Saving the best for last.

There was a general plan. My friends and I had just spent four glorious days exploring South Dakota. On this, our fifth day, we would be crossing the border into North Dakota and with that, I would complete my quest to visit all fifty states. Certainly, we would stop and take photos at the state's welcome sign. Odds were good there was an alcoholic beverage or two in our handy cooler for us to toast with. We could do a TikTok. The details were fuzzy but the celebration was certain. All we had to do was keep an eye out for the sign. 

At one point, I knew we had to be close because when we stopped for gas, the store had a rack full of ND magnets. There was also a separate area that doubled as a visitor's center with brochures for ND attractions. In retrospect, I think there may have had a machine where you could renew your ND driver's license. Were those ND lottery tickets they were selling?

Yup, we had missed the sign entirely. Also missed were all the indications that we were in fact already in ND. It wasn't until we saw a sign informing us that we were twenty miles from our destination of Medora, ND that it occurred to us that something might be amiss. 

No problem, a celebration delayed is still a celebration. We checked into the historic Rough Riders Hotel and explored the tiny town while my friend, Ivon, tended to a work call. We had just missed the bulk of their tourist season so many of the businesses had already closed until spring. 

Even so, the town exuded a dignified western charm that drew me in immediately. Where Deadwood had been the Wild West meets Vegas, this actually seemed like somewhere you could imagine Teddy Roosevelt holding court, as he often did. 

He loved and frequented the area so much that the National Park right next to our hotel was named after him. 

As soon as you enter the park. you see the Maltese Cabin. This was the home built in 1883 for him to use on visits to his Chimney Butte Ranch, seven miles from Medora. It was also the site of a ranger-led talk about his connection to ND and how it inspired his conservation work.

The crazy part is that he initially came to the west to hunt the soon to be extinct bison, which is kind of shitty, but then ended up becoming a leading figure in the conservation movement and one of the main reasons we are able to see them in the wild today. 

The park itself is huge and divided into a southern and northern portion. We spent the day exploring the south unit.

Just as we were leaving the park, we were lucky enough to spot some of the park's wild horses. There are only about 200 in the entire park so seeing them is not at all guaranteed. 

One thing that was certain was that we were overdue for that celebration. As we were walking through town after dinner, I heard the unmistakeable sound of Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio coming out of the Little Missouri Saloon. Could they actually be playing Bad Bunny in Medora? I ran in, hoping to catch the end of the song. But then they played another one. And another one. A couple had just gotten married- she was American, he was Venezuelan- and they were playing an all-Benito soundtrack. Score!!

As the night went on, the bar just kept getting cooler. I had initially wanted to buy tickets to the Cash vs The King musical but it sold out, making it that much better that we ended up hanging out with both stars when they came by after the show. This somehow led to us doing shots with the bar owner. 

At one point, I know I was standing on a bar stool pinning a celebratory dollar bill to their sizable collection.

As far as festivities go, this was pretty epic. I would go as far as saying it was perfect - and it very nearly was- but sadly our friend Ivon had to miss out in order to babysit the neediest member of our group who did not want to stay at the bar yet could not be in a hotel room by herself. Sigh. 

Day 6: Anyone who knows me knows how much I love a kitschy roadside attraction. The more random, the better.  With that in mind, imagine a 32 mile stretch of 2 lane highway, smack dab in the middle of nowhere and every couple of miles, you have a gigantic metal sculpture.  That's the Enchanted Highway. 

The project was the brainchild of school teacher turned artist, Gary Greff, who wanted to attract visitors to his hometown of Regent, ND. As far as I'm concerned, it worked.

Each sculpture is a few miles from the last, giving the whole thing a scavenger hunt feel along with a burst of excitement when the next one comes into view. 

Teddy meet Teddy...

It. Was. Awesome! That alone would have made the day's drive worth it but we weren't done. Back on the main highway, we soon encountered Salem Sue, the World's Largest Holstein Cow. She is 12,000 lb, 38 ft tall, 50 ft long cow and the pride of Salem.

From Sue it was a short hop to our destination of Bismarck, ND's capital city. 

In keeping with the plan to have a chill day, we ended up sitting on the banks of the Missouri River at the very tasty Paddle Trap.

With no National Parks to visit, we asked our waitress for suggestions. She pointed us in the direction of downtown and it's happening street art district. 

I was both surprised and impressed by the attention to street art in both the Dakotas. It was not uncommon for the visitor centers to have maps directing you to all the best murals.

The downtown area also had some nice breweries to hit up. The Laughing Sun brewery was particularly impressive, both in terms of the beer and the general vibe of the tasting room.

So much so that some of their beers made it back to the hotel with us. 

Day 7.  A new day, a new mammoth animal sculpture. The Frontier Village promised the world's largest buffalo. Why would they do this? We'd been in the Dakotas for a week and learned that all the furry cows we'd encountered were bison. True buffalo are found in Africa and Asia. This was a bison, dammit. The only explanation I have found is that early settlers screwed up and confused the American bison for buffalo and the name kind of stuck. Attaching this wrong designation to a 60 ton bison is just a wild doubling down and I, for one, am here for it. 

One thing I learned while researching this trip is that I'm not as special as I like to think I am. Apparently so many people visit North Dakota to finish off their list of 50 states that it has become a major part of their marketing campaign. 

Once we arrived in Fargo, we went straight to the Visitor's Center to participate in their  "Save the best for last"  program. If ND is your last state, you get a certificate, free t-shirt and all kinds of photo props. More importantly, you get to join the 7,300 (and growing) community that came before you.

The fact that the original wood chipper from the movie Fargo is also in the room is just an added bonus. 

Downtown Fargo featured yet more funky murals. 

My favorite commemorated the fact that Bob Dylan used to live in Fargo and often played at the lounge of the Bison (not Buffalo!!) Hotel.

I would have liked to explore downtown more but we ended up getting sucked into our hotel. Normally this is something I would fight hard but when your hotel is also a brewery and food hall, it tends to weaken your resolve. 

Day 8. Back to where it all began. Goodbye, ND. Hello again Sioux Falls, SD. Our last hotel may have been my favorite. Or at the very least tied with the log cabin in Wall. We were staying at the historic Hotel on Phillips, a former bank located in the middle of downtown. 

Walk out the front door and you encounter an extensive sculpture trail, with all the pieces available for sale. Seriously, who knew the Dakotas were so artsy?

Walk a bit more and you encounter the falls part of Sioux Falls. 

Just a really cool city, all around. I could even see myself living there if the weather was not so extreme in the winter. 

What had started as a "what if" exercise- as in what if we rent a car and roam all over two states that we know very little about- came to an end with craft cocktails inside of a former bank vault. All in all, this road trip had been a success. We may have learned that some people are exceedingly difficult to travel with but it doesn't change the fact that we still saw and did so much and created so many memories along the way. 

Especially driving into my 50th state with Ivon and Martha was so extra special- even if we didn't know where we were at the time. Thank you ladies!  You rock!!