Fort Buford and the Missouri-Yellowstone Confluence Interpretive Center

It was a warm summer day, too nice to simply stay inside.  After a quick search online we decided which direction we wanted to go for the day...the Confluence.

We packed a picnic lunch and found a pretty spot overlooking the rivers to get out and eat.  Tell me something...do bees and yellowjackets favor fruit and veggies?  Because they would NOT leave us alone!  It was pretty bad.  We didn't linger over our lunch even though the view invited us to.  Gives me the heebie-jeebies thinking about those bugs...

***Shudder***

Anyway, after our quick picnic we went into the Confluence Interpretive Center.  For just a few dollars each we gained admission to the museum, their movie, and also nearby Fort Buford.  The museum is on the small side, but the staff is very friendly.  We had fun in there :)...

a tree stump turned to coal!

check out the lights!

One of the things we like about pretty much anywhere outside of Williston is the quiet.  There are way WAY less people and way more open spaces.  You can breathe.  We take our time, put our windows down, and just enjoy the peacefulness.  Driving slow from the Interpretive Center over to the Fort we spotted this little guy...

So cute :).

When we got to the Fort, there was no one else around...

It was so nice, we had the grounds all to ourselves...

Trevor had my camera most of the time...a good bit of these pictures are his :)....

We walked all of the boardwalks and peeked into all of the buildings that were open...

inside the original powder magazine

Tristan found a special feather...little boy treasure...

Then we made our way into the visitor center where we were greeted by one of the nicest gentlemen we've met anywhere.  We visited for a bit and then he gave us a tour of the building.  There's so much that we would have missed had he not been with us!  The neatest thing of all was when we got into the front room.  It was empty except for a few places to sit and some pictures and details on the walls about Sitting Bull.  He had us all take a seat...or a spot on the floor...and he then wove a story that was simply captivating.

Sitting Bull, Fort Buford, Dakota Territory...

...we were in the very same room where Sitting Bull surrendered in the summer of 1881.  This man, a gifted storyteller, really made history come alive for us. 

When the tale had been told we realized that it was actually past closing time for the Fort.  We said our thank you's and were getting ready to leave when he stopped us and asked if we wanted to see the inside of the locked building, the soldiers' quarters.  Well sure we did :)!  He locked up the vc and we followed him over to the other building.

This structure wasn't the original, the original was built of adobe and literally melted back into the prairie, but a replica of a later version.  We started in one end and followed him through as he filled our minds with interesting details about the history of Fort Buford...

Seriously, anytime he was speaking all of the kids were completely enchanted...

caught up in the story...

After the sleeping areas we entered the dining/ball room...

...and last was the kitchen...

I am always fascinated by old menus.  Can you believe that this is all those soldiers would eat at each meal?  Tomatoes for supper...wow...

There was an odd metal thing sitting in the corner and he told us about it.  It had knives on the bottom shaped in a half circle and handles on the top.  It rocked back and forth, kinda like a rocking horse, and the knives would slice as it rocked.  What was it used for in relation to a kitchen?  Well...he asked us if we had heard the term "3 squares a day".  We had.  He explained that the contraption we were looking at was used to chop up a deer or similar animal.  The knives were really sharp and it was placed over the cleaned meat and cuts were made first one direction and then the other.  Like dicing up an onion.  Whatever meat, bone, gristle, fat ended up in your square, that's what you ate.  Three times a day.  Makes those tomatoes for supper sound pretty wonderful...

We finished up the tour and thanked him again.  He had some final closing up to do so he went back towards the vc and we headed for our car.  Windows down, the wind blowing, we slowly made our way back towards home...

waving wheat fields...so pretty