Fur Trappers Rendezvous, 1825-40 -- Getting There, Part 1, Crossing North Dakota

Tom decided to visit several sites in Wyoming/Montana/Idaho associated with the famous fur trapper Rendezvous of the early 1800s.

Coincidentally, the American Computer Museum was presenting their annual Stibitz-Wilson Awards in Bozeman, MT, to several deserving computer scientists on Friday evening, Sept 26th. This seemed like an ideal time to take a week-long trip from the Twin Cities to these western states.

I always feel that a first day's drive west from the Twin Cities should get me to about Bismark (435 miles) and set out on Wednesday morning with that goal in mind.  Somewhere around St. Cloud, MNDOT signs were flashing warnings about "all lanes closed" and "use alternate routes."  Shortly before reaching Saulk Center, all traffic on I-94 slowed to a near stop and we proceeded at a walking pace for about three miles.

It seems a semi had overturned and was completely blocking the driving lanes and both shoulders of I-94.  (photo from radio station KNSI, here.)  

I skipped the stop at the Welcome Center in Fargo, although you can see it at this post from a previous trip in 2022. 

After checking in at the local Days Inn in Bismark, I visited the North Dakota state capitol building.  One of just a few capitols that do not feature a dome, this building presents a pretty view situated in a large grassy setting. 

Several other views of the building can be seen on my Flickr Album for this portion of the trip.

The capitol was closed by the time I arrived but I had enough daylight to capture this statue of North Dakota's notable governor, John Burke, who managed to rise to the position of U.S. Treasurer in the Woodrow Wilson administration.

 

And I had time to take several photos of the Sakakawea statue at the North Dakota Heritage Center adjacent to the capitol.

 

 

  

 

 

 

On the next trip I will have to make it a point to arrive in time to tour the Heritage Center. 

The Days Inn in Bismark turned out to be a good choice since they not only have the usual assortment of rolls and cereal available for breakfast, but from 7 until 9 in the morning, chef Cheyenne arrives to prepare eggs, sausage and hash-browns cooked to your specifications.  This proved to be the best "free breakfast" of the trip and Cheyenne received a generous tip!

On the second day, my modest goal was to reach Billings, Montana, just over 400 miles west of Bismark.  The speed limit on North Dakota and Montana Interstates is 80 MPH so it is not a long day's drive but there is a great deal to stop and see along the way.

The occasional "Scenic View" signs highlight a number of sights, beyond just the green grazing grasslands.

 

  

 

 

But sometimes it is worth stopping just to take a look at the road ahead.

 

Of course, "Salem Sue," the world's largest holstein cow,  perched high on a hill is always worth a stop.  (Previous blog post here.)

  

 

And the Enchanted highway offers a chance for a nice drive through the farmland offering different views depending on the season. 

  

 

 

  

 

After a change of time zone from Central to Moutnain,

 

the highlight of the day was the painted canyon overlook at Theodore Roosevelt Park.  Note that there are hiking opportunities here of various length - allow time during your visit.  Autumn is an appropriate time to consider a longer stop here and take advantage of the moderate temperature.

 

This was a calm day (it can be quite windy at times crossing North Dakota.)  Visitors were lingering at the overlook and enjoying the view. 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Winter in Egypt, 2025 - Restaurants - Anas Al Demeshky

People often ask us, "What do you eat during your winter stay in Cairo?"

We claim to seldom eat at restaurants, mostly preparing our meals at home, but I noticed several restaurants that we visited this past year among our photo collection and decided to share some pictures and comments.

We'll start with what we refer to as "The Syrian Restaurant," Anas Al-Dimashqi (exactly what English letters are plugged into a translation of an Arabic word depends on time, place and mood of the translator - what the name means is Anas of Damascus) about a mile and a half from the Giza Pyramids. Great food, superb service and good prices.

Getting there is half the fun for us. From our apartment, it's about a two mile walk on Lebeny Axis to near where Lebeny intersects Al Haram (Pyramids) Street. Walking Lebeny for any length of time gives even a casual visitor to Cairo a feel for genuine Egyptian culture. (Be sure to head down a side-street or two - they are very safe and you might make a new friend!)

Here is a night-time view of the outside of the restaurant when you arrive.

 

This restaurant layout is typical for most places in Egypt.  The kitchen and take-out area is on the ground floor with the tables and seating area located up the stairway. (you'll get used to it.) 

Anas has several other locations around Cairo.  This particular spot was recommended by a friend from our neighborhood who enjoys good food.

We have visited this location of Anas several times in the past two years and always enjoyed great food, service and value.

Here is most of the menu, translated via Google:

I will always try the lentil soup at any restaurant in Cairo. The lemon and croutons are key to this dish.

 

Linda loves variety and here she tries some vegetables with garlic sauce.

 

For the main course, you really can't beat any of the terrine dishes.  At about $5 to $8, they are a great value and if you can't finish the meal, you will probably end up getting the dish to take away in addition to your leftovers.

 

 

The Anas meal is a delightful specialty. 

 

 

Total on this evening for two people with enough leftovers for another day came to less than 700 EGP - about 14 dollars. 

Yes, I ordered the okra and bananas casserole;  no there were no bananas in it - just some great banana peppers. 

Winter in Egypt, 2025 - We Visit the Egyptian Museum, Cairo - Updated 6/15 and 6/17

We try to visit the Egyptian Museum on the edge of Tahrir Square once each winter during our stay in Cairo.  One of the worlds great Archeological Museums since its construction in 1904, it will likely remain a major drawing card for any visitor even after the official opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum in July.

This year, I had a specific goal in mind for our visit:  During our cruise on Lake Nasser, two weeks earlier, I had learned that the oldest surviving manuscript of Latin poetry was discovered at Qasr Ibrim, the now-submerged island we drifted past early on the cruise.  More importantly, the manuscript could be found in the Egyptian Museum.  Like the Blues Brothers, we were on a mission from God!  Or at least on a mission in memory of Mother Brendan, my Sophomore year Latin teacher in 1961.

Mother Brendan had little tolerance for slackers like me; but she also had a great love of the Roman culture that went with the Latin language and regularly lectured us on that aspect of history (she also taught world history).  In spite of my lack of application to the subject, she pounded aqueducts, arches, mosaics, Volubulis, Punic wars and Hannibal into my head to the point where I am always seeking out the Roman ruins in any country where Caesar and his compatriots left them.

Would we be able to find this scrap of poetry on a shard of papyrus somewhere in the Egyptian Museum with over 120,000 artifacts - many of them stashed in the basement storerooms?

Our ace in the hole on this trip through the museum, as usual, was our friend and professional Egyptian guide, Rashid.  As we entered the museum, Rashid headed to the office of one of his friends to check on whether my scrap of poetry was still on exhibit.  

 

While Rashid was researching our poetry sample, we began a brief walking tour of the museum to check on a few of our favorite exhibits.  We stopped first at the Narmer Palette - an item many visitors are anxious to see if they ever took a course in Art History,  owing to its origins around 3000 B.C.

(Please note that clicking on any of the following photos will take you to our Flickr album with higher resolution images and additional pictures.)

 

Next, we stopped at the sarcophagus of Djedhor, another well known example of early Egyptian art, history and culture.

 

 

I was admiring the collection of Aphrodite sculptures when Rashid caught up to us.

  

Museum staff didn't have a specific location identified for our Roman poetry fragment, but did suggest that we look in two papyrus galleries on the second floor.

We passed another two of our favorites statues as we headed to the stairway to the upper level.

  

 

The best way to photograph much of the papyrus room display is from the opposite side balcony with a telephoto lens.  I couldn't resist capturing a couple of more pictures to add to our Egypt collection.

 

 

 

 

We moved slowly through the Papyrus galleries, looking carefully at the contents of the sloped display cases.  Suddenly, there it was!

 

For the benefit of other Latin poetry aficionados, it's located in Gallery 29.  Here is the view of the gallery entrance as seen from in front of Gallus' work.  Mother Brendan must have been looking down on me from heaven, providing guidance.  Here's a link to some background on Gallus and a translation of our fragment provided by Roman Times online magazine.

 

While we were on the upper level of the museum, we paused to stand in line with many others to visit the Tutankhamun exhibit - yes, it is still located in the old museum.  The line is slow moving but worth the wait; but no photos inside!  Another very significant room to visit, and not nearly as crowded is the Tanis Collection.  See our visit to Tanis post here, and tour the Tanis Collection at our blog post here.

    

 

We headed back downstairs to take a look at one of our favorite galleries documenting the Amarna Period and pharaoh Akhenaten, frequently acknowledged as the father of monotheism.  

  

 

We had several posts from the Armana area last year, beginning here. 

As we were moving toward the exit of the museum, we encountered an entirely new exhibit: The Reconstructed Tomb of Hesy-Ra.  With exhibit space opening up as many artifacts move to the Grand Egyptian Museum the old Egyptian Museum is finally receiving some maintenance and upgrades.  Signage and lighting is improving, particularly on the second level to this point.  Some artifacts are apparently coming out of storage and/or being re-presented.  

The Tomb of Hesy-Ra is a particularly improved and reconstructed example.  This tomb was discovered near Saqqara in 1861by the early French archeologist, Auguste Mariette.  Containing a number of carved wooden panels of Lebanese cedar, five of these treasures were moved to Cairo (the Museum of Bulaq was the primary home of Egypt prior to the opening of the Egyptian Museum in 1904) in 1868 and the tomb was covered over and abandoned until around 1910.  

  

The condition of these restored wooden panels is quite remarkable.

  

 

 

After exiting the museum, we walked across the plaza in front of the Ritz-Carlton toward the infamous Mogamma government center, undergoing remodeling for at least the past five years with plans to turn it into a first class tourist hotel.  But this year, banners on the building proudly proclaim that it will become a Mariott Autograph Collection Hotel.  This is part of a very ambitious plan to renovate much of downtown Cairo as government agencies move to the new capital about thirty miles to the east. 

UPDATE! 

 This article from 6/14 in the Pakistani Tribune reports that

"Only 26 objects from the Tutankhamun collection, including the golden mask and two coffins, remain here in Tahrir," said museum director Ali Abdel Halim.

"All are set to be moved soon," he told AFP, without confirming a specific date for the transfer or plan of relocation.

Well, it's tough to pin down anything to a specific date in Cairo, although the article still reports a July 3 target date.

In other news, regarding the old museum on Tahrir Square, the article concludes:

The museum's director said the space left behind will eventually be filled by a new exhibition "on par with the significance of Tut's treasures".

 

UPDATED AGAIN!

No sooner had I posted the update above, than news came that the opening has been delayed, once again.  This article in The Art Newspaper reports the latest change:

The long-awaited, official opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum on 3 July has been postponed yet again. On Saturday, the Egyptian prime minister, Mostafa Madbouly, announced that the museum’s full launch will take place in the last quarter of this year, due to the outbreak of war between Israel and Iran.