Merona, ND

By Friday the younger two were getting a little grouchy. It was a lot of driving and a lot of change, and they were hitting a wall. Nevertheless, we had another day in ND, and we wanted to make the best of it. We went on a short hike, toured a mansion and a couple of museums, got some taffy and fudge.

This is the museum dedicated to Harold Schaefer, the inventor of Mr. Bubbles and the Gold Seal Company, who basically built the town of Medora and the entire tourist industry in ND. He had a ton of money, and he gave it all away in trying to build up Medora- he paid to pave the roads and everything. It's certainly because of those donations that Theodore Roosevelt National Park was able to be created in 1978. But, he cheated on his wife of 29 years and left her and his 5 kids to marry a married woman and mother of 3 because they found "true love." The girls were rightfully mortified and it certainly tainted our opinion of him. Agh, we shouldn't judge.

Anyway, here's some photos:

This is the taffy and sarsparilla we bought. The girls love sarsparilla.

Walking around town.

This was the Chauteau De Mores. He was a nobleman who came to Medora (named after his wife) in 1905 for cattle ranching. The venture failed, but his mansion remained and we toured it. It was pretty cool. 10 bedrooms upstairs. That would sure be nice!

This was from The North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame.

This was a short hike to the petrified forest. There was lots of whining by this point.

And, that's a wrap.