Wisconsin Dells: Ducks & Cheese & Wine! And More Wine! And Indiana Wine, too!

And now back to The USA-Canada Road Trip! 
Driving east and south from British Columbia Canada towards West Virginia and home, our first stop in Wisconsin was Foster's Cheese Haus, for we could not leave Wisconsin without one last Wisconsin Cheese & Wine Debauch! We treated ourselves to a plate of assorted Wisconsin cheeses and glasses of Wisconsin wine, and then stocked up on both so we could enjoy them back at the Elkhorn Inn! (And yes, we managed to find places for it all in the packed-like-a-drum truck and freezer! LOL)
Driving through the Wisconsin Dells we Had to do The Ducks! I'd heard about these WWII amphibious vehicles from my US Army Ret. hubs, but while he'd done it all, I had never experienced one, so taking a ride through The Dells on land and sea in a WWII Duck was a must-do on this trip! The Wisconsin Dells are a pretty fabulous kitsch theme town of attractions and motels, that includes the Coliseum and Trojan Horse, as well as flamingos(!), and we got such a kick out of it all that we hope to get back sometime and have a holiday there! 

The Wisconsin Coliseum...

An original WWII Duck, fitted out with troops...

The Original Wisconsin Ducks are WII amphibious vehicles, which far-seeing Wisconsin tourism entrepreneurs were wise enough to buy up, and then use to create sightseeing tours through the Wisconsin forests and on the rivers and lakes... They are a Lot of fun to ride in, and the guide we had made it even more fun! We got to cruise down the Wisconsin River, crawl over the Sand Bar and through Dell Creek, and then plunge into Lake Delton (wheeee!), as well as travel across miles of really pretty wilderness trails, spotting deer hanging out in the woods, and learning about the history of the area. It's a great tour and we highly recommend it!

Through the woods...

On the river...

On the lake...

On the lake...

On the lake...

Deer! Back in the woods...

On the lake...

Our Duck...

Duck with The Wisconsin Trojan Horse... LOL

Dells Distillery

After our Duck Tour we needed a bite to eat, and trusty FourSquare on our Nexus7 led us to the Dells Distillery, a fun, local restaurant downtown, where we had a tasty lunch accompanied by their house-made fruit-
infused rums and whiskies! 

Foster's Cheese Haus Wine & Cheese!

Desert was Really good coffee and house-made fudge we bought down the street at  Original Wisconsin Dells Fudge, (I loved their pumpkin fudge!), and then we got on the road again... 

We had a map of Wisconsin apple farms and wineries in our truck that I had picked up at a tourism office, and we both wanted to stop at at least one of them... and so our last stop in the state was the Apple Barn Orchard and Winery, in Elkhorn, WI, where we tasted and bought heirloom apples (including really cool ones that Thomas Jefferson enjoyed!), as well as apple wine to take home... (Note: there is Always a place in a vehicle for a few bags of apples and a couple of bottles of wine!) 

Dan, choosing wines at Apple Barn Orchard & Winery

Dan, apple picking at Apple Barn Orchard & Winery

Our last day on the road found us in Indiana, and as I was Really blue, without telling me, Dan decided to make a detour to a nearby winery to cheer me up! (Did I marry good, or what?!) We passed a really fun hour+ having a wine tasting at the Buck Creek Winery, and Dan insisted I buy a cute winery top festooned with rhinestones to accompany all the wine and apple cider we bought to take home- and yes, found places for in the truck! :-) 

Buck Creek Winery

Last Road Trip Lunch:
New Bethel Ordinary, Wanamaker, Indiana

FourSquare on our Nexus7 again led us to a great local place to eat: we had a really good house-made pizza lunch at New Bethel Ordinary in Wanamaker, Indiana, before starting the final leg of our month-long road trip home. We arrived at the Elkhorn Inn safe and sound that night, with 450 lbs. of yummy moose meat in the freezer for Chef Dan to turn into fabulous smoked moose tenderloin, moose roasts, moose kebabs, moose chili, and moose burgers! 

BEST. BURGER. EVER: Chef Dan's Moose Burger! From Elisse's Moose!

BEST. BURGER. EVER: Chef Dan's Moose Burger!
From Elisse's moose! :-) 
I truly can't even Begin to describe HOW good these are! Seared on the outside, rare in the middle... So simple and SO good! IMHO, this TRULY belongs on the list of Great Burgers of the World! Moose courtesy our Foodie Hunting Trip to Canada, augmented by French Fries and Chef Dan's house-made Remoulade Sauce! Can't put moose burgers on our official Elkhorn Inn menu, but we can treat friends! :-)

Vulcan, Canada, MT & ND: Crashing a National Park, Chasing Trains, THE Big Cow, & Fargo Fine Food!

And now back, again to our road trip back from British Columbia, Canada to West Virginia! 
When I wrote the blogpost on Alberta, Canada, I neglected one short but Very Important stop: Vulcan, the Official Star Trek City of Canada!  While not named for Mr. Spock's home planet (the town was named by a surveyor for the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1915 after the Roman God of Fire- Vulcan- and originally all the streets were named after gods and goddesses of the classical world such as Juno, Mars, and Jupiter), the town had the great, good sense to capitalize on Star Trek, and is now known primarily for that! Vulcan has a Star Trek themed Tourism and Trek Station, a replica of the Starship Enterprise, and hosts "Spock Days", drawing visitors from around the world! We made a bit of a detour to get there, and unfortunately the museum was closed by the time we arrived, but at least we got to see a bit of Vulcan, and hopefully we will Live Long and Prosper! 

Elisse sez: "Live Long & Prosper!"

Sunset on Vulcan...

Driving south and east, we stopped in Glasgow, Montana at Sam's Supper Club, for a nice dinner; Sam's was packed with happy regulars and very obviously THE place to eat in Glasgow!

Happy Dan at Sam's!

We began our short time in Glendive, Montana being checked into the Comfort Inn by a super-nice gal...  And being checked out by a total psycho with attitude. Pregnant one, with a pierced eye and lip to go along with her bad attitude, apparently a Choice Hotel Staff Tradition. We had our door banged on at 8:23a.m. by cleaning staff. Then our wake-up call at 8:30a.m. Then Another banging on the door at 9a.m., followed by a call from the front desk at 9:30a.m., reminding us that check out was at 11a.m., at which point I said “We got the message- you want us out! We got it!” Checking out we got an earful of ugliness from Ms. Piercings, along with someone else’s bill. When I got to the truck and realized I had the wrong bill, I returned to the desk; finding no one there, I went looking in the back offices, only to be greeted by a screaming Ms. Piercings, now yelling how the Manager was in Florida (“I already told her about you!” she screeched. What, pray tell, did she say? That we paid money to be abused by her?) when I demanded to see her. This loveliness culminated in her actually threatening to call the police (“Please do!” was my response), if I didn't give her back the other guest's bill she had mistakenly given me, and was followed by even MORE nastiness! What a lovely send-off... (This bit of delightfulness was included in our letter to the Choice Hotel CEO. We were told we'd be getting a call from the hotel and an apology. We're still waiting).

At Sleeping Buffalo Rock, Malta, Montana

We stopped at the Great Plains Dinosaur Museum & Field Station in Malta, Montana, where we got to see and touch fossils and dino bones dug up right in Malta's backyard! We spent quite a while at the museum, and interested the lady who showed us the exhibits in Homer Hickam's book The Dinosaur Hunter...
We then perused all the exhibits at the excellent Phillips County Museum next door, which shows how pioneers, cowboys, and Indians worked and played through tools, toys, instruments, clothing, furniture, and historic photographs, as well as life-size replicas of a cowboy bunkhouse, a one-room schoolhouse, church, and mercantile. They have special exhibit on their native outlaw celebrity, Kid Curry, who began his "outlaw career" in 1894 by shooting 'Pike' Landusky, and then going on, with his gang, The Wild Bunch, to commit more crimes in Phillips County, including a train robbery west of Malta in 1901.
We also stopped at Sleeping Buffalo Rock in Malta, Montana, which reposes in its corral under a shed at the junction of US 2 and MT 243. It is an old rock indigenous to the area, part of a group of boulders that the local Indians held sacred. People often leave coins or tobacco as offerings. Roadside America which is what the link goes to) has some interesting info about it:  "Sleeping Buffalo Rock was found by my grandfather when he was a young boy while out riding the plains. Kenneth Arnold Ball was born in Saco, MT Jan. 24, 1908 to Nora Jane and George McLearn Ball, whom herded sheep and raised wheat and grasses. Kenneth went to school with Chet Huntley; they were good friends (Chet even states this in his book Boyhood Memories). The rock was actually carved by the Plains Indians and it was a symbol for the buffalo hunt. They would dance around it the night before the hunt as spiritual hope for a good hunt like football players huddle together for a good game.The Rock was placed near the school in representation of both of the boys, Kenneth and Chet". - Nora Mae, 09/20/2010 
Railfans that we are, we chased trains across the plains... and found lots of other cool things, too!

Ha!

Harlem, Montana, Pop 808

One of the things that made us stop and turn around...

And with the owner's permission, Dan, who is US Army Ret. Aviation, and I, got to take a close-up look at her!

Pretty... and good eatin', too! :-)

The Sweet Grass Hills, Browning, Montana

Yes, there are dinos here!

Our next stop was for a nice lunch at Boots Bar & Grill, in the (then closed-due-to-the- idiot-sequester) Theodore Roosevelt National Park in Medora, North Dakota: elk burgers w/sweet potato fires, and a Beaver Beer sampler!

Beaver Beer at Boots Bar!

Dan bought us some local, ND wine in one of the little stores in the Park that was open despite the "sequester", and then Dan and I Broke Obama Law, throwing our lot in with our WWII Vets, and entered the closed-due-to-sequester Painted Canyon Overlook in the National Park, me climbing under a chain and dancing over a RR grating, with Dan following in hot pursuit! We photographed the scenic rocks, and on the way back to the car we saw someone apparently examining our car- we thought we were being ticketed for trespassing, but it was just 2 nice Park employees letting themselves in; the lady even held the gate for me! :-)

Elisse, ballsy as usual...

Driving due east across North Dakota on I95, I'm thumbing though "attractions" on our Garmin, and come up the bright idea of stopping to see Salem Sue, the World's Largest Holstein Cow. As we hit Salem, we also hit Snow, and as we climb the winding hill, on top of which stands Salem Sue, it becomes increasingly apparent that this was Not one of my brighter notions... We make it all the way up there, crawling our truck round and around the steep, snow-slick hill, see Sue, and then Dan oh-so-carefully turns the truck around and down we go...

Snow in Salem, ND...

Salem Sue

Salem Sue, in all her glory...

We drove through Bismark, ND, and had a bit of a rest at Keelboat Park...

Keelboat Park, Bismark, ND

Bismark, ND

Night falls over North Dakota...

and then, as night fell, we
 made for Fargo, knowing a wonderful dinner would await us at HoDo, where we'd had such a fine meal 3 weeks previously. Tonight we were treated to live '60s music on top of a great meal: a bon bouche of pureed iceberg lettuce soup with sturgeon, followed by nori-wrapped yellowtail with a sate sauce, and then short ribs for Dan, and milk-poached scallops and lemon-seared butter tender octopus with a wine sabayon for me! And then a lush chocolate cake with a gently-zingy chipotle pepper sauce. And wine. And scotch. And Dan got to schmooze the chef! And now our freezer of moose meat is hooked up and we're ensconced in a Jacuzzi suite at the Comfort Inn in Fergus Falls, Minnesota.
I know- we're gluttons for punishment. LOL

Another great dinner at HoDos!

Next: Wisconsin Dells: Ducks!