The Wheels on the Bus go round and round, round and round, round and round. : Driving days, Minnesota to North Dakota

Sunday, June 5, 2016

Driving days, Minnesota to North Dakota

Floodwood, Minnesota

National Buffalo Museum

at the Frontier Village in Jamestown, North Dakota.

After living at the museum for 19 years White Cloud a rare albino buffalo returned to the Buffalo

farm where she was born. Where she can receive some individual care for health issues related to albinos. We missed her by 2 weeks

The museum is home to art work, artifacts, wildlife mounts and a 10,000 year old skull.

In addition, the museum maintains a 25 to 30 buffalo. The herd has approximately 200 acres of pasture land. The first 5 buffalo were brought in from Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Within the Frontier Village complex stands the “World’s Largest Buffalo” statue.

The sculpture is of cement and stucco around a steel frame. The sculpture was designed by a local artist in 1959 and stood alone on his hill before the museum and Frontier Village were added later. The statue originally cost $8,500 to build – today that would be over $60,000.

Steele, North Dakota

The magnificent World's Largest Sandhill Crane sculpture stands 40 feet high in a park of native plants and grasses.

Enchanted Highway

A collection of the world's largest scrap metal sculptures along a 32-mile stretch of paved county highway between Regent and Gladstone.

Thirty miles south of the nearest major highway, the town of Regent was dying, and Gary Greff decided someone had to do something about it. A metal sculptor and retired school teacher, Gary started the work in 1990. All the sculptures face north, toward the oncoming traffic from the interstate. Seven have been completed so far. Each sculpture has a developed pull-out and several have picnic shelters. The highway passes through scenic farm country.

A sculpture towers along I-94, essentially an artistic billboard enticing travelers to exit and head south to Regent. Geese in Flight went up in 2001, next to the Gladstone exit -- and it is claimed to be the World's Largest Outdoor Sculpture.

Deer Crossing, was installed in 2002.

The World's Largest Grasshopper went up in Spring 1999.

In early 2007, Greff completed Fisherman's Dream, his seventh and most complicated sculpture, with metal fish leaping up 70 feet through a metal pond surface.

A Covey of Pheasants was completed in fall of 1998. The rooster is 60 feet long, and the hen 50 feet. Three 12-foot high chicks complete the scene. Sorry only two would fit in the picture.

(9 miles north)