In the morning, the park caretaker came along to collect money and chat. Then we drove to Montana.
The US customs agents took all our uncut tomatoes, one green onion and the mountain ash berries (on right) we had picked up in Boissevain, Manitoba. We had not thought that the food in our refrigerator might be an issue. It all had been in the camper since Great Bend but, of course, we couldn't prove that. It is interesting that sliced tomates were OK.
We reentered the US in the northeast corner of Montana. We drove east into North Dakota to Medora, near Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
Medora's history focuses on two major events. The town is named after the wife of a French aristocrat/adventurer, de Mores, who attempted to start in 1883 a cattle business and packing plant to ship meat back east. Theodore Roosevelt also came here for adventure and later to overcome depression over the loss of his wife and mother in 1884. Theodore credits this area into forming him into a man who could become president. So both men were in Medora at the same time and knew each other.
From this inspirational past, the town has slid into mere tourisms, i.e., shops, restaurants, one stage theater, museums, and two campgrounds. In the evening, we went to the Medora Musical.
We were expecting a musical telling the history of Medora. What we got in the first half was music with no real story. The singing and dancing was very professionally performed, but the lack of a story made the event comparatively meaningless compared to the inspirational story we expected. This was a 45th anniversary show which may have replaced the story-telling show we had expected and would have preferred. Why would tourists care about the 45th anniversary of the show? This reminds me of the time Bob Hope did a "Thanks for the memories" show in front of the University of Florida undergraduates. Since the students had no memories of Bob Hope, their behavior showed that they didn't care.
The second half of Medora Musical was much better. Acrobatic clowns, the New York Goofs, were amusing. This was followed by a skit about Theodore's Rough Riders' charge of San Juan Hill. This portion of the show was very sentimentally patriotic, very much in the spirit of Theodore's own enthusiastic nationalism.
We did not partake in the western delicacy popular in Medora, pitchfork (steak) fondue.
We reentered the US in the northeast corner of Montana. We drove east into North Dakota to Medora, near Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
Medora's history focuses on two major events. The town is named after the wife of a French aristocrat/adventurer, de Mores, who attempted to start in 1883 a cattle business and packing plant to ship meat back east. Theodore Roosevelt also came here for adventure and later to overcome depression over the loss of his wife and mother in 1884. Theodore credits this area into forming him into a man who could become president. So both men were in Medora at the same time and knew each other.
From this inspirational past, the town has slid into mere tourisms, i.e., shops, restaurants, one stage theater, museums, and two campgrounds. In the evening, we went to the Medora Musical.
We were expecting a musical telling the history of Medora. What we got in the first half was music with no real story. The singing and dancing was very professionally performed, but the lack of a story made the event comparatively meaningless compared to the inspirational story we expected. This was a 45th anniversary show which may have replaced the story-telling show we had expected and would have preferred. Why would tourists care about the 45th anniversary of the show? This reminds me of the time Bob Hope did a "Thanks for the memories" show in front of the University of Florida undergraduates. Since the students had no memories of Bob Hope, their behavior showed that they didn't care.
The second half of Medora Musical was much better. Acrobatic clowns, the New York Goofs, were amusing. This was followed by a skit about Theodore's Rough Riders' charge of San Juan Hill. This portion of the show was very sentimentally patriotic, very much in the spirit of Theodore's own enthusiastic nationalism.
We did not partake in the western delicacy popular in Medora, pitchfork (steak) fondue.
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