Badlands Redux

We're whores for Medora. When friends or family come to visit, we take them to Medora and get them caught up in the tourism industry that is that town. Medora gets their money and has us to thank. But we always get a great experience, so we don't mind being volunteer tourism recruiters (is that better than the whore/pimp analogy?).

This afternoon we drove to Medora to meet yet another set of friends for The Medora Experience: Jesse, Nicole, and their kiddos. Now, Susan and I have an unnatural tendency to turn things into delightful surprises for our daughters, so we keep many pleasant things secret until the last moment. One notable example was the trip to DisneyWorld, of course. Recently they were asked to be gift attendants in a wedding, and we didn't mention that until we were on the road en route to the wedding! Why? Dunno, really. Anyhoo, we kept secret that we had guests arriving at all, but the girls' piano teacher let that slip; Susan had to reschedule their lessons from today to yesterday and told the teacher the reason why, so the teacher told our girls to enjoy their company. "Company? What company?!"

Oh, well. We didn't tell them who the company was, so at least that was a surprise. We brought the girls to the Medora Children's Park with its awesome playground, and while they were playing, Jesse and Nicole arrived and sent their kids in to find our kids. It was cute to see our daughters' looks of surprise and to watch all the kids hug one another and jump into playing without skipping a beat. Visiting with Jesse and Nicole happened much the same way: as though no time had passed at all since we last saw them. It's good to have them here.

After some time in the playground, we wrangled the kids over to the patio dining area outside the Chuckwagon Buffet downtown. Late Wednesday afternoons, performers from the Medora musical are there to sing with kids, teaching them songs and movements and getting them up and on their feet and moving around. While the kids were making their way onto some shaded lawn with the performers, we heard an approaching woman say, "May I take your order?" We turned to see not a server but . . . (wait for it) . . . our "long-lost" friend Allison Mickelson, whom we haven't seen in a couple years and with whom we had lost touch! She is an energetic, outgoing, caring person who's a great singer, dancer, performer, and choral director (she directed our children in the choir at our former church) (and Jesse and Nicole know her, too, making for a full-scale reunion for our group), and it was an awesome surprise to encounter Allison there. Many hugs ensued.

Abigail is holding Mya.

Suzanna, McKenna, and Hillary all are seated together.

Ethan opted to sit out the sing-along/dance-along event, but he quickly made friends with some other boys nearby!

Allison, Susan, and Nicole beam at the surprise reunion of dear friends!

But what was Allison doing there? One of the Medora musical performers had earlier injured herself and had to step down from the show, and our friend Job (also in the cast) suggested that the producers contact Allison (also his friend) as a possible replacement. She got the phone call last week Tuesday, arrived in Medora Friday, learned the music and choreography over the weekend, and had her debut performance tonight! Talk about high stress!! Now after the show, I can attest that she did a fabulous job. Knowing the circumstances of her past several days, we were amazed at how flawlessly she danced and sang.

Here are both Allison (in the orange shirt) and Job (in the purple tie) in the same number. (Trivia: Allison must be similar in size to the cast member whom she's replacing, or else the company seamstresses were very efficient in refitting the costumes for Allison. Area to work on: the hats. They kept falling down on Allison's face and covering her eyes. Might want to fix that; spontaneous blindness is a safety hazard for a dancer!)

After the kids' sing-along had ended, we bumped into Susan's aunt and uncle Patty and Buddy and visited with them a while before heading across the street to the Badlands Pizza Parlor for supper. After consuming a couple tasty pizzas, we crossed the street again and walked over to De Mores Memorial Park where the children played and ran around while the adults visited. Then we all drove to the Burning Hills Amphitheatre to browse the welcome center (featuring souvenirs as well as information on the history of the Medora musical), pose for photos against the backdrop of the beautiful Badlands, and visit with other members of our church also there for the show, and find our seats. After a hot day, it was a beautiful night--warm, slightly breezy, and perfect for watching the performance. All of our kids except for Ethan went on stage for the "Come and join us for this number, kids!" song, and they all returned after the show to get the autographs of the performers standing at the foot of the stage for that purpose.

Buddy and Patty and their great-nieces Abigail, Hillary, and Suzanna.

The statue of the Marquis de Mores (founder of Medora) that stands in the memorial park. In the pic below, the kids are gathered on the opposite side of the base of this statue.

Taking a break are Hillary, Abigail, Mya, Ethan, McKenna, and Suzanna.

Overlooking the Badlands at the entrance above the Burning Hills Amphitheatre, the kids gathered for a group shot: Abigail, Ethan, McKenna, Suzanna, Hillary, and Mya.

Cute little Mya got a brief tote on my shoulders! Isn't she sweet?

The madness of the number during which all the children in the audience are invited to join the performers on stage!

Can you spot a few of the kids from our group? (At the end of this number as the children are filing back up the aisles to their seats, one of the performers always tells the audience, "And remember: if you brought two, you have to take home two.")

After providing autographs for the kids (and hugging and re-hugging them), Allison posed with them.

Job, too, got his share of hugs and doled out the autographs before posing for photos. (McKenna knows him as her dance teacher back home!)

They had a good time tonight and fell asleep almost immediately when we loaded into the vehicles for the ride home. I rode home with Jesse in their vehicle, and Nicole rode with Susan in ours so that the adults could visit, too. We gave them a quick tour of our house when we got back to Dickinson, but after a long day--and lots of driving for Jesse and Nicole--we shooed everyone into bed and look forward to more fun and visiting tomorrow.