Yesterday, Saturday, was spent on the road. Since it was the only Saturday we planned to be here and Michele and Kenny were both off work, there was much to do and see.
The town of Taylor had their annual “Horsefest”. Friday night there was a fair and horse auction which we did not go to. Saturday morning there was a horse parade down main street. It was fun. It only lasted for about a half hour/45 minutes, but it was fun to see nonetheless. One of the highlights was this wagon pulled by gorgeous Percheron horses, one of my personal favorites, but in the back of the wagon was a group of people that were celebrating their 50th HIgh School Reunion…There were about 25 classmates. One thing that I didn’t catch was how many were in the graduating class. I don’t think it was that many because this was a really small town.
After the parade we didn’t hang around for the fair, we decided to head into Dickinson to have some breakfast. After breakfast we went West because Kenny and Michele wanted to show us Medora.
Medora has a fascinating history. It was basically founded because a Marquessa found she liked to hunt in there and as a result built a hunting “cabin” that was two stories and had about 20 rooms!
Chateau de Mores was built by a French Marquis who married the daughter of German aristocrats born in New York. After building the Chateau for his wife, who was fond of hunting, the wife, Medora, arranged for a church to be built and a house for her parents. Those that worked at the lodge/chateau stayed year round and eventually established the town. Most of the original residents were French citizens that came over with Marquis and ended up staying. The town was eventually named in the Marquessa’s honor, Medora.
We tour the chateau which was fascinating and we also toured the town which is kind of an old western version of Solveing outside of Santa Barbara, CA. I purchased lots of souvenirs for myself and Kailee-pooh, and just enjoyed wandering around the town.
One of the things Kenny and Michele couldn’t wait to show us was the cemetary. It had some odd headstones. I’m including one of the odder ones below.
My favorite was one about a guy who died when the bank fell on him! Too funny! I might have to start a collection of “odd” gravestone pictures.
Driving home was a challenge. It was pitch black outside and there is the constant fear of animals on the road. We did end up hitting an owl in flight…I don’t think we damaged him much if any…by the time we saw him and slammed on the brakes, he was mostly out of our way. We did pass about 7 deer on the road…by that I mean we saw them, and they us, in plenty of time to avoid a collision.
Finally, today, David graduated from the moped to the mini dirt bike. He’d been looking forward to riding the motorcycle but the whole gear thing was a bit intimidating. This bike has a clutchless system. This after a huge thunderstorm last night…so everything was wet, probably not the best ground to learn to ride a motorcycle on. That being said, the guys decided to try and cut wet hay, not easily done, and ended up getting one of the tractors stuck in a ditch. They have been trying to get it out for about 2 hours now and are just now pulling into the driveway. Weather is a never-ending challenge around here.
Filed under: Family, Observations, Travel
