Salem Sue

More of North Dakotas obsession with giant animal statues.  An obsession exceeded only by my desire to seek them out.  Who doesn't like gargantuan statues of farm animals?

Salem Sue

Cattle Dog View

Attention to Detail

New Salem, ND

Prairie Thunderstorm

    Got a little Summer rain and wind the other night.  Life on the prairie.

A North Dakota Obsession

A love of giant animal sculptures seems to be shared by all here.  This 'Worlds largest' Sandhill Crane stands guard to the entrance of Steele, ND.

Along the Missouri

Fort Dilts

Buried deep in a little traveled corner of North Dakota lays a forgotten scene of fierce survival.  Fort Dilts, a hastily constructed outpost - besieged for 16 days, seems the quintessential case of circling the wagons.  Protected only by sod walls two feet thick, this cavalry escorted wagon train held off a  larger force of Sioux attacking with as much ferocity as people protecting their way life can.  Eight troopers and several wagon trains member died during the two week seige.  It stands alone now, windswept, untouched.  In the far distance an occasional train lumbers by.  Further out a row of  giant windmills power unseen houses.   Even further out the low buttes that dot North Dakota frame the horizen.  A flagless flagpole stands in the center of the fort and eight gravesites mark the troopers who made Fort Dilts their last stand.  One feels the hallowed ground out here.  An outpost just as desperate as any besieged in far off lands whet with the blood of men.  From both sides.

The Last Stand of Cpl. Dilts

I am somewhat saddened by the lack of a flag here today.  This forgotten battlefield in our own back yard. I walk the grounds and salute each troopers resting site with the solemnity I suppose only an old infantry man can give.  I acknowledge and affirm the rights of the attacking Sioux.  We do what we do.

Even Today the Battle Reverberates

Small Town North Dakota

Drake

Small Town North Dakota

Anamoose, puts the "home" in hometown!  

The Sun is a Mockery

What a sunny day in the negative Fahrenheit looks like.

A friend at work who hails from San Diego remarked that on days such as this, when the skys are blue, the sun is full, and the  prairie winds not blowing, that the cold...that the cold would still be so pronounced, well, the sun is just a mockery.

Through the Windshield

I put 6000 miles on the car in December, here's what I saw.

Muffcicle

A muffcicle happens when you leave your car running while you hang out at the local.

From the Air

The flight out to LAX was overbooked.  Look at that landscape and you'll see why.  It was cool and rainy in LA when I arrived.  I should say cool for Los Angelinos, it felt downright tropical to me.

There was a bar and restaurant right there in the terminal where I had the best overpriced huevos rancheros and beer in a month.  If this meal isn't part of your regular diet plan, your doing it wrong.

Bismarck Sunrise

Homesick Rock

This large stone is strikingly similar to some of the granite I've climbed on in Tuoloumne Meadows back home in Yosemite.  My mind immediately went back to warm Summer days in the high Sierra.  It was a nice find.  It is located in the old Mandan  Indian village site and was thought to be a grinding and laundry stone.

Downhill Skiing!

A little drive down the Missouri River to Huff Hills ski resort in the Bismarck alps.  The sign says you have to ski it to believe it.  It's on the list.  It has to be good because their season pass is more than the mid-week season pass we pay for Sierra at Tahoe.  Anyway, I'm gonna ski it and it does look kinda fun.

Also some shots driving around gravel county roads behind the ski hill.  It's really quite pretty.

Today in Bismarck

There's a turtle on a beaver dam.  Really

I don't know either

A walk to the Capital