Western adventure

As Friday dawned, we ate breakfast and got going. Loni was at work, so it was the three of us. Our first stop was Round Prairie School. The building I attended school in is gone, but I explained to Carson that I went to first, second, fourth, sixth and eighth grades there (we didn't have kindergarten).

Next stop, the farm. It is beautiful how green and lush everything is. So different from the 'typical' dryness of western ND. We went out into the pastures and found one of the original surveyor's rocks. Not many of these left, so Carson declared it was a 'special rock'. We stopped at a rock pile as Carson wanted to pick out a rock. Rocks are very abundant out west, so no shortage of rocks to pick from!

I could certainly see that Carson has 'city boy' influence. He couldn't stand the tall prairie grass brushing up against his legs and would often declare how itchy it was. Papa Chip showed Carson the prairie grass 'needle and thread' and how it worked and stuck to things. Carson was amazed that this is one of the oldest native prairie grasses in that area - that it was there during the buffalo grazing days.

We checked out some honey bees - with windows rolled up! Carson also thought riding in a farm pick-up was pretty cool - no car seat or seat belts! He wasn't too impressed with the lack of cleanliness.

We checked out various things around the farm yard - my beloved playhouse (which will be coming to our yard soon!!!), the lilac bushes that came by covered wagon with my ancestors, pointing out the spot I fell off a horse to Carson, and the root cellar that Papa Chip and my Grandpa dug. I remember being creeped out by the root cellar as a kid - it has double doors, the last one is a heavy, walk-in freezer type door. We kept a lot of vegetables down there and would hunker down in there during bad weather (if we had time to get there). Now it is a pretty unique place when I think about it.

Carson also had a great time searching for and picking up rocks. At first he asked me if we needed to get an 'okay' from Papa for the rocks. :-)

Next we were off to Pioneer School. No longer used as a school, Carson thought it was pretty old, but yet cool that Papa Chip had gone here for a year of school too. I attended third, fifth, and seventh grades at Pioneer.

We stopped briefly at West Prairie Church - a country church along the road. This location is where Trav and I were married and I attended Sunday School and confirmation. The church burned down and was recently rebuilt. I could see some of the updates through the doors and could tell it was beautiful.

We called in at Marilyn Horab's - it was so wonderful to see and catch up with Marilyn! She offered to meet us later at the church with her key so we could see inside! Marilyn's husband, Ervin, passed away last November, so it was different not seeing Ervin. After 50+ years with MS, we are also thankful he is no longer in pain.

Next we stopped at 'the little Russian church'. I have several relatives buried here, including my Grandparents and Great-Grandparents.

We stopped in to see another relative - Jim and Bea Horob. Since it is haying season, we didn't stay long, but it is always good to see family. We called Marilyn and told her we were on the way!
The updates and changes to the new West Prairie church are wonderful! Although the overall design is very close, tweaks were made to several areas. Once again, it is a beautiful church and I'm so happy to see this church on the prairie!

We left for Bainville, Montana. We at lunch at the Welcome Stop and cruised through town, which didn't take too long! We drove by where we used to live, some of the new places, and stopped in at the school. Carson enjoyed seeing another school I attended (my four years of high school) and remarked that this was the nicest school yet. When you see pics, his comments will make even more sense. After a stop at a kool-aid stand and the post office, we were on our way back to Williston.

We enjoyed supper and some visiting and got to bed.

Saturday morning we got ready and went west again - first stop the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers. This was a favorite spot of mine as a kid, so fun to go back. There is a beautiful interpretive center there now. We also stopped in at Fort Buford. There is more at Fort Buford than what I remember. The tour guide just graduated from NDSU so we had a fun visit. We learned about and stood in the room that Sioux leader, Sitting Bull surrendered in 1881. Next stop, Fort Union (these three spots are within about 2 miles of each other). One of the employees was serving as a trader, so he explained his job, as if it were during the span of 1828 - 1867, when the Fort was active. He had also made coffee and cornbread over a fire. The cornbread was phenomenal - it had a bit of cinnamon in it! Next, we walked around inside the fort, including the bourgeois house. We enjoyed a blacksmith demonstration as well (Carson got to keep the metal wall hook he made) and a walk up to the bastion towers. There were teepees set up beyond the walls and we checked those out too. It was pretty hot, so we didn't linger too long outside.

Once back in Williston, Papa Chip started smoking some of the meat we brought - pork tenderloin and pork ribs - YUM!

When the evening cooled off, we took Carson go-karting. More fun and laughs.

As Carson prepped for bed, he was sad that it was the last night. We had packed a lot in to a very short time.

On Sunday, Papa made omelets (with yummy brown eggs) and soon we were on the road. We stopped at New Salem Sue and the big bison in Jamestown. Yeah, there are a lot more 'world's largest' statues in North Dakota, but we only saw two on this trip. A bizarre thing, but oh well!

We had a great time on our quick trip...packed in quite a few sights and fun with Papa Chip and Loni.