Day 4 - The Adventure's of Traveling to Medora

After a good night's sleep - we were all ready to tackle a new day.

The first order of the day was to go to Chahinkapa Zoo, in Wahpeton.  This zoo is so well done - I love it and visit as often as I can.    

Before we went to the zoo we had to stop and visit a friend.  Deb Tobias is a HUGE supporter of our trip and always makes sure that the students get t-shirts from the zoo and have a great time while in Wahpeton.  She was super busy so we decided to drop in and say HI before heading to the zoo.  She made sure everyone got a big hug and had to ask a million questions.  

We <3 debbie="" td="">

Onward to the zoo!  

Beautiful Mural!

 Exploring the zoo!  The students saw a peacock for the first time and flipped out.  Oddly, their call sounds a lot like it's saying "Mayo!!!" so....they loved that.

Cuddling with the baby goat

 Lucky for me, I have friends everywhere and one of the very nice employees of the zoo asked if my students wanted to hold the baby animals!

Needless to say, they were ALL for it.  They got to see baby lambs, goats, pigs, ducklings.....lots of babies!!

We all had such a fun time exploring the zoo and seeing all the animals.  I took a million pictures, but I hope you like the highlights :)

After gassing up and finding food...it was time to start the LONG journey to Medora, ND.  It takes roughly 6 hrs to get to Medora from Wahpeton.  With bathroom breaks, stretch breaks, etc...a tad longer.  

One of the stops I decided to take was the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismark.  I hadn't been there in years, but I thought it would be a great way for the students to stretch their legs and learn a bit more about ND.  

 Standing with Sacagawea!

I need to give a HUGE shout out to the Heritage Center.  It is an amazing facility!  I was blown away by everything; the exhibits, the tour guides, everything.  We were told that they have expanded the heritage center and that is no lie.

If you are in the area, definitely take some time to go and explore.  So well done :)

Teddy Roosevelt's Gun was Included

We were lucky enough to snag a tour guide.  We only had 45 min, so he took us through the really fast version of his tour.   The mastodon below is over 90% complete (that's awesome!) Students learned the difference between Mammoths and Mastodon's, on top of a lot of other information. 

They also learned that ND used to be underwater, so we have a lot of fossils of underwater animals.  The prehistoric exhibit was so well done.  We could have gawked at everything for days....unfortunately we only had about 10 min.  

Jewel and the Giant Sloth!

The tour guide was pretty blown away that we were from Alaska.  He really enjoyed talking to Raymond since they had similar passions: flying and trapping.  The students were also surprised by the Native exhibit.  They learned that they had a lot in common with the 'Indians' from the Lower 48.  

Our guide went above and beyond and even let the students try out an Atlatl!  It was so cool, none of us thought he was serious until he took us outside and we got to try.  

 Ariel is showing off her amazing form with the atlatl.  It was REALLY long, and there were guys out mowing the lawn...we were a tad nervous, but luckily no one was impaled. 

Kyle tried a harder position

Jewel showing how long the arrow was

Obviously we didn't want the fun to end, and our guide stayed with us LONG after closing time.  He led us through a few of the monuments on the grounds and the students learned a lot about the area while being outside; I call that a win-win.  


Sadly we had to keep moving on our way to Medora.  We thanked the tour guide, filled up on gas, and continued west to Medora.







For those of you that have never driven to Medora here is a fun tip.  Stop at the rest stop outside of the exit for Medora called 'Painted Canyon.'  There you will find a gorgeous panoramic view of the Badlands.  So worth the stop and if you are lucky, you will also see a buffalo or two.  

I stopped here to let the students stretch their legs and see the view.  We were met with gorgeous sights and a chance to take a selfie.

Finally, we drove into Medora and feasted on a dinner of Elk or Buffalo burgers!  The day was FULL of adventures and we couldn't wait to see what will happen tomorrow :) 

Until tomorrow!