States Visited Today
Today, Friday, July 10, 2020, there was no free breakfast at the hotel despite their claims. Oh well! After that disappointment we were quickly off to our first destination of the day: Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site.
The villages are in Stanton, North Dakota near where the Knife River meets the Missouri River. We just couldn’t get away from the Missouri River near the end of our journey much like we couldn’t get away from the Colorado River at the beginning of the trip. The national historic site was created in 1974. The area had three villages of the Hidatsa Northern Plains tribe.
There was a lot of neat information in the visitor center.
The park ranger was cool. She said that she created the videos on the parks Youtube site. I highly recommend watching those videos when you get a chance.
There was no Indian village set up at the site but you could tell where the earthlodge huts were at. They did have a replica of one of the huts built just outside of the visitor center.
Our next stop was a bit of a drive away as we went to Bismarck to finally see our first state capitol building of our trip. It is basically a giant 21-story office building. There wasn’t much in the way of art or anything nice and fancy about it, but, since one of our goals is to see all of the state capitol buildings, we had to see it. The building was completed in 1934 and also happens to be the tallest building in the state. Here are some of the highlights.
We took the elevator up to the observation floor.
We then walked the grounds near the building.
For lunch we ate at the Oahu Hawaiian BBQ in Bismarck. I know, Hawaiian food in North Dakota was quite the surprise to us too. Both of us had the barbecue chicken and while it was good, their rice was better.
After a four-hour drive through back roads and farm land we ended the day in Mitchell, South Dakota. We went to the Corn Palace. It was ok but probably not worth driving for four hours just to see it.
Yes, you did see basketball goals. Anyway, all of the art at the Corn Palace is made of, you guessed it, corn! Yes, it is kind of neat, but, like I said, I wouldn’t go out of your way just to see it. If you happen to be going one way or the other on the highway that Mitchell is on then it might be worth it to stop by.
We bought a magnet there, some popping corn, and a cute little cornbread bag for my mom. We stayed at yet another Super 8 that night and had some popcorn for dinner.
Oh, and look what the dirt farm roads of North Dakota did to my car! It was covered in dirt, even on the inside.
Hollar if you see Us 