The Continental Divide

After my adventures in Colorado, I took a brief assignment in northeastern South Dakota to earn a little money while I was waiting for my credentials to be verified by the hospital where I'm currently working. The assignment was my first with the Indian Health Service, and it kept me very busy with 12 hour days seeing 40+ patients per day. The need of the local population was great and somewhat reminded me of past experiences I've had with medical mission trips. I don't know if I could sustain that kind of work load day in and day out, but I had a lot of fun for the 10 days that I worked there.

While in South Dakota, I took the opportunity to drive up to Fargo, North Dakota to do some shopping. Thus I was able to check off another state on my "been there" list. There are not very many states left for me to see until I've seen all 50. My main memory of North Dakota is how flat it was (relative to its neighbor to the south) and how the flatness seemed to magnify the amount of wind that was always blowing (South Dakota also was very windy). While I enjoy seeing new places, I don't know that I'll plan a visit to North Dakota again. No offense.

While at any particular assignment, I like to take in the local sights. The town I was staying in happened to be very near the continental divide (as seen above). This rather flat area divides the rivers that drain into Hudson Bay from those that drain into the Gulf of Mexico. It doesn't quite compare to the continental divide view from "the Moose", but I had to stop and take a photo anyway.

Other highlights of the area included the Terry Redlin musuem in Watertown. I've seen a few of his paintings and after staying in the region, it was easy to see where he got his inspiration.

Also nearby was the town of Desmet, the site of Laura Ingals' "Little Town on the Prairie" and "The Long Winter". While there were still some drifts of snow around (remains from the one snowfall that had happened that winter almost 4 months ago), most of the snow had melted away. However the cold wind helped me sympathize with the plight of the pioneer 130 years ago.

After my assignment I took a brief ski trip with my cousins (recently moved to KC from California) back to Colorado. It snowed heavily the entire trip and allowed my cousin to experience true powder skiing. What a way to end the winter season. Next I was off to Wisconsin. Important news to come...