There seem to be a lot of lakes here.
Last night’s camp at Buffalo River State Park:
Tonight’s camp at Itasca State Park:
That was a wild night
Last night. Severe weather. Huge thunderstorms, one after the other, all night long. The campground was evacuated for the tornado warnings. 27 people in a small stone shelter for two hours. We would have been in there with them, but we never got the evacuation call. We couldn’t hear the pounding on the door above the pounding of the storm. It all ended well. The tornadoes never got closer than two miles from us. The camp hosts agreed to pound on the walls at the back of the coach, where we sleep, if there is another evacuation tonight. I declare that I’m caught up at work. What with the heart thing and the family reunion, I got a little behind on File Reviews. There are still things to do, but as far as File Reviews go, I’m current again. We’ve found the famous Minnesota mosquitoes. They’re not very big yet, but there sure are a lot of them, and we’re still barely into Minnesota. We’ll go a little deeper tomorrow. The bird list for the Fargo/Moorhead area. The highlight: Bobolink. #531. We didn’t see as many Bobolinks as we expected. We thought we’d see hundreds. Instead, we saw one. But that was the most important one. The first one.
| Canada Goose |
| Pied-billed Grebe |
| American White Pelican |
| Great Blue Heron |
| Osprey |
| Bald Eagle |
| Northern Harrier |
| Red-tailed Hawk |
| American Kestrel |
| Killdeer |
| Ring-billed Gull |
| Black Tern |
| Rock Pigeon |
| Mourning Dove |
| Ruby-throated Hummingbird |
| Belted Kingfisher |
| Hairy Woodpecker |
| Northern Flicker |
| Eastern Phoebe |
| Western Kingbird |
| Eastern Kingbird |
| Blue Jay |
| American Crow |
| Horned Lark |
| Purple Martin |
| Tree Swallow |
| Cliff Swallow |
| Barn Swallow |
| Black-capped Chickadee |
| White-breasted Nuthatch |
| Marsh Wren |
| Eastern Bluebird |
| American Robin |
| Gray Catbird |
| Brown Thrasher |
| European Starling |
| Cedar Waxwing |
| Common Yellowthroat |
| Clay-colored Sparrow |
| Vesper Sparrow |
| Lark Sparrow |
| Lark Bunting |
| Savannah Sparrow |
| Song Sparrow |
| Bobolink |
| Red-winged Blackbird |
| Western Meadowlark |
| Common Grackle |
| Brown-headed Cowbird |
| American Goldfinch |
| House Sparrow |
Reality varies
It depends on where you are. We were out, and I was hungry for a good hamburger, so we stopped at a Dairy Queen. Dairy Queen in Texas is one of the better sit-down restaurants. Their hamburgers are really big and really good. I’d rather order by number because the one I like the best is called a Beltbuster. Who wants to order a Beltbuster? So we pulled over to the Dairy Queen in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. We were in luck. The hamburgers didn’t have names. They had numbers. I ordered a number 2; the double cheeseburger. That’s the one I like. Judy specified no mayo. No problem. It was no problem because what I got was two little meat patties, on two little buns, with nothing but a couple pickles on it. The cheese was Velveeta. Not quite what my stomach had in mind. Reality in Minnesota is not the same as reality in Texas. Judy was in the grocery, at the deli counter. She noticed something unusual; Popcorn Salad. She inquired about it. Yes, it is made with real popcorn. We never heard of any Popcorn Salad before, but know what? The girl behind the counter didn’t know there was anyone who had never heard of Popcorn Salad before. We didn’t know it was real. She didn’t know it was regional. Got our annual Minnesota Parks Pass and moved from the KOA, fifteen miles down the road, to Buffalo River State Park. http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=107013362562471418011.00047964b60d16d130156&ll=48.019324,-94.064941&spn=8.274935,28.45459&z=6
Prairie dog
The prairie dog had a lot on his mind. Here is what he had to say:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgCqIYJL38U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgCqIYJL38U
Moorhead, MN
Drove east on Interstate 94. If you’re tired of driving on bumpy roads, drive across North Dakota on Interstate 94. Easy driving. Smooth roads. The day flew by We stopped at the KOA in Moorhead, Minnesota. Back to civilization and full hook-ups for a couple days.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=107013362562471418011.00047964b60d16d130156&ll=38.959409,-97.470703&spn=38.185765,113.818359&z=4
We saw the World’s Largest Holstein Cow and the World’s Largest Buffalo from the freeway. We passed signs for the World’s Largest Sandhill Crane, and the Albino Buffalo. We passed the turn-off to the Enchanted Highway: 32 miles of the World’s Largest Metal Sculptures.
The Badlands in Western North Dakota are a lot like the Badlands in Western South Dakota, except in North Dakota they’re all covered with grass and forests. Spectacular.
Today’s crock-pot-torture: Pot Roast.
Teddy Roosevelt National Park was a great place to be. Big trees in the campground. Very birdy; constant calls. Loaded with Lazuli Buntings. The list:
| Mourning Dove |
| Common Nighthawk |
| Northern Flicker |
| Western Wood-Pewee |
| Western Kingbird |
| Eastern Kingbird |
| Warbling Vireo |
| American Crow |
| Cliff Swallow |
| Barn Swallow |
| Black-capped Chickadee |
| White-breasted Nuthatch |
| House Wren |
| American Robin |
| Cedar Waxwing |
| Yellow Warbler |
| Black-and-white Warbler |
| American Redstart |
| Spotted Towhee |
| Chipping Sparrow |
| Lark Sparrow |
| Black-headed Grosbeak |
| Lazuli Bunting |
| Red-winged Blackbird |
| Western Meadowlark |
| Common Grackle |
| Orchard Oriole |
| Bullock’s Oriole |
| Pine Siskin |
| American Goldfinch |
| House Sparrow |
Prairie Dog