North Dakota Sightseeing

It rained our first full day in Bismarck so we (Fran) did laundry.  On Thursday it was nice so we went out exploring.  In our 1,000 places to see book they listed Fort Mandan/Lewis and Clark Interpretative Center as a place to see.  It was about 40 miles north of us so we took the drive.  The center was nice and informative, not a huge amount of exhibits but we learned that Fort Mandan was closed due to being sandbagged to avoid being flooded, although you could drive down to it.  We did drive down and saw that the entire building is surrounded by a wall of sandbags and dirt and that the parking lot is still under a few feet of water.  The fort is very near the Missouri River which is at flood stage.  Here are some pictures I took.

This is the Interpretative Center

View from the center

The Fort Mandan center is behind the sandbags and the that is the parking lot in front of the sandbags.

This is the parking lot

This is the loop drive in front of the Fort Mandan center.  The Missouri River is right at the edge of this road when it should be yards further out.

We left Bismarck on Friday and are staying the weekend in Garfield, MN.  Sort of out in the middle of nowhere, but a nice, quiet campground.