With absolutely no intent to diss North Dakota, I simply present some pictures of the scenery. Those of us used to mountains or even slight hills will not feel at home here. Flat. Very flat. And LOTS of corn and wheat. Maybe soybeans. Lots of BIG farm equipment. Trees only where there is a house that needs shade. A very different world.
But we were lucky to stop in Minot (pronounced MY-KNOT), Which some said was the coldest place in the continental U.S. No one competes with Alaska on coldness so we do need to stick to the continental U.S.
However, upon further study (thank you, Wikipedia) it turns out there are other places – mostly in Montana and Idaho, which get colder. BUT. (Big BUT here) North Dakota IS the coldest state in the lower 48.
I knew you would want some cocktail party trivia, so there is it.
Anyway, if cold is what you want, move to North Dakota.
We were waiting for Montana, and without even realizing it, we crossed the state line into Montana. And what did we see?
Yes, this is Montana.
Looks amazingly like North Dakota, except the sun had come out by then.
“WHAT??” I exclaimed… “This is Montana??” Yup, apparently geological features like flat land don’t know anything about state borders, so eastern Montana was like the side yard of North Dakota.
Then, after about an hour of the Plains, we saw our first “kind of like a mountain” mountain.
Ah-Ha! I said.
This is where Montana mountains start.
The baby mountain grew slowly as we cruised past on our railway.

We ended our day in the dark, getting off at Glacier National Park for a one-day stay at the Isaak Walton Inn.
And that’s tomorrow’s story!
Wow, feels like I’m there! I can almost feel the train swaying. Thank you for this Ginny, it will tide me over until I get to do this trip myself!
LikeLike
Love the photos! Now I know I don’t need to go to North Dakota! There is an Indian reservation to the east of Glacier National Park that looks a lot like one of your photos, not sure if that’s where you were. But the run-down feeling of the place is depressing. I hope you enjoy the Park!
LikeLiked by 1 person
My first thought is how tough it would be to condition horses in ND. We do so much hill work in lieu of speed it would be a real adjustment.
LikeLiked by 1 person