Exploring the Great West: Day 3, Part 2, A Pitchfork Steak Fondue and the Medora Musical

This is a continuation of a travel series to The Great West.  To start at the beginning, go HERE, HERE, and 

HERE, HERE, and HERE!

On day three of our vacation, we spent the morning at Devil's Tower, Wyoming.  Then we jumped back into the car and drove four hours to Medora, North Dakota!  We had never been to North Dakota before, so we were pretty excited.

We arrived at around three in the afternoon and had some time to check in to our hotel and enjoy a dip in the pool before heading out for a "Pitchfork Steak Fondue" and to watch the "Medora Musical".

Both events are in the same spot, located on a bluff overlooking the town of Medora.  

You have to make an appointment to eat at the "Pitchfork Steak Fondue" and we were a few minutes early so we decided to walk around a bit and check things out.  I looked down the bluff and I could see the outdoor musical theatre nestled in the side of the bluff.

Before I continue with the events of the evening, I have to first describe our drive from Devil's Tower to Medora.  Once you leave Wyoming, which is absolutely breath-taking by the way, there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for four hours.  So be sure you have plenty of food, water and gas before you leave!  The four hour drive seemed agonizing slow.  Not much to look at, at all!  Of course, I was excited about my steak dinner and the musical later that evening, so that could have caused my boredom.  Then, all of a sudden I saw a sign that said "Theodore Roosevelt National Park Next 13 miles" and experienced some of the MOST INCREDIBLE SCENERY OF MY LIFE!  The road to Medora, runs right through the park.  I kept thinking, "If it's this beautiful from the highway, how incredible it must be inside the park!"  We even saw buffalo and wild horses from the highway!  It was amazing.

Medora is nestled in the badlands of North Dakota.  Beautiful geological features called "Buttes" surround the town.  They are basically small mountains with flat tops...ha ha!  We will talk more about "Buttes" when I cover Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

There is a lovely gift shop (left) that sells souvenirs but also tells a lot of history of the Medora Musical and the town.  

And of course there are plenty of places to look out and enjoy the view while your waiting for your dinner or the musical to start.

The town of Medora is so well organized and completely geared to make its' guests as comfortable and happy as possible.  We bought our "Pitchfork Steak Fondue" and "Medora Musical" tickets plus made our hotel reservations all at the same time on their MEDORA website.

Hubby being his silly self.

The "Pitchfork Steak Fondue" is called such because the cook literally cooks your steak on a pitchfork!  It is fun to watch!

You eat outside on picnic tables with a fabulous view of the buttes.  There is also live entertainment while you eat.

The food is served buffet style, but there is still a full staff that is very helpful and nice.  Once you hand the hostess your ticket, she gives you a name tag of sorts so you get what you paid for.  They have a "buffet only" option (no steak, just the fixings), and a hot dog option.

Now, I really hate to criticize this place, because it was an interesting experience, but I didn't think it was worth the price,  It was $33.95 per person for a 12 oz steak, and the fixings you see below.  All the food was cold, including the steak, because even though they used warmers, it's still held outside and the cold wind couldn't keep the food hot. And there were flies everywhere, crawling all over the food in the buffet.  It was very unappetizing.  But, North Dakota is very well known for it's flies.  In fact, we had to deal with them constantly the whole time we were there.  If we didn't close our motel room door fast enough, the flies would just swarm in.  I'm just not use to that coming from Wisconsin.  I honestly can't recommend doing the "Pitchfork Steak Fondue" because it's so expensive and the food wasn't very good.  The steak was tasty, even though it was cold.  The bread was the worst.  It was as hard as a rock.  I couldn't even chew it.  However, if you really want the experience and you don't care about the cost, go for it!

And would you believe the $34.00 didn't even include drinks?  They only offer lemonade, water, or coffee for free.  The drinks were $3.00 a piece.  Oh well, we tried not to let it bother us and make the best of it.  We are very frugal people and knew we could have enjoyed a much tastier, HOT dinner in town for half the cost.

Unfortunately, we ended up throwing a lot of the food away.  Even the dessert was terrible.  Then we took another walk enjoying the sunset.

Finally it was time to get to our seats to enjoy the musical.  I was so excited!  I love musicals!  I couldn't believe they had an outdoor escalator to the amphitheater!

I thought it was so cute that the stage lights were hidden inside barn silos.  How clever is this?

I was able to get my tickets months ahead of time.  You can pick exactly where you want to sit on line.  Prices are based on how good or bad your seat is.  I chose a mid price seat, and picked the first row in the balcony.  I thought I chose very well because no one's head was in front of me!

Tickets for adults start at $34.95 (students 7 -17 $18.95, children under 6 FREE).  I don't remember what I paid for our seats, it's been so long, but it was somewhere in the middle of the least expensive and most expensive seat price.

The stage is so cute, looking like a vintage old western town.

The middle of the stage separates, allowing a space to open up.  I loved it when this American Flag took center stage.

The show is very patriotic, and they have horses, singing, and dancing.  The clog dancing was my favorite.  They were incredible!

Here the stage opened up to reveal another "stage" which housed a country western band.

The musical is a variety-type show that tells the history of the town and the life of Teddy Roosevelt.  The scene below depicts Teddy Roosevelt in one of his war battles.

They use lots of special effects like canyons and fireworks. 

This is the clog dancing below.    The costumes in all the scenes were stunning.  If you do ever visit Medora, seeing the Musical is a MUST!  I was glad that it was the first thing we did, because the next day when we visited the park, I had so much knowledge in my head about the area's history and Teddy Roosevelt.

The last scene was the best part of the musical.  I don't want to tell you what happened, because I don't want to give it away and ruin it for you, but all I can say is "WOW! Was I ever surprised.  I did not see that coming!"

Did I think the musical was as good as Broadway?  No.  Some of the singing left much to be desired.  But having musicians in my family,  I am kinda biased. I've also seen a lot of Broadway shows in my lifetime, so I'm a bit spoiled.  I'm sure "normal people" would have thought everyone's singing ability was incredible.  But it is definitely worth the $$$$ for it's a lot of fun, the amphitheater experience is incredible, and you learn so much about the areas history.

I plan on covering a lot more about the town of Medora and Theodore Roosevelt National Park in the week's to come.  Medora was one of my favorite towns I've ever been too.  Who knew a small town in North Dakota would be so much fun?

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

How To Style Faux Leather & Suede with "November Stylish Monday"

On the second Monday of every month a group of style bloggers and I pick a theme, style an outfit based on that theme, and then do a link up together where you can join too!  This month's theme is "Faux Leather or Suede"

For this month's theme "Faux Leather or Suede" I actually had a hard time deciding what to wear because I have so much Faux Leather!  I have several different colors and styles of faux leather jackets, and of course I have tons of faux leather shoes.  I ultimately decided on showing you a faux suede jacket because I thought it would be great to show how I styled a fall dress for completely different looks and temperatures.

In the picture on the left, I am styling the same fall dress as the one I'm wearing on the right.  I completely changed the look of it by wearing a faux suede jacket, swapping out the open toe booties for tall faux leather boots, and wearing a leather belt instead of the cloth belt that came with the dress.  I even switched out my bag from a clutch to a handbag.  When I first wore this dress, it was a warm fall day, but I was able to wear it on a cooler fall day by adding the jacket and switching out the footwear.

Here is a close up of the leather belt.  It is too big to wear around my waistline, so after I made it small enough to fit my waist, I tied the excess in a knot off to the side.

Because it's fall, I wore a leaf pendant in honor of fall.  This is an actual aspen leaf I picked up years ago from a Colorado vacation.  They glaze the leaf somehow and make it into a necklace.  What a great souvenir!

I received my faux suede jacket in a Stitch Fix long ago.  I just love it, and I've certainly gotten a lot of use out of it.  Both the color and style make it wearable with a lot of things.

Both the dress and the handbag are old and were purchased from Amazon.   

And finally here are some very old slouchy boots. I actually think these boots need to go.  You can't tell in the picture, but they are getting quite worn.  I've had them for ages, but I love them, so they are hard to part with.

And now lets see what the rest of the ladies are wearing, and be sure to link up your outfits with us at the end of this post.

Joy

Joy -   Joyous Styling    Faux Leather Shacket - Embossed leggings and sequin booties add a touch of unexpected glamour.. my sleeveless turtleneck has ruching and is a closet

Mainstay.

                                    Shelbee

Shelbee - Shelbee on the Edge - I always love the edginess that leather can add to any outfit. I recently spotted these wide legged faux leather trousers in Charlotte Russe for a mere $15. I liked them so much that I also bought them in black and now I have all sorts of sassy styling ideas rolling through my mind. 

Nancy

Nancy -  Nancy’s Fashion Style - I love to wear faux leather. Back in the days I used to wear a lot of real leather, it’s not my thing anymore. The only downside with faux leather is that we have a white leather couch, that doesn’t work very well together. So sadly I can only wear faux leather when I go out!

                                      Nina

Nina - Sharing a Journey -I love a little faux leather and suede in the fall!  There are so many options!  When I saw Spanx new faux suede flairs, I had to have a pair--get styling tips on how to create a few fresh looks with faux leather and suede..

                                       Lucy

Lucy - Lucy Bertoldi.com  I adore faux-leather and all the styling possibilities that go along with it!  Today's outfit is a perfect example of how you can mix colors to obtain a look that flows, just by having the fabric as the element that pulls it all together. Faux-leather is master at accomplishing this- even with colors that you wouldn't necessarily think of styling together!

Julie

Julie - Fashion Trends and Friends and Instagram FashionTandF -  It’s Faux Leather Weather; and I’m not mad about it!  I actually did a whole blog post already on this trend but this faux leather lover can’t get enough so of course I had to participate with all of my fashionable friends.  This faux leather jumper is one of my newest additions.  Plus I’m sharing a fabulous new faux leather and suede pink jacket to my wardrobe!  The Faux Leather Trend is going strong and the best part is you can find an assortment of colors!

Nicole

Nicole - High Latitude Style - I found these pink faux leather booties at Value Village two years ago. Of course, the color and zipper details called my name. Despite they got a lot of wear in the long Interior Alaska winters, they still look like new.

                                       Ada

Ada - Elegance and Mommyhood -Faux Leather has been trending for the past decade - as long as I have been a mother pretty much. And speaking of mothers, my layered look today is very cool and put together for a busy mom with little ones, that’s me. The star of the show is this Pinot Noir Faux Leather Moto Jacket with a built-in grey sweatshirt hoodie. How cool is that?! More faux leather comes via the chic shoes that can pass both as sneakers and as oxfords. Both of these leather pieces are 2 of the 5 items I purchased this Summer during the NSale. 

And Me!

Amy - Amy’s Creative Pursuits -  I love to change the look of a dress with a lightweight jacket like this faux suede one from Stitch Fix.

Have A Great Day! Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Exploring the Great West: Day 3, Part 1, Devil's Tower National Monument

This is a continuation of a travel series to The Great West.  To start at the beginning, go HERE,, HERE, and 

HERE, and HERE!

On day three of our vacation out west, we left Spearfish Canyon and started our trek to Medora, North Dakota.  But first, we decided to make a stop at Devil's Tower National Monument in Wyoming.

The drive to Devil's Tower is so beautiful.  Wyoming is such a gorgeous state and one I hope to explore more some day.  You can see Devil's Tower for miles and miles before you even reach it, it is that tall!  In fact, if you don't want to pay the park fee, you can easily see the tower and take pictures of it from the road.  Both the picture above and the one below were taken from outside the park.

I really think it's worth going into the park and seeing it up close, especially if you have a National Park Pass or if you plan on visiting another National Park during the week.  We purchased a seven day vehicle pass for $25.00 and it was good at all national parks and monuments.

Parking is very limited at the monument, so get there early!  We got there just as the sun was rising and it was already filling up fast.  I have no idea why they don't have more parking!  

If you thought the monument looked huge from outside the park, it is really impressive when you get so close to it!  There is a paved path that winds it way around the tower.  Along the way you can learn all about the geologic features and the history of the area.  The path might seem short, but it took us all morning to walk around. However, we stopped a lot, reading everything, and taking lots and lots of pictures.  The "Tower Trail" is a 1.3 mile loop  around the monument.

We were surprised to learn that you can climb the rocks and go anywhere on the property, but you need a permit to climb the tower.

We saw lots of climbers while we were there.  In the picture below I drew an arrow to some climbers.  Can you even imagine doing this?

Here is a close up picture of those same climbers.  There are degrees of difficulty for climbing the monument, some sides are graded as easier than others to climb.  This side is the hardest to climb.  

There are so many "stories" of how this rock formation came to being.  My favorite one was the Cheyenne   story of how a giant bears claws created the vertical crevices.

There are actually five trails in the park, but because we had to be in Medora later that day, we were only able to do the "Tower Trail" loop.

There is also camping near the park and ranger programs!

The trail around the monument is absolutely breath-taking.  They even had two scenic overlooks that showed the countryside and information on the early settlers of the area.

Each side looked a little different and the sides that looked easier to climb had a lot more climbers on them.  The "Durrance Route" is the easiest side to climb.  It takes between 4 -6 hours to climb and an hour or two to rappel down.  There have only been six climbing deaths since 1937 and half of those deaths occurred during the rappel down.

The "Tower Trail" was such a lovely, and peaceful trail.  In addition to the constant magnificent view of the tower always within your gaze, and the two stunning scenic vistas, we also enjoyed our little walk through a forested area and marveled at the large fallen rocks.

Devil's Tower is 867 feet from it's base to the summit.  In comparison, the Statue of Liberty is 305 feet tall, and the Empire State Building is 1,457 feet tall.

Geologists believe that "Devil's Tower" formed underground as molten rock and then pushed it's way through the surface.

Devil's Tower was such a blessing to see!  We actually planned on seeing it on our last visit our west in 2019 but never made it there, so we were thrilled we got there on this trip!  But perhaps what made our visit even more special is that we were there during Rosh Hashanah.  The entire time we were walking on the "Tower Trail" we could hear a strange sound.  My husband said "It sounds like someone is blowing a Shofar!"  I didn't know what to think.  A shofar in the middle of a forest in a National Monument park?  Well, guess what?  Someone was blowing a shofar!  At the end of our walk, in the beautiful shade of the forest, we ran into a Messianic Jew who was blowing a shofar in honor of Rosh Hashanah.  We spent quite a long time talking to him.  It was so wonderful running into a fellow believer on our trip.  He actually thought my husband was a Jew because he knew so much about Jewish holidays and the Old Testament.  We said "No. We just love Israel and have studied the Old Testament and all the Jewish Feast Days".  Anyway, I wanted to share a short video of this sweet man blowing the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah. 

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!