Lewis & Clark Adventure: Downtown Bismarck, ND

We live in a great country, the United States of America. We have been to almost every part of it. No doubt there are some ugly "armpits", some places we're happy not to reside. Our history is certainly blemished. Whose isn't? But Debbie and I tend to see the great beauty of most places we visit. Even when we are not looking forward to going to some place or to some city, we are usually pleasantly surprised. I, for one, was not expecting to like North Dakota. I thought that it was just this place we had to go through to get to where we really wanted to be, Montana. How wrong I was!

We really loved North Dakota and especially Bismarck. It is a booming, thriving town with lots of spirit and pride. North Dakota has the lowest unemployment rate and the highest growth rate in the nation. Bismarck is one of the centers of this progress. There are dozens of miles of bike and walking trails. There is a thriving arts community. Lewis and Clark have their footprints all over the place but the community also reveres its' American Indian heritage and its' pioneers from the East and from Europe.

North Dakota State Capitol. We kept looking for the Dome. Doesn't every capitol have a dome?
Not North Dakota. They have an Art Deco building.

This is the North Dakota State Library. Just behind it, barely visible through the trees, is the All Veterans Memorial.
To the left of the library is the North Dakota Heritage Cebter

This boxcar was a gift from the people of France to the people of North Dakota in memory of the North Dakota soldiers who lost their lives fighting for the freedom of France during WWI and WWII

Flowering cherry on the grounds of the Heritage Center.
One great thing about the route we have taken is that we continue to celebrate Spring.
Spring was just about over when we left North Carolina. We keep running into flowering trees and tulips.

This map shows all of the places that Lewis and Clark camped while in North Dakota.
They spent over 200 days in North Dakota, more than any other state.
You can click on the picture and expand it to read the sites.

Looking from the Capitol steps is a beautiful parade ground. The photo does not show the enormous size of the grounds.
This place was very serene, almost spiritual. I had the same feeling on the entire capitol grounds.

Sakakwea statue outside the Heritage Center.
See my footnote from my last post for a discussion of her name.

Another view of Sakakawea.

We were lucky to be able to visit the All Veteran Memorial on Memorial Day.

One of our friend's great uncle is memorialized on the partitions in this display. We didn't know it at the time so I didn't get a photo. The names of all of the North Dakota fallen from WWI,  WWI, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the War on Terrorism are listed.

 The plaque under the globe reads: "ON THE ELEVENTH HOUR OF THE ELEVENTH DAY OF THE ELEVENTH MONTH THE SUN SHINES THROUGH A HOLE IN THE LOWER SOUTH SIDE OF THE DOME ONTO A RAISED IMAGE OF NORTH DAKOTA ON THE GLOBE TO HONOR THE VETERANS OF NORTH DAKOTA"

The North Dakota Heritage Center is a gem. Beautiful displays of North Dakota history going back
to geological eras and to the first inhabitants after the ice sheets receded about 10,000 years ago.
The stories of all of the American Indian tribes that lived and live in North Dakota are
seen in the collections of  art, implements, dress, and structures. 

I did not know that the original bison that came to North America were twice a big as the current species.

The skull in the center is from Bison latifrons, the giants that disappeared 20,000 to 30,000 years ago.
The smaller skulls are from the more recent species

This mural shows what the appearance of Lewis and Clark must have looked like to the Mandans, Hidatsa, and Anikara tribes.The insert on the left tells the story of Sakakawea, as she is known in North Dakota, Sacagawea to the rest of us.

Jefferson and Lewis thought there might still be mammoths roaming west of the Mississippi. They went extinct about 10,000 years ago probably from climate change, the retreat of glaciers.

Some prehistoric American Indians made teepees of tree bark.

Before Columbus, most American Indians were of stone age culture. 

A rebarb rendition of the bison.

Rosie and Frank on a bike trail along the Missouri River.  The bike trails were paved in parts, gravel in parts and dirt in others. This trail followed the Missouri for about 6 miles. It was a beautiful day and we saw hundreds of people walking, bicycling, roller blading, fishing and picnicking along this wonderful trail.

A nice Canadian family

Debbie, Rosie and I in front of the Lewis and Clark Riverboat. We took a 2 hour cruise on this boat. Well, Rosie wasn't allowed. I think that will be the next great civil rights fight: The Rights of Animals!

Well, one more step on our adventure to find our history. Tomorrow, we take a slight diversion from the Lewis and Clark Trail to visit Medora, ND and the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We will rejoin the trail in Great Falls Montana.

Ciao, Frank