DFT21- Days 11 and 12

Day 11 of our trip landed on the 4th of July, and we are finally leaving South Dakota after begin here for what feels like forever ;) We were in South Dakota for 8 days which is a long time for a DFT.  Most of the time we see what we need to and move on pretty quick.  But it was nice to not have to pack up camp so often.  

We decided to drive up through Deadwood and Spearfish on our way to Medora.  On our way out of Custer we stopped at a Coffee Shop that Daniel has been dying to stop at for four days.  They had a cinnamon roll for him and Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts for EG. 

He gives it a B. 

Deadwood was an interesting town considering it is known for being the place where Wild Bill was shot.  They apparently have a Shoot Out on the street several times a day but of course not on Sundays and not on the 4th of July. The visitors center was doing a #WildBillMe Scavenger Hunt Selfie Contest.  Every time you saw something with Wild Bill on it you took a Selfie and the more selfies you have the better your prize.  Daniel likes to collect stickers so he took ten selfies to get the #WildBillMe sticker and I like magnets for my class fridge so I took 15 selfies to get the #WillBillMe magnet.  

We got to Spearfish and were sad to find 1) we had already missed the 4th of July Parade and 2) most things were closed either because it was Sunday or they were closing for the 4th.  So after not being able to find anywhere to eat EG talked us into the McDonald's drive thru.  There was a Taco Bell beside it that of course was Daniel's pick.  

About half way through Sunday we decided to change up some of our plans.  We were headed to Medora to camp for two nights and then leave Tuesday to drive 8 hours to Minneapolis.  After a few phones calls we cancelled our tent site in Medora, and booked a hotel room in the historic Rough Riders Hotel for one night.  We also decided that to leave Monday evening and drive to a hotel in Fargo. That way our drive time on Tuesday would be cut in half.  We also found out that it was so dry in Medora that the 4th of July Fireworks had been cancelled :( But the sunset was beautiful when we got to town, and that kinda made up for the lack of fireworks.  

Monday when we got up the first thing we did was hunt down breakfast. There are very few breakfast joints in Medora but we had a great breakfast at The Farmhouse Cafe.  I highly recommend the the Maple Bacon Doughnut and the Vanilla Cream Cold Brew.  

After breakfast we headed into Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  EG asked to work on her final junior ranger badge of the trip. In this park in order to be a Jr. Ranger she had to listen to a Ranger, Take a Hike, Pick up 3 pieces of liter, and do 4 activities in the book.  We listened to a Ranger Talk about TR's Cabin that is still on park property.  Apparently at one time they took it on tour around the US.  You could see names and dates where people had carved into the house in 1924.  We did a quick hike on a loop called Wind Canyon.  We saw Bison, Prairie Dogs, and Deer....but no wild horses.  This park is broken up in different parts and we were only in the South Unit but as we drove out of town we stopped at the Painted Canyon visitors center to check out that part of the park.  We saw our Ranger Friend again and this time she told us all about the buffalo and how the Native American's used different parts of it once it was killed.  My FACS teaching education helped me answer a question correctly ;) 

Daniel and I have been to Medora twice now and I'm good.  I don't think I ever need to go back.  TRNP and the Badlands to me are just MEH.  I mean I can see why they are NP's and they are pretty in their own way but I think I've seen all I need to see.  On our way out of town we stopped at Hidden Springs Java in the Medora and 1) they were super nice and friendly and 2) the coffee and drinks were really good! So if you are ever in the area stop by.  

Then we drove across North Dakota.  It started raining and storming pretty hard at one point (I feel like that happens every time we drive across North Dakota).  I promised Nanny we wouldn't drive in bad weather ;) But we had to drive through this storm because it was moving in the same direction as us.  If we had stopped we would have keep running into it.  So we put our flashers on and drove real slow and finally made it out after about 15 miles.  

We stopped in Bismarck for dinner we found a great place called FireFlour Pizza and it might be some of the best pizza I've ever had.  They also had homemade tiramisu! They usually have homemade gelato which we were looking forward to but were out :( After dinner we walked to a bookstore around the corner called Ferguson Books.  They sold new and used books.  If you purchased a new book you got a free used one.  So I got two new books to start reading since I was going to finish my current book up that evening.  

We made it to Fargo and I did some laundry since we were all running out of clean clothes.  And I also stole ice for our cooler ;) 

EG's Favorite Part of Sunday: Wearing her dress

EG's Favorite Part of Monday: Was Dessert at dinner