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.

Dickinson - Theodore Roosevelt Interstate Airport

My mom arrived at the Dickinson - Theodore Roosevelt Airport this weekend to take in the Cowboy Christmas festivities.  I felt kind of bad for old TR, what with some presidents like John F. Kennedy getting big, important, international airports and poor Theodore's is stuck out in Dickinson.  I felt a little better for him briefly when I found out some people do consider Dickinson the "Crown Jewel" of Western North Dakota, but that all faded away when I saw the sheer magnitude of his airport in person.  Prepare to be amazed, this is the Dickinson - Theodore Roosevelt Airport:

Amenities include several flights to and from Denver, Sidney, MT, and Williston, ND, a total of seven seats in the waiting area, and FREE PARKING.  (Ok, free parking really is awesome.)  Mom's flight from Denver had 5 whole people on it, but it was picking up eight more on its way to Sidney.  However, the plane arrived without her bag, but since it was late and the next flight from Denver came 10 minutes later we waited to see if the lucky bag had made it on the next flight.

That gave me a chance to check out the bag retrieval process!  True to what I would expect around here, the three bags on that flight were quickly loaded onto a pick-up truck, then shuttled about 50 feet to a garage door where we could pick them up inside.  You have to be quick - the garage door is open for about one minute (the length of time it takes everyone to grab their bags).

Cowboy Baggage Handling

But if you're worried about safety at a small airport like that, don't be!  It's signs like this that keep us all safe.

What do you mean I can't take my gun on this plane?

I know I just blasted the airport, but in reality I love it.  Culture shock?  Yes!  Charming airport and easy-to-access flights with a smile?  You betcha!  And you can't beat free airport parking!

Upper Talkington

Fifty degrees in November feels like eighty degrees and sunny to us. 

Last Friday was the best Black Friday ever.  A morning of ONLINE shopping - same deals, no crowds - then out to the park for my first hike of the season.  I chose a portion of the Upper Talkington trail in Eastern Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Starting from the loop road, I went three miles to the East park fence, across a valley surrounded by multi-colored bluffs, through the largest prairie dog town in the park, to an expansive, golden prairie overlooking the beginning of the badlands.  It's a fantastic, quick hike if you ever find yourself in the park for a day looking for some sunshine and beautiful, typically TRNP scenery.

Chillin' by the Road

This horse was not completely excited about me tromping by, so it ran in front of me and snorted.

 Endless Prairie that leads too...

 ...this!

Ridge-top Elk

T-Day in TR

This was no ordinary Thanksgiving day, but maybe it's time to start new traditions.  The town of Medora literally cleared out when all seven other people we know living here scattered to other parts of the region. 

I thought I might be able to catch an online broadcast of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in the morning.  However, it appears NBC has not fully entered the 21st century, so your only option for online viewing is EarthCam's eight webcams placed strategically along the parade route, streaming the parade.  No commentary, which is not too shabby if you already abhor Al Roker's every word.

Just a couple mishaps this year:

1. Nathan is sick and couldn't eat most of his food until 2:30pm - after a piece of pie made him feel better.
2. I learned how to carve a turkey, but couldn't get the darn legs off until I grabbed one and twisted.  That works pretty well, but makes you feel like you had a much bigger role in the turkey's death than you wish you had.
   
3. I discovered our thermometer is not "oven-ready".

Mishap #3

 Roarrrr!  Carving Destruction!

Despite those, it's been a pretty good day.  I am thankful for a lot of things, but most of all, the internet and its role in bringing me under the same roof as Nathan - FINALLY!  So, once again, I guess that means I am thankful for Al Gore.

Last but not least, I want to share an internet discovery fitting of the day.  Bon Appetite & Happy Thanksgiving!  This is why you're fat.

Home Sweet Home

The title of this blog post is ironic because as of Saturday, I am officially a nomad.  Or maybe I'm the opposite of a nomad since I technically have two places to live.  Whatever the case may be, I am currently in Medora, North Dakota basking in the intense sun, breathing in the incredibly dry air, and watching yellowed corn husks cross the road by the hundreds wishing they were tumbleweeds.

All of the familiar giant animals and roadside attractions (Salem Sue, Jamestown's Buffalo, Geese In Flight, etc), seem to be welcoming me home, which it already feels like around here.  Today, we put down our first real roots - we joined the West River Community Center in Dickinson for the next three months.  Now, that's what I call commitment! 

Geese In Flight near sunset, which is 4pm here!

I have to admit I'm not entirely ready to give up Rochester, though.  I got a couple of very awesome parting gifts that only served to remind me how much I'm giving up.  A Dinner Club cookbook complete with photos and the word BACON always in caps serves as a reminder that I will REALLY miss my friends back home.  From my department, I got a web cam, so I can always feel like I'm closer than I really am.  I can't say it's not comforting and can't say that I won't miss the people and won't miss being "home".

Our very first webcam photo!

Bye, Rochester!

The Qwest is Over

It may be easier to quit being a Qwest customer than to be one!  Ever since we started getting our phone, internet, and Direct TV from Qwest, I've wanted to triumphantly call them up and end my services.  There had been hardly a time when I called them and had a good experience: starting with getting our service a week late to trying to switch my credit card number in their files so they could actually continue charging me after I closed my old credit card (do you want my money or not?), I hate dealing with Qwest.

So, I braced myself for a fight when I called to cancel my service this Friday.  Nothing!  I got a person online who gave me the right phone number to call over instant message, then a cheerful young man who set-up my closeout date quickly.  AMAZING!  Maybe I've been far too quick to judge.  There is one transaction that Qwest does well.  Go ahead, try it; close out your Qwest account, it's fantastic!

The only thing they don't do is close out Direct TV for you, but they did correctly connect me with DTV's personnel.  Here's where the goodness ends.  The DTV guy that answered the phone sounded like a 60-year-old drunken techie who transferred me to a woman who couldn't understand why I wanted my TV to continue until the day I leave and the boxes to return the remote control to arrive before that date, so I could actually pack up the equipment before I leave.  This is not possible with Direct TV!  They absolutely cannot sway from their automated system, whose return boxes do not arrive until 3-5 days after your official TV end date.

That's fine, they're losing a week's worth of revenue from me now that I'm quitting early to get my boxes.  Although I requested the service be shut off this morning, it's still turned on.  Perfect, since I'm excited to watch my last live episode of The Amazing Race tonight.  From here on out, it'll be hulu and day-old internet-based episodes of The Office for me.  A small price to pay for my emancipation from Qwest.

Monster Mash

The 2nd Annual Banff Mansion Murder Mystery Dinner took place on October 17th this year.  Nathan (a.k.a. Buster Ghost) and I (Di Wrecked, the producer of a haunted house TV series), appeared at the event dressed as our characters.

Buster Ghost including Ectoplasmic Detector (flash light, shoe box, stick, and duct tape) & Ghost Bag

I had to sit between a narcissistic ghost hunter who had seen over two ghosts (Nathan) and a somewhat violent turkey-choking ex-con played by our friend Danny.  For anyone that's never been to a murder mystery dinner before, it starts out with a murder, then, more and more clues pointing to the murderer are disclosed throughout the night and dinner courses are sprinkled in between.

The food was great, most people had WAY too much Witch's Brew, and, fittingly, Danny (a.k.a. Si Coe) was the murderer.  Above he is posing with his prize for best actor of the night with a gun, which coincidentally was not the murder weapon.  He had, of course, used his turkey-choking skills to strangle one of our TV hosts with a belt...in the dungeon.

Witch's Brew + a pinata held up by Danny - this should be good!

Also pictured: Katie (pregnant nun), Migs (host), Lisa (host & maid), & Jossie