on our drive from oregon to michigan, atlas and i stopped in north dakota for a day to visit my sister and brother-in-law and little savannah.

we went to the theodore roosevelt national park for a hike and a picnic. isn’t it gorgeous! i love the hills and the valleys and the different shades of green and yellow. it reminds me of the badlands of south dakota, which makes sense, because i think these are considered the badlands of north dakota.

if i were a giant, i would pretend the hills were rocks and the valleys were a river and that i had to get across the river on the rocks without falling in.

the bison was standing by the guardrail when we drove by. i’m pretty sure he wanted to say hello because he stood there so nicely while i took photos. (if you were here, i’d have you watch me flip back and forth through the other photos i have of him because you can see his eyes opening and closing.) (and in case you are like me and are wondering how you can tell the difference between a bison and a buffalo, apparently buffalo have longer horns and are only found in africa and south asia.)

it was beyond wonderful to see savannah again. she took atlas for a walk (with my help) and ordered him around (not that he listened). it was pretty cute. after our picnic, she wanted me to take pictures of her. she ran to a spot above the river, stood still for a moment, ran back to me, looked at the picture and said, “a cute one!!!” she repeated this over and over and over. she was a delightful change from my usual and not-so-agreeable photo subject atlas.