We began our Tuesday with a trip over to the
North Dakota State Capitol in Bismarck. With the tower rising 19
stories, it is actually the tallest building in all of North Dakota!
All three of the littles ran up the steps ~ I just love how the girls have embraced their brother's quirky challenge...
From
Bismarck, we continued west to the little town of Medora. It was so
amazing to see the landscape change (literally) right before our eyes,
from vast farmland and prairies to rock formations and canyons...
We stopped at Theodore Roosevelt National Park
and visited President Roosevelt's first cabin in North Dakota, the
Maltese Cross cabin, where he retreated to find solace after the
untimely death of both his first wife and his mother (they died on the same day)...
We
slowed down and enjoyed the beauty of the park, taking the scenic loop
drive where we saw a couple of buffalo, a group of wild horses (in the
middle of the road) and countless prairie dogs...
From there we headed back to the Painted Canyon stop for a truly unparalleled view...
We left North Dakota and crossed into South Dakota on a wild search for the true center of our nation...
You
know, I can't really remember how exactly I even heard about this
place, but when I did, I knew that we had to try our best to get there.
Afterall, we'd already been to a couple of other weird extreme
geographical points on this very trip, so why not???
So,
I couldn't find all that many accounts of anyone actually making the
trek... I mean, you do have to drive down an isolated dirt road in the
middle of what looks like abandoned farmland until you happen upon
it... Of course, my luck, it was actually in the middle of an occupied
cow pasture... I guess I should be thankful that the cows were far,
far, far off in the distance!
Well,
anyway, we did it... Donned in our red, white and blue, Hubby and I
climbed through a barbed wire fence, lifted each of our three littles
over the fence, and traipsed through an overgrown pasture, dodging cow
patties (carrying the girls AND a tripod) to the true center of our nation...
{He's a really good man, that Hubby!}
Measured
and marked a couple of years after both Alaska and Hawaii joined the
United States, there's a small, round disc imbedded in a slab of
concrete to prove it...
and we've now been there!
You
know, I'm not really that much of an outdoorsy person or an
adventurist, but I will say that I am a completest (to a fault, for
sure) and now that we have been to a few of our country's extreme
points, I just have to try my best to get to all of them - for both the
lower 48 contiguous states, as well as all 50 states... I do love to
travel and love exploring both our own country, as well as our world ~ I
will go most anywhere that I've not yet been before (as long as it is
safe), including a cow pasture. Ha!
The best part of all was the ride on to Belle Fourche, South Dakota
(the closest actual town to the true center) and recounting with each
other our crazy little adventure. Mosquito bites and all, it's
something we did as a family, something most families that I know have
not done and most likely won't ever do (and probably don't even know
about), and that's just neat...
For a bit more information on this center of the nation, click here...
On to a famous South Dakota spot tomorrow!
More {Road Trip} 2014 Fun
