On the Road Again

Another long driving day yesterday. Drove from Albany (St. Cloud), Minn., to Bismarck, N.D., only stopping for lunch and a rest stop. Most of the photos I took today were from the passenger seat, so please excuse the lack of focus. This one turned out pretty well, shooting right through the windshield. (I did manual focusing, so that the camera wouldn't focus on the bugs.)

This Minnesota farm caught my eye out the open passenger window.

Got into a rain shower briefly, then watched as it spread across the prairieland of Minnesota. Lots of marshland along I-94. While we expected the marshes and lakes in Minnesota, we were surprised to see so many in North Dakota.

Caught just a glimpse of the few remaining sunflower fields. Most had already gone to seedheads.

It was interesting going from nothing from wilderness (most exits didn't even list the names of towns and said "No Services,") we topped a rise and below us Bismarck spread as far as we could see. My hubby said, "Civilization!" And he isn't one who cares much for cities.

There is only one tall building in all of Bismarck--the Capitol. It's the strangest Capitol Building we've ever seen. My hubby said it looked like something from eastern Europe and didn't believe me that it was the actual capitol building until we drove around it and found the sign. He says it looks better in this picture than in real life.

And, as a parting shot, the funny sign of the day was this one. Do we, or don't we go in there to park?

Time to hit the road again, but we'll spend the rest of the day in western North Dakota, on the Old Red/Old Ten Scenic Byway following the old US 10 from Mandan to Dickinson and then in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. One of the high points of my trip plan!