Cowboy Christmas

December 4th & 5th was a special weekend in Medora.  All winter we put up with frigid temperatures (-31 degrees at one point this week), wind, and the entire town of Medora being shut down except for the Boots Bar & Grill.  Then, for one special weekend, the town wakes up, stores and restaurants open, and locals descend from the hills like locusts for Cowboy Christmas!!

Christmas in the Badlands

Ok, it doesn't get that crowded, but it is probably the most exciting thing that happens all winter.  Well, aside from the ice breaking on the river.  To give you a flavor of the plethora of events, here's the Cowboy Christmas flyer:

Mom came to visit this weekend, so we took full advantage of the free attractions including the Chateau de Mores Interpretive Center, and the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame!  While we shyed away from the freezing hay rides, we did walk 20 feet to the Cowboy Cafe for Oyster Stew and caught half of Bob Peterman's Cowboy Music show.  Poor guy spent half the time complaining that there were no children to sing santa songs to, then proceeded to forget the words to the santa songs once the kids showed up.  All-in-all, a pretty successful show.

Anyway, there are two things that make Cowboy Christmas really special.  The first is "Eats on the Streets", a delicious, town-wide progressive dinner and culinary free-for-all in which you can visit every open shop and visitor center for two hours, stuffing yourself with delicious and largely homemade goodies.  Delicacies include everything from Bison Chili and Red Eye at the Wooly Boys Saloon to Bacon-wrapped Scallops at the Rough Riders hotel.  It's too good.

Second is the Christmas finale.  It's a "Fire & Ice" fireworks show that happens to be lit from the bluff right next to our apartment.  It's really something to hang out and watch fireworks in the snow right from your front porch.  The whole weekend really brightens up December around here and I'm thankful I get to spend my Christmas with the cowboys.