North Dakota - impromptu safari :)

Friday, July 29 - North Dakota

I didn't really know what to do in North Dakota - I had two goals only: eat Kuchen, and make it as far west as possible so I'd be ready to explore the black hills on Saturday. However, I found that there was a wetland wildlife preserve not far from where I camped, so that's where I ended up spending the bulk of my time. (Long Lake National Wildlife Refuge.) There were apparently less water birds than usual because there was so much water everywhere in the state from the flooding that the birds had gone elsewhere. It was still lovely! I saw lots of birds I can't identify - I'll need to look them up. Pelicans were the only ones I knew for sure - and did NOT expect to see them there! I was fascinated by the sounds of the marsh - the tiny frogs that were too fast for me to photograph were making a racket. Tiny bugs landing on reeds were also much louder than I expected. There was thumping and cracking and rustling and all sorts of sounds. I must have stood silent for 20 mins trying to identify what they were. I suspect there were larger things that I never saw (I did see one Beaver elsewhere - something like that could have made some of the louder sounds!) This was one time I was glad to not have the dogs with me - they don't make for good birding companions!!! I got some terrific photos, on my facebook page, just a few I'll put here because this blog format isn't great for adding photos

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Then I went to another wetland the ranger suggested, but that one was far less accessible and I couldn't see much, so I moved on. I ate in Bismark, at Kroll's diner (homestyle German-American diner) - http://www.sitdownandeat.com/ it's a pretty cute spot and so incredibly local. The waitress was so friendly so I asked her about what to see in North Dakota - I don't think she's been further than 50 miles from Bismark in all her life... Even more surprisingly, they served Kuchen, and she has never eaten it! (She was easily over 40). I liked it - kind of like custard fruit pie - how can that go wrong?

Then I pressed west to get as close to the black hills as possible. I passed beautiful grasslands and lovely hills that were just a preview of what was to come the next day. I heard forecasts of possible severe thunderstorms with hail and damaging winds so I decided to get a hotel room. I regretted it - it was a pretty shoddy place - apparently there were actors in town from an old cowboy movie for some reunion of the filming, and the town was all booked up - I ended up in a rather seedy motel room and would have had less bugs in my tent!!!