Tag Archives: North Dakota

Lilly and James Burke — Twice

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During our long drive to the Canadian Rockies and back in the summer of 2006, we made a stop on the return in Bismarck, North Dakota (and Zap, too). Mainly to see the state capitol — my kind of sight.

Outside the building is a statue of John Burke, 10th governor of North Dakota and Treasurer of the United States for all of the Wilson administration, among other offices he held in the Progressive Era. My kind of sight as well — and my kind of whimsy to have Lilly, age 8, pose with it.
John Burke statue North Dakota CapitolIt’s a duplicate of a bronze by Utah sculptor Avard Fairbanks, put in its current place in 1963. Looks pretty good for being out in the Dakota winters for so many years. The summers as well, since I remember that day in Bismarck was pretty hot.

Note the hat covering one of Burke’s feet. I just noticed it the other day, looking at the picture. It’s my Route of Seeing cap, given to me by Ed. I told him I would take pictures of in various places, to send to him. I wonder whether I remembered to do so in this case (I was wearing it in the Zap picture as well).

Forward to 2011. We went to Washington, DC, that summer. Part of the visit involved a tour of the U.S. Capitol. Where is the original Fairbanks statue of Honest John Burke? There.

Naturally I had Lilly, now 13, stand next to it. Bet not many non-North Dakotans can say they’ve posed with both, and probably a fair number of North Dakotans haven’t either.John Burke statue US Capitol

The image didn’t come out so well, but so what. By then I wasn’t carrying around Route of Seeing, though it’s still tucked away with our other caps somewhere. Maybe I’ll take it somewhere again. (More likely, I’ll forget.)

Zap ’06

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Ten years ago this month, we took an epic drive to the Canadian Rockies, seeing vistas the likes of which are hard to match. Also, we went to Zap.

Zap, North Dakota, that is.

DSCN0590A good confluence of obscure history and a fun name, if you asked me. I suspect Lilly, then eight, had no clear idea of why her father stopped at this place and wanted to take pictures. He’s just that way sometimes.

Border Crossings of the ’00s

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Somewhere in western South Dakota in early August 2005, I got the idea to document our crossing into Montana, where we were headed en route to Yellowstone NP. Document my crossing, really, in a moment of self-absorption. Because anyone who likes maps knows that borders are fascinating. So I got a paper plate and drew “46” on it. As in, my forty-sixth state.

MontanaUS212Lilly took the picture. I thought the number would be a little more visible, but it isn’t. In any case, that’s beside the road on US 212, which cuts from South Dakota briefly through Wyoming, and then into Montana. We camped that night at Custer National Forest and the next day stopped at Little Big Horn.

The next year, I wanted the number to be visible, so I had Lilly stand closer. This wasn’t actually the moment I crossed in North Dakota from Minnesota, which was on the Interstate 94 crossing the Red River of the North between Moorhead, Minn. and Fargo, ND a few hours earlier.

I noticed that just north of our campsite in Lindenwood Park in Fargo, on the river, was a footbridge back into Minnesota.

NorthDakotaNo paper plate seems to have been handy, so I used a piece of paper. Standing in the middle of the bridge, I had Lilly capture the moment.