GRISWOLDDAD
Parenting, Entertainment, and Travel Tips
Things to Do in North Dakota
*For a list of North Dakota's top yearly events, click here.
Fargo
Fargo has a few highlights to be seen while in town. Bonanzaville is an open air 43 building history museum with over 400,000 artifacts in its various collections. The Fargo Air Museum, The Roger Maris Museum, Plains Art Museum, and Red River Zoo are other points of interest. Go see Roger Maris' museum to try and figure out why he got that famous asterisk in baseball!
Bonanzaville
Fort Abraham Lincoln
History buffs shouldn't miss North Dakota's signature historic site, Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park. Seven miles south of Mandan, the park has reconstructed earth lodges that make up On-A-Slant Village, once occupied by the Mandan Native Americans from about 1575 to 1781. Portions of the old infantry and cavalry post have been rebuilt, including the Custer House, which General Custer lived in until his famous death. The house is also called the "Mansion on the Prairie." Two separate tours take you to the Native American side and to the Cavalry side.
Mandan Indian Village
Lake Metigoshe
This lake offers a well-rounded, classic lake vacation, including walleye fishing, a beach, camping and cabins, a Fourth of July fireworks show and canoeing. The difference between this and Lake Sakakawea? This one isn't as busy and crowded!
Lake Sakakawea
Lake Sakakawea State Park offers numerous water activities, camping, and some of the best salmon fishing around!
South McLean and Washburn
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark spent more of their epic journey in North Dakota than in any other state. In Washburn, the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center has fascinating interactive exhibits about the Lewis and Clark expedition and area history. Then, continue 17 minutes away to South McLean to see the reconstructed fort made by Lewis and Clark, Fort Mandan.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
Roosevelt came to North Dakota from New York and, upon seeing the badlands, he described the area as "a world of beauty and color and limitless space". The Park is 70,000 acres of painted canyons and grassy hiking trails bordering Interstate-94 and the Little Missouri River. Bison graze along the road and often in the road itself. Prairie dogs are all over the place, and the park has scenic turnouts near some of the really large prairie dog areas. The Maah Daah Hey Trail is a 98-mile main trail for hikers, horseback riders, and biking that connects the southern and northern units of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, running through rolling prairie and rocky badlands—home to mule deer, coyotes, golden eagles, bighorn sheep and bison.
This area also used to be home to Teddy Roosevelt himself, during his ranching days. Be sure to check out Teddy's old ranching cabin, the Maltese Cross Cabin, near the Medora entrance to the park. (2) Like more of the nation's national parks, Theodore Roosevelt's park has junior ranger programs for the kids and of course guided ranger programs. However, they offer a neat feature you do not always find, family fun packs. These packs at the North or South Unit visitor centers and include binoculars, guide books, and activity sheets.
Other trails to aim for besides the Maah Daah Hey trail include the Wind Canyon Trail (.4 miles and easy), the Buck Hill Trail (.2 miles and easy), and the Coal Vein Trail (just over a mile and moderate), all in the South Unit. It's not all about hiking though, you can also camp, canoe, showshoe, cross-country ski, bike, fish, or go horseback riding while in the park. You can also just relax and enjoy watching the wildlife.
Much of what you'll see about the park will be about the North and South Units, but don't miss the visitor center in Belfield in the Painted Canyon section of the park appropriately named the Painted Canyon Visitor Center. The views from the overlook at the center are unparalleled and amazing, letting you see the Badlands spread out as far as you can see.
In nearby Medora, a family friendly musical called the Medora Musical relives Teddy Roosevelt's wild cowboy days, among other content, plays daily and features singing, dancing, live animals and fireworks, all against a stunning badlands backdrop. Get there early to join in on the pitchfork fondue dinner, in which your steak or hot dogs for dinner are cooked over a fire ON a pitchfork! You can also visit Chateau de Mores State Historic Site, a 26 room hunting lodge built by the Marquis de Mores in 1883 while North Dakota was still just a territory not a state. Medora is named after his wife. The North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame is also in Medora and tells stories of Native Americans, cowboys, pioneers, and rodeo riders of the plains.
