Lewis & Clark

15 foot tall iron statues of Lewis, Clark, and a Mandan Indian.

After sleeping in and getting a leisurely start, we had a few possible options for today, depending on how things went.  Starting with the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center, we enjoyed a little bit of the museum about their travel through the area, including (a replica of) Fort Mandan, where they spend their first winter (1803-1804) with the Mandan Indians.  It was a nice little museum, and the people were very friendly.   We interrupted the museum visit to head 2 miles north to the Fort for the 11:00 tour.  The guide was very interesting, and enjoyable.  The fort, although only a replica, was well done, and gave a good feel for the place (except that they only stayed there in the winter, and we were obviously there in the summer!).  Anyway, there were a lot of artifacts (real, period, or replicas), but we were allowed to touch anything except guns and knives, so that made the experience a lot more interactive.

Inside Fort Mandan (for about 50-60 people).

Typical lodging for Sergeant, and 8 or so in the loft above.

CHEERS!!!

By 1:30, we were done with the museum, and both very hungry!  We realized going to the Fort Union Trading post, 3.5 hours away, and closing at 5PM was not going to happen.  So, we grabbed lunch at a well touted place (The Rusty Rail Bar and Grill) midway to Minot.  Almost everything there was GOOOOOD!!!!!  I had a North Dakota beer, and Theresa tried a Montana brew.  We shared fried cheese curds, and a walleye (fish) dinner.

As we set back for the trip north, we debated going to the Minot Air museum.  It was tempting, but we figured we only had an hour at best, and well, there is another one in Fargo we are toying with Tuesday.  Not wanting to wear Theresa out with too many air museums (is there such a thing?), we opted to head straight to the hotel, and have a nice evening off.  Before taking our evening off, we head to a little bar with some local beer and food.  We had a flight of their beers and Buffalo Balls (Bison Meatballs) and "Chips and Beer Cheese".  They had tortilla chips, that were ACTUALLY very good!!  A good end to a very nice day!