As mentioned in our last post, the wind was howling when we arrived back in Bismarck.  The camper was parked back up on the hill behind sister Zona’s home. so we were fully exposed to the buffeting gusts throughout the night.  Next morning the news accounts quantified the extent of our noisy and jerky experience:  65 mph.  There followed a few days of relatively cool weather, after which a glorious “Indian summer” resumed.

Before the nice weather had returned, while it was still cool (more appropriately described as “cold”, in the opinion of Barb and I, with our Caribbean-conditioned thin blood) Bismarck hosted a surprising festival in the park adjacent to the zoo.  (The same zoo, by the way, where a moose had been killed by a falling branch during the afore-mentioned wind storm, the day before it was scheduled to be transferred to Minnesota.)  The festival?  A food truck festival.  Food trucks must be a relatively new phenomenon in Bismarck, because, cool/cold weather be damned, the place was packed.

We packed a lot into our third visit.  Barb and Mom and I went to the North Dakota Heritage Center, adjacent to the State Capital Building.  Its enlargement/enhancement/remodel is completed, and it is now spectacular.  There are major exhibit rooms dedicated to fossils found in North Dakota.  And a large exhibit about the many Native American tribes in the general area.  Another about the early white settlers. And yes, one about the current oil boom taking place in the western part of the state.

Zona’s oldest daughter Susan and her husband John (and their children Mattie & Oliver) arrived from Minneapolis to do some duck and pheasant hunting, so we got to visit with them during evenings.  Zona’s Bismarck-based daughter, Cathy (and her husband Jon and children Katie & Cole) popped in a number of times.  Zona’s brother-in-law Floyd and his wife Sheila also visited multiple times.  By popular request I hosted a multi-pot low country boil for Cathy and her family, Floyd & Sheila, Marvin & Violet Bodvig, Dawn & Jerry Renner, and of course Mom & Zona & Barb & me.  What is in a low-country boil, some of you may be asking.  Potatoes & onions & ring sausage & carrots & corn on the cob & shrimp & a massive amount of Old Bay seasoning, all boiled together but added to the pot at appropriate times for proper cooking, served with home-made cocktail sauce made of catsup and horse radish & worcestershire sauce & lemon juice.

Zona has a cabin on Lake Isabelle, some 50 miles east of Bismarck.  In addition to a garden and apple trees, there are grape vines on her property.  This year Cathy and Jon took responsibility for the harvest, which meant that they had first dibs on deciding what to do with the bounty.  Cathy chose wine.  So one afternoon Zona & Cathy & Mom and Floyd & Sheila & Barb & I all met at a local vintner to deliver the grapes and to decide on what style of wine to order.  Tasting ensued.  Cathy made the final decision.  Tune in next year to learn how it all turned out.

A few days before we left Bismarck, we took the camper out to Tappen, ND, where friend Marvin Bodvig runs a farm supply dealership.  Marvin graciously consented to storing our camper (and several others) until we return in late June, 2016.  As you can see in the photo, below, he also stores his small airplane there.

Tune in next time to learn about our next visit, to Savannah, GA.