Finishing Devil's Lake

 6-5-2021 - Saturday

We saw this pretty yellow headed bird yesterday but couldn't get the camera out in time.  This morning, I saw another one right in front of the RV, so I got a nice picture.  When Joe got up, he googled "bird with yellow head and black body," and it immediately came up with "yellow-headed blackbird."  The last time we googled a bird (the magpie), we had to provide color, body shape, size, etc.  This one was quick - it's the only black bird with a yellow head in existence.  More on this later.

About 10:00, we started into town for breakfast and to begin the rest of our loop drive around Devil's Lake.  And I got my picture of the resort just down the road with it's cute sign.  I actually thought it was a bait shop, but it was a resort instead.  There's a fisherman right in front of the resort sign.

 But we forgot the binoculars and had to go back by the RV, so we did the drive backwards, from the east.  That little round-trip to town took 15 miles, but the drive around the lake was long.  The road isn't always close to the lake, and the lake goes on forever.  Along the way, Joe stopped at a couple of fields to check out the crops.  The first he determined to be some kind of bean, maybe Great Northern?  Across the road, he thinks that's a grain, maybe barley, oats, could be wheat.  They really should put signs on the fields for inquiring minds like Joe.

Next was a small gathering of one-room schoolhouses that had been relocated to this place.  They had the dates on the front, 1888, 1914, 1898, and there was a cabin beside them that Joe figured was where the teacher lived.

My grandparents lived in a one-room schoolhouse east of Princeton, right at the edge of what is now Toyota's property.  I only remember it divided into 3 rooms, but I don't know at what point the dividers were built. 

We see a lot of grain elevators in this part of the country, usually at big farms or ranches, but sometimes in towns.  Here, the elevators were almost larger than the little town.

Next on our agenda was Fort Totten and Sullys Hill National Game Preserve, called the White Horse Hill.  We drove to the parking lot of the Fort, which served American Indian policy from 1867 and 1873 as a military outpost, but for most of its history it served as a boarding school for Indian children.  There were several buildings, maybe 12-15, but it was 95 degrees, so we skipped the walking tour, and drove on to the Game Preserve.  

There were supposed to be elk, bison, prairie dogs, lots of birds.  We did see a buffalo at one overlook, which is always exciting to us.  And prairie dogs again.  Joe introduced Theo to his eastern cousins.  The elusive elk remain elusive.

Prairie dog village.

This momma looks like she has some nursing babies.

Ahh, our buffs!

This preserve is in one of the few forests in this area.  There was a sign about that too.  It says that "few forests occur in North Dakota due to regular cycles of drought and prairie fires."  (You should be able to click on any photo to enlarge it.)

What was disappointing here is that it was only about a 5-mile drive.  We even drove it twice, trying to figure out if we missed a road somewhere.  There was an overlook that might have been interesting, but it had 193 steps! And it was 95 degrees! The heat reminded us that we don't want to come home until October.

We did see a second buffalo on our second time around, so it was worth something.  They had a nice visitor center, and exhibits of the animals in the area.  They even had one of that jack rabbit we saw last week.

And our yellow-headed blackbird.  So we got that right!

We did get a nice view of part of the lake from the jeep.  It goes on forever, with lots of fingers and bays.

Next, I finally got to go to the casino.  We got there about 5 minutes before 3:00, and their buffet opened at 3:00, so we got right in line.  Prime rib, chicken, fish, ribs, etc.  For $8.00.  We played for about an hour and a half, then we went back to the RV.  Joe was ready for a rest (those casinos wear him out).  But an hour later, he decided we needed to drive back in town to go to Grahams Island State Park, which we had skipped last night.  This is where he made the reservations for July instead of June.  That too was disappointing.  The state park part was not much more than a campground, with a swim beach.  No side roads to drive.  But we did see 2 deer, more white pelicans, lots of ducks and geese, and some pheasants (8 female, 1 male).  The deer were almost red in color.  We had seen 2 deer crossing a field on our morning drive.  Today was a free fishing day for residents (no fishing license required), but we didn't see anything about non-residents.  I understand it was Arizona's free fishing day too.  We did see lots of boats out, and lots of people lined along the banks fishing.  

On our final trip through town, we spotted this snowmobile.  Now this is the kind I would need.  I bet it even has a heater!

We drove just about 200 miles today.  Our little evening trek was 55 miles!  But we got back to camp and started getting ready to leave tomorrow morning.  We should leave North Dakota tomorrow and be somewhere in Minnesota.  After today's heat, tomorrow's forecast here is a high of 77, and windy.  Yeah.