We left for Alaska on July 3, 2016. Our first stop was Houghton Lake and Ken and Sandi's annual 4th of July party:

We drove as far as Gaylord to spend the night, since it was a holiday weekend many hotels further 

north were full. Monday morning we crossed the Mackinaw Bridge and drove to Munising.  We walked to Munising Falls and reminisced about the days before so much worry about liability when you used to be able to walk behind the falls.

 On to Marquette, where we saw this ship loading at the ore dock and walked out on the breakwater.  We wanted to visit some memorabilia and sites related to the movie Anatomy of a Murder (if you haven't seen it, we recommend it!), but the museum was closed for the 4th and we had to get going quickly to avoid being caught in the parade.

 It's a beautiful time of year to travel across the north country:

We spent Monday night in Duluth, Minnesota, and, in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, we stopped to see the house Judy Garland lived in until she was 4 and the museum that had a pair of ruby slippers from the movie stolen in 2005.  They have not been recovered.

 We spent Tuesday night in Bismarck, North Dakota, at a Holiday Inn Express that had only been open for 2 weeks. Our stay was free using reward points from the IHG (parent company of Holiday Inn) Rewards Club. Fort Abraham Lincoln, near Bismarck was home to George Custer before he rode out to the Little Big Horn.  The house in the right foreground is where he and Libby lived.  The other buildings are stables, granaries, barracks, etc. rebuilt to appear as they did in the 1870's.

 There is a replica Mandan Indian village on the site of Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park:

 Much of the site was developed and improved by the Civilian Conservation Corps, part of Franklin Roosevelt's plan to help the US out of the Great Depression. This statue is a tribute to the CCC and the work they did here:

 Again, the wildflowers are beautiful:

 New Salem, North Dakota claims they have the largest cow in the world:

  John took care of a concern he had about driving the Alcan-he was afraid he'd get a stone thrown that would chip the windshield. We not only caught a stone today, but the chip is running across the windshield.

 The landscape grows more rugged

  as we approach

 Theodore Roosevelt visited North Dakota in 1883 to escape his grief at the deaths of his wife and mother. He so loved the area that he returned the next year and bought a ranch.This was his ranch house:

 We saw prairie dogs:

  A herd of buffalo:

  Amazing scenery:

  This lone bull who had no interest in us:

  And feral horses:

We saw pronghorn antelope and mule deer along the road before we crossed into Montana, big sky country:

 and enjoyed another free night at a Holiday Inn Express in Glendive, MT.