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| Driving through North Dakota |
[Pardon the lack of posts lately... We've been without Internet access for several days. We'll try to catch up soon!]
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| Painted Canyon |
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| Cottonwood Campground, TRNP |
An easy 9-hour drive westbound on I-94 through North Dakota brought us to the Painted Canyon Visitor Center, a prelude to Teddy Roosevelt National Park (TRNP). There we were treated to a gorgeous panorama of bluffs with multi-colored striations. The landscape resembled the Badlands of South Dakota, only with a much more "lush" feel. There were lots of green areas- including sagebrush- dispersed between the rock formations. Being 4:00p.m., we swiftly moved on to the gates of TRNP in order to secure a spot at the park's first come, first served Cottonwood Campground. We shared this area with about thirty other camping families. A short-but-thorny jaunt through some weeds brought campers to the Little Missouri River... the perfect swimming hole! The water had a strong current, but was extremely shallow. So a swimmer could lay on his/her back and be pulled along a la a "lazy river" attraction. Nick and Greg caught several frogs and kept them in a make-shift pen. Of course they under-estimated the leaping power of these amphibians, so these critters were escaping quicker than they could be caught! The frog population surely breathed a sigh of relief when we returned to our site for a meal of steaks, twice-baked potatoes, and asparagus on the grill. In the absence of hook-ups, we had to limit our power/water consumption, so quick showers to rinse off the river scum were all we had time for. The boys insisted upon sleeping in a tent instead of the r.v., and we all enjoyed the comfortable sleeping temperatures (perhaps 60 degrees) that the night offered.
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