Medora (North Dakota)

Darla's told me about this place called Medora ever since I met her the first time, I think. I'm pretty sure it was that long ago, because I have this hazy memory of wondering what on earth was Medora... it sounded like it ought to be important and famous and all that, and I'd never in my life heard of it. Town? Amusement Park? Museum??
So last night, we went. I wish we'd had more time to dink around the town; but I can't complain, as it was mostly my fault we didn't. I took a nap instead of dutifully hopping in the car. It's a cute little town (hotter than blazes...) with lots of fun shops. AND.... drumroll Licorice ice-cream. Drool. I got a milkshake out of it, and let me tell you, it was GOOD.
Very good. Excellent. I wanted another one and I wasn't hungry before I bought the first - I only got it because I wasn't sure I'd ever see licorice ice-cream again in my life.
And actually? That was the best way to see Medora the Town possible. Because it really wasn't all that hot if you were drinking something frozen while walking around. I should have gotten two - one for the musical - because that's when I was really hot.
The musical was fun, too. We had front row center seats - which was amazingly better than we were afraid they might be. It might have been just a little nicer to have been 2-3 rows back, so as to be a little higher; but it was really nice being so close. You could see the performers very well, and I like that. I like watching them and looking at their expressions and wondering who they are when they're not singing about being Texaco Men or something. One boy was so skinny, I thought he must surely be sick. But he had enough energy for two of the others, so he must have been healthy enough. And the man who was sort of the main character was dressed in so many layers of very heavy-looking clothes that I was a little worried he might have a heat-stroke in the middle of the play.
For those of you who, like me, have not been privileged to have absorbed information about Medora in the womb, it's all about Teddy Roosevelt. An actor who looks like him wanders around saying hello to people and every now and then during the musical, he pops up with some historical tidbit - like that he once sent cowboy boots to his daughter, who didn't like them. In between times, Buffalo Dale (instead of Buffalo Bill) narrates a sort of loose plot. This year, it involved his sister coming home in a hot pink semi-truck (read gussied up golf cart) and the two of them taking a road trip round and round the stage, while the singers sang and danced and did atmosphere stuff. The songs were appropriate to the journey - like Route 66 and Texaco Man and Convey. It was a lot of fun. At the end, they told about the national park system, and told everyone that if a plain ol' cowboy like Bully Teddy could become president, any one of us could do anything we wanted to.
The best part of the whole thing was the intermission entertainment. They had these men from Kenya over, who are incredible acrobats and they limboed under burning poles and leaped into fantastic pyramids. Talk about strong. They didn't just climb up over the other mens' arms and legs to get to their spot - they hurled themselves onto each other. And all the time, they whistled. I wondered if that's how they applaud in Kenya, or if it was sort of like how we would shout "Go on, you can do it!" to encourage a fellow. It was great!