Joe & Wilma's Excellent Adventures

 Saturday, June 8, 2024

North Unit of Park and Medora Musical

This town is really humming this weekend, lots of action on the main street.  We went to breakfast at a little cafe part of a strip mall, and there was a candy shop at the top of the stairs.  I was fascinated by the taffy machine, but I didn't buy any.  Yet.

After breakfast, we headed to the North Unit of this park.  It is a 63-mile drive back up Hwy. 85.  Along the way we saw 3 pronghorn antelope, and coming back, we saw 2 more.  None in the park, but we did see 2 deer, crossing the road in front of us.  

We were met at the Visitor Center by 2 welcoming buffalo greeters.  The one on the road did not look very happy with his assignment.

About 2 miles in, we saw a small herd.  Most of them crossed the road while we waited.  They were in no hurry.  My video I took didn't turn out.  But the second one did, it had a buffalo running to catch up.

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This park is a strange combination of towering canyons and cliffs, and grassland.  

This park has bighorn sheep, and we scanned the canyons constantly looking for them but never did see any.  This was a nice viewpoint.

This is what Joe was seeing.

There are a few spots along the way where the river below can be seen.  At the turnaround, there is a good view of it, snaking through the valley.

Our most excitement here was watching a young buffalo chase a pheasant.  There was a partial fence and they were coming to the corner from opposite directions.  When they met at the corner, it startled the buffalo, and he jumped.  Then he started chasing the pheasant.  It jumped up, which is the only time we got to see it. Too far away for a picture, and it happened too fast.  But we saw lots of buffalo scattered throughout the park -- sometimes small herds, and sometimes just 1, or 2, or 3.  

Our next venture was the Medora Musical.  This is in an amphitheater right outside of town, on top of a hill. I think this is the 58th year of the Musical, and it was very enjoyable.  It is mostly about Teddy Roosevelt, who spent a lot of time here before his presidency, but in addition, the show is very patriotic, very colorful, and the talent of singers and dancers was awesome.  They have a new "Teddy Roosevelt" this year, and the Rough Riders appeared on top of the Kettle Hill in a shootout.  

Teddy arriving by stagecoach.

Teddy and Emma Murphy as "Alice" hosted the event and performed in it, singing and dancing as well. 

They invited all the kids to come on stage and participate in a song.  That was fun, and there were a lot of kids there.  The kids had a good time with it.

Sherrif Bear (didn't quite get him in photo) and Prairie Rose also participated.  

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At the end there were fireworks.  The show lasted about 2 hours, and the venue was very close to our campground.  And luckily, there were escalators, and elevators, to get us to our seats.

This is why we came to Medora, and it was well worth it.  A very entertaining evening.