North Dakota

Hubby and I got to fly to North Dakota in June. Neither of us had ever been there before so it was exciting!! We also left the kids at home- a first for us! :-)

 We flew into Minot on June 10th and even from the air we could see evidence of the FIRST flood to hit the area this summer. (I wish now I would have gotten some flood pictures!!)
 We spent the day driving through country side- we were both amazed at the wide open spaces!!! So different from Columbus, Ohio!

After many, many miles and hours and tons of information it was almost time to call it a day.... but not before we had dinner.

 We chose a local restaurant that does their cooking over an open fire using wood brought in from Alaska. (The smell of the wood smoke was delicious enough... but the food, even more so!) They have 2 teepees in the yard. You can sit in them and have your dinner.
I had the Bison burger on a soft pretzel bun with buffalo chips- they were spicy, but so good. (And yeah, they give you a few more chips, but they kind of disappeared. LOL)

Hubby had the barbque chicken  and the side dishes are served family style out of crocks, the "no recipe beans" were very tasty.
 We got up the next morning an decided a road trip would be fun after a quick look around town.

We met two of the sweetest little, elderly ladies at the Scandinavian Heritage center. This is the church museum. (We were told once AGAIN that we had an accent. Funny, we sound the same as most other Ohioans!! LOL)

We hit the rode and less than 2 hours (and a soft serve ice cream cone) later.....

Now I know why it is call "Big Sky" oh my, I loved it!! We drove to the first driveway in MT (an Indian Casino)  turned around and headed back towards the hotel. We stopped at a historic fort and a visitor's center where the Yellowstone and Missouri come together. The rivers were out of the banks and the friendly lady working there told us that Yellowstone had not begun to melt yet- and the had 3 foot of snow pack- in June. (Since we have been there there has been serious problems with flooding.)

This is traffic North Dakota style. LOL (Just look at the scenery!! )We flew back home the next day, back to 3 and 4 lanes of real traffic. :-)
Since arriving back home we have been keeping up with the news in the Minot area, the end of June the middle of town was filled with up to 15 feet of water. The 2011 flood has been the worst one EVER for that area. Even today (almost a month later) parts of town have 3-4 feet of water. I can not imagine how much more damage has been done to such a beautiful community.
 Currently 11,000 people are homeless in Minot, because of a housing shortage the past couple of years these evacuees have no where to go. I would like to ask you to please keep the people in Minot in your prayers.
Until later~