New Town, North Dakota, United StatesTeddy's Residential Suites,, New Town ND
My decision to camp for 2 nights at TRNP, North Unit, maybe was not such a good idea, or perhaps I should have looked at a weather forecast, pulled up the tent and slept in the car since there was a thunderstorm sometime during the night.
Not a very bad one - I could see lightning flashes and hear thunder. At first there was an extremely long pause between them. Oh, I can't believe I have yet to look at the stars after all these nights camping. Anyway, the rain was not too bad. Of course, all the surfaces of things were wet and the two items I left on the clothesline were all wet and the tent fly was also wet. I woke up around 5, 6 or 7 am. I don't know anymore because the cell phone time switches for some reason. Someone told me that the park's South Unit is Rocky Mountain Time and the North, Central Time. It is disconcerting. Anyway, I didn't really have all the items for my muesli and I desparately wanted coffee, as well as a shower, so my inclination was to pull up camp immediately and try to find a way to dry the fly at some point during the day.
As I was leaving the campground, I took a few photos of the Cannonball cliff. Maybe I should have explored it more because I later saw postcards with the big round balls that I did not see during my first foray there - my first or second really.
I may have stopped at another overlook on the 5 miles out to the visitor center because the light and the landscape after the rain were so beautiful. In any case I did stop ... on the road...to watch and take photos of a herd of bison munching on the grass on both sides of the road and walking across it. A truck came from the other direction, paused briefly and then drove past. I began to wonder if you weren't supposed to move on and not stop to take photos. As lovely as the park is, I found that there were so many lovely scenes that you couldn't really get photos of because there were no pull-offs. Which also means that you can't really see them if you are driving. I guess it is an encouragement to take to the trails but they are farily limited and, as we know, not all that well marked. In any case, I was absolutely thrilled to see all the bison, big and little and in between.
I stopped at the visitor center to get my NP passport stamp but it wasn't quite open yet - 6 minutes to 9 am.
A ranger walked in and out, then he put up the flag and later apologized Maybe he didn't opon up at 9 because he felt he should put up the flag first. I bought a few postcards and told him about my bison sighting, but his response was some uninterpretable sound. He didn't seem that friendly.
My plans for the day changed several times during the day. Last night I thought I would go to New Town, see the MHA Interpretive Center and stay at some motel to get my shower and catch up on charging my electronics and blogging. This morning after looking at the map, I thought I might drive to New Town, see the Interpretive Center in the morning and drive on to Montana. When I went to the Center and found out that the Native American Casino had a motor lodge, I thought I would instead stay there after my visit.
Unfortunately, I did not put the center into my GPS until I had already arrived at New Town and found a place to get coffee, some breakfast sandwiches, and ice. I had passed by one likely place and then hadn't found anything until I reached New Town. So I had passed the Intrepretive Center on my way into town. So now I had to backtrack. The Center is housed in a lovely new building, with a restaurant I guess and lots of tables and chairs on the outdoor patio overlooking the Sakakawa River. I went into the Center and asked about the guide services they offered for the exhibit. I paid an extra $5 and had Taylor Baker as my guide for probably at least an hour.
She was a recent graduate of the MHA College - not exactly sure about that - but her grandmother is in charge of it. She was very knowledgeable about the exhibit and is from the Hadsata tribe. The museum covers the Mandan, Hadatsa and Arikara (Samish) nation. I learned about some of the tribes' migrations, their traditional way of living with planting, hunting and trading. Then came the arrival of the europeans, the small pox brought by the wheelboat up the Missouri River, the flooding of the fertile lowlands and resettlement of the tribes in the less fertile uplands, the boarding schools where the europeans - especially the government more than the churches - tried to destroy the tribes culture. There was also mention of the heroism of the Native American soldiers in WWI who were not even citizens until 1924. The spectre - Charles - or what was his Americanized ed name? He was sought out by a French government official as the bravest soldier in France in WWI.
There was also a small art exhibition and in the back of the center, along the lake, there is an Earthen Villages set up with several earthen houses and one or two in early stages of construction.
It was still pretty early - just after 2 pm - so I still could presumably drive on and get to someplace in Montana and leave my shower until the evening. I was still thinking of the casino motor lodge but when I put in New Town as the location for a Hopper hotel search, I don't think it came up unless I didn't recognize the name. Then I was seduced by a bargain because the Teddy's Residential Suites was a savings of $59. But then I saw I wouldn't be getting a suite but a king-sized bed room, but that was OK. It was still a reasonable price in this day and age. When I checked in and got to my room, I tried putting on all the lamps because it was kind of dark and none worked. I also had turned off all the a/c because it was freezing. I calleda down to the desk and a maintenance person was sent up. He went off to check the circuit breaker. I put some stuff away. Then I got a call that the situation could not be fixed and I was being moved to another room on the same floor. This turned out to be a suite so I have a kitchenette with full-sized refrigerator and even 2 stove burners. I have a bedroom and sitting room. I turned off the a/c but I still have a sweater on and might have to turn on the heat. I brought up my computer and camera bags, a duffle with what I thought I would need in terms of clothes and toiletries. Then I brought up the coolers and put my food in the refrigerator and freezer. The tent fly I hung over the shower curtain bar - so far it is still pretty wet.
I found out that there was a supermarket and liquor store right behind the hotel so I walked over there. I had to ask to try to find granola but they did have a couple of varieties of Back to Nature granola - no muesli or Bob's Red Mill that I could find. I got blueberries and bananas and more crackers on sale to eat with my remaining cheese. I bought a tomato and some cut-up veggies. I am planning to make a mozzarella, tomato salad with the remaining olive tapenade. I hope it is still OK. Then I found the liquor store - quite a big one and was asked if I needed help. I asked if they had any single cans of beer. A woman working there asked if I only wanted beer. Had I heard of Daily's because they were her favorite. So she showed me this frozen mixed drink packs and I bought some to try. She also said that she thought I might like them because I was about her age. I said I don't think so...She is 55 and when I told how old I am she said I looked wonderful for my age so no wonder I bought several of those drinks. We'll see. They are really inexpensive by drink standards so they are probably not very strong which is also a good thing....maybe more like adult kool-aids.
So since my fingers are turning blue, I need to make it warmer in here. Then I can try my new drink and make my dinner before moving on to uploading photos now that I have caught up on blogging. Turns out that olive tapenade doesn't have the same effect as basil pesto with mozzarella and tomatoes. OK when that is what you have, but to be avoided in the future.
2025-05-22