theodore roosevelt national park
on our drive from oregon to michigan, atlas and i stopped in north dakota for a day to visit my sister and brother-in-law and little savannah.
we went to the theodore roosevelt national park for a hike and a picnic. isn’t it gorgeous! i love the hills and the valleys and the different shades of green and yellow. it reminds me of the badlands of south dakota, which makes sense, because i think these are considered the badlands of north dakota.
if i were a giant, i would pretend the hills were rocks and the valleys were a river and that i had to get across the river on the rocks without falling in.
the bison was standing by the guardrail when we drove by. i’m pretty sure he wanted to say hello because he stood there so nicely while i took photos. (if you were here, i’d have you watch me flip back and forth through the other photos i have of him because you can see his eyes opening and closing.) (and in case you are like me and are wondering how you can tell the difference between a bison and a buffalo, apparently buffalo have longer horns and are only found in africa and south asia.)
it was beyond wonderful to see savannah again. she took atlas for a walk (with my help) and ordered him around (not that he listened). it was pretty cute. after our picnic, she wanted me to take pictures of her. she ran to a spot above the river, stood still for a moment, ran back to me, looked at the picture and said, “a cute one!!!” she repeated this over and over and over. she was a delightful change from my usual and not-so-agreeable photo subject atlas.
Many years ago, I regularly took our german shepherd hiking with me in an area with rattlesnakes. He loves to chase anything that moved on the ground, so I was worried about the snakes. Would he go after one?
One day we came across one on the trail. McKinley went to alert status. The snake rattled. McKinley relaxed and turned around. I was amazed. It was like they could talk to each other.
Too bad people cannot communicate as well.
oh! Well, there goes my dream of having
a buffalo farm. I’ll have to settle for bison:)
What a handsome fellow….I have a crush on him now. Always had a thing for buffalo, er, bison.
Glad you got to see and celebrate those beautiful hills.
And I love how you would step across them if you were a giant (God, I love the way you think!)
Glad for the wonderful journey you took and
for getting to share in the overflow,
Jennifer
Amazing place. And Savannah is so beautiful!
@Kris: It really was. I had no idea!
@Jennifer: Yes indeed. I was reading about buffalo spirit animals so I was disappointed myself to discover that there was no chance I saw one. Also, then that song – “where the buffalo roam” is not accurate!
@Jerry: Good to know! I always wondered what Atlas would do, especially since I know they have rattlesnake avoidance clinics in SoCal, which makes me think some dogs don’t know instinctively. McKinley was intuitively clever! Though I’d rather not find out what Atlas would do, hence the reason he was tied to the picnic table.
I always kept McKinley on leash when we were in rattlesnake country. Better safe than sorry!
Such a beautiful trip you’ve enjoyed so far. Be safe and have a marvelous adventure, friend.
This is a belated accounting. So I did indeed arrive safe and had a wonderful adventure. So appreciate your well wishes, dear Relyn!
I am confused. The fellow in your picture has horns…so he is a buffalo, not a bison?
He does have horns! How did I miss that? Perhaps I mis-read the descriptions. Yup, I did. It was just that buffalo have longer horns. I guess the essential part was that the only place we’ll see buffalo here in the states is at the zoo.
How interesting! I’ve always called them by the wrong name!!
This park is gorgeous – and so is Savannah!
Me too! Probably we all have. I blame the early settlers. And that song “Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam”.