Vacation!!!

We have been enjoying a week of vacation! Dawn (Dr. Kerner) arrived last Saturday and we have been across the state of North Dakota, seeing places I've never seen before, or don't remember seeing anyhow. We headed to Theodore Roosevelt National Park and Medora Sunday morning. It was HOT! We did manage a short bike ride on a gravel road in the Badlands...it was beautiful. We had a delicious dinner at the Roughrider Hotel. We saw many bison and wild horses in the park. We stayed at the worst hotel thing ever! The Bunkhouse, from the Medora Foundation, was awful!! I'd sleep in a tent with no bathrooms before returning here. It was like sleeping in a portable classroom. The sun made it extremely hot. Dawn had sunflower seeds on her heating element. It was not good.

We got up Monday morning and headed to the park for a bike ride. We made it about a mile when we ran into a herd of bison. We turned around, went back a couple miles, then were surrounded by lightning and it started raining. We headed to the car. We tried to visit the ice caves, but only found farms and ranches. We thought we'd drive through the North TR Park, but the road construction got in our way. We had lunch at a so-so place in Watford City. We drove through Kildeer and along Highway 200 to the Lewis and Clark Visitor Center and Ft. Mandan...only to arrive 15 minutes before closing. We tried to eat at our favorite restaurant in Bismarck, The Walrus, but that was a disaster, too. We ended up eating and getting to our hotel, which was pretty nice!

Tuesday was humid and looked stormy again, so we postponed our bike ride on the Missouri and headed to Ft. Abraham Lincoln State Park. We toured the On-a-slant Indian village and Custer's home. We learned a lot. Roger worked, poor Roger. Dawn and I bought delicious bread from The Bread Poet and some cheeses and had a little lunch. We couldn't decide what to do, so we ended up hanging out at the outdoor pool, getting some sun. Dinner at Bistro was delicious!

Wednesday, Dawn and I headed out on our bikes early and rode north along the river. It was a beautiful morning, mist on the river and nice and cool. We had Starbuck's after our ride, showered and loaded up the car. We headed to the Capitol and Heritage Center. Dawn probably knows more about North Dakota than many natives by now! We did some shopping in downtown Bismarck and met up with Roger and my parents at The Blarney Stone for some beers and an early dinner. Mom and Dad picked up their bike, the one they so graciously loaned to Dawn, and we all headed out of town.

Today was a lazy day in Valley City. I went in for two hours of work. Dawn read. Roger did laundry, again, poor Roger. Dawn and I got pedicures. The farmer's market was out of sweet corn, and now we need to decide what to do for dinner. Tomorrow is Dawn's last day. I'm hoping the weather is nice so we can spend some time outside. We have no plans.

Then Saturday, we'll drop Dawn off at the Fargo airport, do some shopping and head home. Sunday, I head to Bottineau for meetings and Roger has meetings here. And a week from Tuesday, classes begin...already! Poor us!!