A National Park & A Pitchfork Dinner

Another day of beautiful scenery and great wildlife sightings. Even though it rained intermittently, we had a great tour of the amazing south unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Surprise! I took a lot of pictures today! Here are just a few in the order of our drive through the park.

Wild horses on the Little Missouri River in the rain

A Black Tailed Prairie Dog

Another Prairie Dog...there are several Prairie Dog Towns

Petrified Wood

A herd of wild horses

The first of several bison

Just minutes later we saw our second bison

Only a few minutes farther we saw these two wild turkeys and their four young ones

A herd of bison

In the distance, outside the park, there is an oil well.

This is the oil well using my optical zoom.

A larger herd of bison on both sides of the road

Young bison

btw...Bella barked at all the bison but not the prairie dogs...hmmm

On our way out, back to the river where we saw the first wild horses

We stopped at the Park Visitors Center. After being moved several times, this cabin from Theodore Roosevelt's Maltese Cross Ranch which was seven miles south of Medora, ND, is now back home behind the Center.

This enormous Cottonwood tree stands behind the Maltese Cross Ranch cabin.

Does this rock formation, just inside the park, look like a turtle to anyone but me?

This evening we attended a dinner with such an intriguing name that we couldn't resist...the Pitchfork Steak Fondue next door to the Medora Musical amphitheater. We stood in line with about a thousand others for the steak and buffet served in a beautiful setting.

Driving up to this place, we saw high fences with signs saying "ELK ARE DANGEROUS" and while in line we looked down upon a herd of elk that were outside the fences protecting the grounds. The red gravel road in this photo leads to the backstage area of the amphitheater. They were beautiful to watch though.

While we waited, I took the following photos. Here is a line of pitchforks already loaded with steaks to be dropped into the fondue pots with diners being served in the background.

There were several boiling fondue pots in which the steak-loaded pitchforks were cooked.

Another view of raw steaks lined up in front of the fondue pots.

Just look at the juices dripping from these steaks on their way to the line of hungry diners. mmmm

Rich is enjoying his perfectly cooked rib-eye but thought the whole meal would be much more appetizing if served on something other than the metal trays similar to those used in mess halls and prisons...teehee

Lovin' Life ~~ In North Dakota