Theodore Roosevelt National Park and a Pitchfork Fondue

 Yesterday was kind of a "get oriented" day.  We drove through the south entrance of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  We had been told that the drive is normally about a 30 mile loop, but only 11 miles were open.  We stopped by the Visitor Center and Mr. W talked with one of the rangers.  The ranger told me him about a couple of hikes that we might want to do.  We then started driving hoping to see some animals.

Being Saturday, the park was busy and the traffic kept getting heavier as the morning turned into the afternoon.  There are pull out points and overlooks.  It was difficult to find a place to pull off the road in a lot of these places. Teddy Roosevelt's cabin, that he lived in the first winter there, is still there and has been restored with some of the original furnishings and utensils memorialized there. 

One of our neighbors in the RV park was from South Dakota and she had talked to us about the National Park and did not talk very favorable.  She told us that the Badlands in South Dakota and Custer State Park were much more impressive and beautiful and we will see tons more animals.  Haha!  I don't blame her.  Girl, you just brag and feel good about it!

I will say that on the first time around the park, I was a little underwhelmed.  It is pretty in its own way, and maybe it is the time of year, but the terrain didn't turn out to be very photogenic. We ended up seeing 3 buffaloes, 1 antelope, about 10 wild horses, and a MILLION prairie dogs.  

We hope to revisit during the week when there are less crowds and we are also hoping to visit the section through the north entrance.

Last night was the last night of the season of the Pitchfork Fondue.  We decided to go and it was a fun evening.  They load up steaks on pitchforks and "fondue" them in a huge vat of very hot oil. They say they cook them to medium.  I think it was more like medium well, but it was good.  It is a 12 oz. steak, so Mr. W decided that we would buy one ticket with steak and "fixins" and one ticket that is just "fixins".  There was plenty of food! We enjoyed the company of one of our neighbors from the RV park.  His name is Mike and he travels with his dog named Fritz. Mike is from North Dakota.  It is always good to talk to "locals" because you find out what to see and what to avoid.  They can tell you what roads to take when traveling and what roads to stay away from.  They also know the local restaurants to visit and sights to see. Mike was really nice and seemed to enjoy dinner too.  

This weekend was suppose to be a kite and hot air balloon festival.  The weather/wind didn't want to really cooperate.  We had seen 1 hot air balloon in the morning and Mr. W had talked with a man that said they were going to try fly later that evening.  Low and behold while we were eating, I looked over and saw a giant pumpkin in the sky.  When we left the dinner, we drove through town and got up close and personal to the "Great Pumpkin".  I always love seeing hot air balloons.