolled into Moose Jaw at about 6:00, in time to encounter our first rain in about a week. Despite having a great name, Moose Jaw itself isn't that exciting, although it does have several nice murals on the sides of buildings.
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| A mural in Moose Jaw |
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| Another mural in Moose Jaw |
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| Downtown Moose Jaw, such as it is |
After dinner, it started clearing up, so we went to see Moose Jaw's greatest attraction--
Mac, the world's largest moose. We got a bonus rainbow.
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| Mac, the world's largest moose |
As an additional bonus, next to Mac was a display of a Canadian Air Force Jet, which also came with a rainbow.
And to top it off, I discovered that Mac the Moose's best friend is Morse Moose. Can it get any better?
That was all the excitement we could take for the day.
29 July 2013
Today was a heavy driving day, going from Moose Jaw to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. But I would knock off two items on my bucket list.
The first was a stop in Rouleau, Saskatchewan (the fictional town of Dog River), where the Canadian TV series "Corner Gas" was filmed. If you haven't seen Corner Gas, it's well worth it--check it out at
http://www.youtube.com/user/cornergastvshow. If you have seen it, you know why it was absolutely necessary for us to stop in Dog River. After the series ended filming, the town kept all of the buildings as they were in the series (which is why the grain tower and hotel say "Dog River" instead of "Rouleau".
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| Inside the gas station |
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| Inside the Ruby |
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| Dog River Town Hall |
After leaving Dog River/Rouleau, we traveled through 100 miles of wheat and oil fields so I could cross the border into North Dakota and collect my 50th state.
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| W00T!! 50!! |
My delight in being in North Dakota nonwithstanding, I must say that I can add northwest North Dakota (Williston) to the Opryland Hotel and Manta, Ecuador on the list of Places I Don't Need to Go Back To. The area is a big oil drilling and fracking boom town, which means:
- Oil rigs everywhere
- Bumper to bumper traffic of huge oil trucks and equipment carriers
- Trailer parks
- Extended-stay motels
- More trailer parks
- Bars
- More trailer parks
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| Oil rigs everywhere |
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| Bumper to bumper traffic of huge oil trucks and equipment carriers |
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| Trailer parks |
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| This is what North Dakota is supposed to look like |
Eventually we escaped from the Williston area, and arrived at
Theodore Roosevelt National Park, a couple of hours south.
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| Theodore Roosevelt National Park |
Next to the National Park is the town of
Medora, where Roosevelt spent a lot of time during the late 1880's. We spent the night at the Rough Riders Hotel, which I highly recommend (especially the restaurant). Medora turned out to be one of the pleasant surprises of the trip.
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| Rough Riders Hotel |
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| Central Medora |
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| Medora commercial district |
30 July 2013
Today we headed back through the Black Hills to Rapid City. Our first stop was Deadwood, which we had bypassed on our drive through the Black Hills at the beginning of the trip. Deadwood is an old Western town, that has been transformed (not to its benefit) into a casino destination.
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| Bullock Hotel in Deadwood |
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| Along the main street in Deadwood |
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| Historic spot in Deadwood |
Deadwood is about 30 miles from Sturgis, and this was the week before Bike Week in Sturgis, so Deadwood was full of bikers on their way to Bike Week.
From Deadwood, we went to Sturgis, the last significant stop on the trip. Sturgis was in full swing even though Bike Week was a week away.
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| Entering Sturgis |
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| Ready for Bike Week |
And so, we leave you in Sturgis, with one last picture to be imprinted in your brain.
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| Goodbye from Sturgis! |
