Wandering Orbit

On Monday we went and toured the North Dakota state capitol building in Bismark.  First off, it is a "skyscraper" (at 18 stories), no dome in sight.  Also, they meet biannually.  The building was built in the 1930s and has a ton of art deco influences.   We got to go up to the observation deck and look out over Bismark, on a good day you can see 20+ miles or more. On Tuesday, we went to Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site.  This site mostly focuses on the Hidatsa peoples and had a really cool earthlodge you could go in and explore. Wednesday we went to Theodore Roosevelt National Park--the only such park named after an individual.  We learned some new things about him here: his time in North Dakota really shaped him for the presidency and also shaped his conservation views, which is how we got so many of our national parks! He also came out to North Dakota for a second time after his wife and mom died on the same day.  He ranch

We kind of galloped through South Dakota.  We could have spent a week (or month!) around the Mt. Rushmore/Badlands area.  So much to do and see! We didn't leave Wyoming until Tuesday.  Our first stop was Belle Fourche, South Dakota, the geographical center of the U.S.  That doesn't make a ton of sense until we read the sign that said if you count Alaska and Hawaii, then it is the geographical center! On Wednesday, we headed to Mt. Rushmore.  Three of us had never been there before and there was so much new infrastructure there, including parking structure, gift shop, visitor center, Avenue of Flags, and museum, that wasn't there 23 years ago.  FYI, you have to pay for parking, but the monument itself doesn't charge. Mt. Rushmore seen through the Avenue of Flags J and S did the junior ranger program there. The junior ranger booklet for the older kids was HARD. They both learned a lot. When we drove away, you come around the corner and there's this pr