After Tom and I left Rapid City, we headed southeast to the Missouri National Recreational River. We thought it was a little odd that we had to drive 650 miles to the Missouri National Recreational River Headquarters when we had spent the summer on the Missouri River. The Missouri River is 2,300 miles long but …
From October 2021
Jewel Cave National Monument
After Tom and I visited Wind Cave National Park, we headed for Jewel Cave National Monument. Jewel Cave is 17 miles from Wind Cave and is the same kind of dense cave formation with the same air pressure atmosphere. The two caves may be connected, but no one has found the connection so far. Jewel …
Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota
The reason Tom and I went to the Black Hills was to visit two National Park Sites that we had missed on previous visits. We started with Wind Cave National Park. For some reason, Wind Cave National Park had never been on our radar. But it was the seventh national park, designated by Congress and …
Black Hills of South Dakota
We had a great summer at Fort Union Trading Post, but all good things must come to an end. Over the next few weeks I will be writing about our trip back to Ohio. One of our first stops was in the Black Hills of South Dakota. I wanted to take the month of October …
Fort Union Trading Post Questions and Answers
Every park we work at has common questions unique to that park. The Fort Union Trading Post questions (and answers) were also unique to the park. So I thought I would wrap up my posts about Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site by talking about the unique questions and their answers. One of the …
Fort Union Trading Post Rangers
Tom and I love meeting new rangers at every park we work. We work with full-time and seasonal rangers and like it best when we can find some time to hang out after work. At Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Park we enjoyed some after-work dinners and some fun-filled game nights. Ranger Lisa was …
Wonderful Visitors and Owie
During the summer, Tom and I enjoyed all the wonderful visitors to Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site. We averaged about 100 people a day from June through August, and then about 50 a day during September. Our highest numbers were during the special events of Rendezvous and Living History Weekend. 100 visitors a …
Northern Pacific and Great Northern Railroads
North Dakota’s history and development is inevitably tied to the Northern Pacific Railway. Although North Dakota is “midwestern,” it was one of the last places to become a state in the contiguous US. It only had enough population to become a state because of the Northern Pacific Railway. The Homestead Act of 1862 gave settlers …
North Dakota Skies and the Long View
Tom and I are back in Ohio. But, before I tell you about our journey home, I wanted to share some final thoughts about North Dakota and our time there. All this week, and perhaps some of next, I will still be talking about North Dakota even though I am sitting in my office in …
Writing Rock State Historic Site
Last week Tom and I drove north to see Writing Rock State Historic Site. We had planned on going to Canada, driving up to Regina, but we ran out of time and didn’t want to deal with the proof of vaccination thing. We are vaccinated but you have to register online and then Tom was …