Week-long Experience along Montana-Canada Border

Take the plunge, say all the ads on the billboards as you approach Fairmont Hotsprings. Willingly. There's an indoor swimming and hot pool and an outdoor swimming and hot pool and one huge water slide that residents pay extra to use. That's usually enough for me in a hotel. Walk across the parking lot to get to the long golf course in okay condition and good challenge. There's a decent cafe that's open late for people like us that stay out birding. They made us pizza and a kid's order of chicken strips and sent it along with us to our room when we showed up after the cafe was closed. The staff are friendly and helped get our high speed Internet connection working. The beds are comfortable, the rooms clean and attractive, and the chairs way better than average. It has good value for the cost (about $130 per night) and is often very crowded. Better have reservations before showing up here. This is a very children friendly place with game rooms, petting zoo, jungle gym, outdoor games, and of course the swimming pool. But there's fun for the adults, too. A casino and lounge and a gift shop are onsite in addition to all the other offerings.

Our stay in the Holiday Inn Express in Dickinson pleasant. Our check in went smoothly, the clerk telling us where to park, answering questions very helpfully, and getting us to our room with ease. I love good service.

The room we had held two queen beds, two comfortable chairs, a desk, end table, adequate lighting and plentiful bathroom supplies. Our maid was over zealous in providing us a clean room, she took our large bar of soap, but left plenty of the hotel's supplies in exchange. Maid wake up occurs about 8:30am - I never like it in a hotel but understand the necessity. We left our window open on a Sunday night and found ourselves wakened by the garbage men in the morning - the noise level in general is very quiet, especially if you use air-conditioning which we try to avoid.

Breakfast was wonderful - lots of toast it yourself, cereals, fresh sweets, healthy fresh fruits and juices, and peanut butter and cream cheese. They probably had more, I just didn't look further.

The hotel features a kiddy pool with slide and they are serious about the description. The work out room had two treadmills and one bicycle. A nice place to stay overall.

Sanford's Grub and Pub is a fun place to get a sandwich. We ate there twice, the first time getting blt's, the second I had a dip stick - better known as a french dip and Bob had a chicken salad. The food quantity is adequate for the price, the quality good.

The restaurant's motif is sixty-ish drive-in and automobiles. Expect to be waited on by someone who looks ready to lube your automobile. Regardless what they look like, expect fast, pleasant service. There were a few surprised looks when we seated ourselves 1/2 hour before closing, but our food came fast and we were very grateful.

Bob elected to get a bottle of Grolsch the first night, on the second visit, they had a special on bloody Mary's that made him quite happy. Expect one shot of booze in a very large offering of tomato juice.

Menu items included hamburgers, chicken burgers, salads, sandwiches, appetizers, and a few steaks. Side offerings varied from french fries, potato salad, coleslaw. The nicest thing about this restaurant is it had several items I wouldn't mind eating, always a good way to get me to visit again.

A Jack Nicklaus designed course in the middle of wild Montana on the site of the former Anaconda Mining operations and run by Troon Golf. Wonderful! I had so much fun playing this course. It's a history lesson while you play. The course wasn't very crowded, we passed a four-some that left an hour before us even though we took photographs and didn't know how the course played. Conditions on the course were pretty good, only a few scuffs and dry spots.

Before we started, we ate lunch at their restaurant and was waited on by a really friendly woman who knew her job well. We tried the local "Trout Slayer" beer on tap - pretty good. We left "Moose Drool" for others to try. The food in the restaurant was first class, in fact a little too fancy for my tastes, but they very willingly reduced my club sandwich to only have bacon, lettuce and turkey. Bob had similar needs - a rare burger and he willingly tried the sour cream and chive french fries. We left well fed and content.

The course has five levels and varies in length from the slag (black) tees at 7705 yards to the brick (red) tees at 5348. We played the limestone tees at 6114 and had plenty of challenge. There's black sand traps, heavy grasses and rock in the out of bounds, rocky soil and medium turf in the rough, bird houses, ponds, a creek and of course the foundations for the old mining company. The surrounding country is very picturesque. Wind is a factor on this course. As is a variety of lies - uphill, downhill, side hill with tees on hilltops and at the bottom. The greens were fast but well-cared.

We had a lovely time and didn't feel overly abused. This is a course you will never grow tired of, although you might keeping moving up a level as your skills grow. All the staff were very friendly and helpful and we saw the food/drink cart more than on any other course we've played. Oh, cost, if you can believe it, was about $50 per person including cart.

The Warm Springs Wildlife Refuge makes a wonderful day or half day trip. The refuge offers picnicking, hiking, canoeing, fishing, and wildlife viewing. Set just off I-90, the wildlife refuge is easy to find, but does involve driving on gravel roads.

The Refuge has seven or more viewing or activity centers to choose from. Access is via a loop road that exits and enters off I-90. Once on the road, visitors can leisurely drive, hike, or do any activity. This is a primitive area.

We found a nice hiking trail that led us out on a dike into the ponds to view wildlife. We found Bald Eagles, ducks of many sorts including Red-throated Grebe, Sandhill Crane, and the very scratchy-throated Yellow-headed Blackbirds. We spotted white tail deer, also. I was amazed to find very few mosquitoes.

Signage is very good inside the refuge.

Bully Pulpit Golf Course is set on the edge of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The name comes from the nickname that Teddy Roosevelt gave the United States presidency, calling it a Bully Pulpit. A transportation museum honoring Teddy Roosevelt's many contributions including the Panama Canal is located in the golf course clubhouse and it includes a film, pictures, and signs explaining the topic.

The golf course itself is a real delight. The old Amidon church is presently sitting on the edge of the first tees and is planned to be moved further down the valley for a bible school. The front nine are mostly level, with the holes winding among forest and wild grasses and along the Little Missouri river. The sand traps are a double whammy, mostly surrounded by really deep grass. The holes has plenty of other challenge, with bunkers and dog legs and places where the course narrows. It also follows along Sully creek in a very picturesque area with plenty of colorful buttes and chunks of petrified wood.

The back nine gets really fun, crossing several bridges and then climbing way high ontop of three buttes with the holes nestled among the middle creating quite the challenge for the golfer. The wild grasses are filled with many varieties of wild flowers and is beautiful in its own right.

Service at the golf course is quite wonderful, hot dogs and hamburgers offered at the clubhouse, a vending cart that made it around many times, bag boys that deliver carts to your car and help clean up your clubs. Two outhouses are located midway between the holes. Water is in plentiful supply. The pace was a bit slow, especially on the tough last nine. Overall it makes a fun and challenging event.

Twelve miles outside of Dickinson, ND, the World's Largest Metal Sculptures have been crafted and installed on a twenty-five mile stretch of highway. The sculptures relate to items that are the lifeblood of the state - fish, pheasants, geese, etc. The workmanship is nicely done and show great imagination and skill. The metal is reused from area scrap.

When we drove through, the state had recently had a high windstorm and a few of the artworks were lying down. But most were in place. The drive is very pleasant, passing through farmland planted with alfalfa, brilliant yellow canola in bloom, and wheat. We spotted a few birds along the trip including several raptors. Every artwork has a picnic table, room to take photographs, but no toilet facilities. People are invited to a rest stop at Lefor.

The trip can be taken, just there and back, or in a loop that goes to Regent, over to Amidon or over to Highway 22 that goes through New England North Dakota. Amidon has the highest point in the state nearby at black butte and a wildlife refuge. Plan at least two hours minimum to complete the trip.

It's a fun and quick outing that children and adults both like.