Listing Through Life

From the brochure:

Teddy Rides Again (1993) is a tribute to Theodore Roosevelt’s part in North Dakota’s history. The sculpture was built of used well pipe. Teddy and his favorite horse “Mulley” stand 51 feet tall and weigh over 9,000 pounds. It stands just south of Black Butte which is 3112 feet above sea level.

The others stayed down by the stagecoach while I walked up to the base of the sculpture and took this photo looking back. The shadow of Teddy is on the left. Black Butte is in the distance.

The first stop on the Enchanted Highway is the Tin Family, built in 1991. Here’s what the brochure has to say.

The Tin Family was the first sight erected on the Enchanted Highway. Built of used farm equipment that took farmers hours of labor and welding to achieve this initial creation. The Tin Pa stands 45 feet and is held up by 16 telephone poles. The tin Ma is 44 Feet tall while the Son is a mere 23 feet tall.

We spent Thursday night in Bismarck with a retired couple. On Friday we headed west, past New Salem, home of Salem Sue, the world’s largest Holstein cow.

Here’s Sue from several miles away. See the tallest hill in the center distance of this shot? The white line is the name “New Salem.” Sue can be seen as a spot on the right slope.

We could have stopped, but I felt we could get the gist of things from the highway.

Our next destination was Regent. Local resident, Gary Greff, was concerned that his town might disappear. (At the last count, there were 160 residents.) His solution was to build a series of massive sculptures along the road leading from I-94 to the town.

I’m not convinced the effort is doing a great deal for the town, but it did get us there. We bought a couple cans of pop and a refrigerator magnet to help the local economy. I picked up a brochure on the Enchanted Highway — it lists “serene atmosphere” as one of its tourist attractions.

Another picture of downtown Regent during the lunchtime rush.

This metal tree is next to the gift shop.

This structure sits, without explanation or access, in an empty lot next to the gift shop.

The Hidatsa and Mandan Indians lived along the Knife River just before its conjunction with the Missouri from about 1600 to 1845. Their presence in the area is the reason Lewis and Clark built Fort Mandan in this area.

We didn’t stay at the park long — just long enough to watch a video, poke our heads into the reconstructed earthlodge and walk out to the first village site.

And there wasn’t much to see  — just a field dotted with round depressions. But I thought it was fascinating. I could imagine a village with people going about their daily lives — working, playing, relaxing.

Here’s an aerial view of one of the villages.

A park ranger was doing a live video chat with a classroom full of elementary students in the earthlodge. We sneaked in the door and looked around, but we couldn’t wander about inside.

Fort Mandan, on the Missouri River in central North Dakota, represents the fort Lewis and Clark and their men built for the first winter of their journey. It’s located about 10 miles from the original fort site, and its appearance is based on some general comments in the journals. None of the items in the fort are original to the journey. It’s really just a place to learn about and get a sense of what really happened. But it’s good for that.

We were on a tight schedule, so we dashed through the visitor center and headed for the fort. Our tour began with just the four of us and one tour guide. Along the way we picked up four more people and switched guides.

Here’s guide one in the store room. He had hands. It’s just that he moved while I was taking this pan.

This is an interpretation of the room in which Toussaint Charboneau stayed with Sakakawea and his other wife, Otter Woman.

And this is Lewis and Clark’s room.

The fort looks square in some of these photos, but it was basically triangular in shape with the two rows of barracks forming two sides and the gate in the middle of the third wall.

Our second guide.

On the banks of the Missouri River near the fort.