Southwest, North Dakota

In North Dakota, history is not found where it's musty, dusty or dark. History is found in the fresh, cool waters of the Missouri River, meandering by giant centuries-old cottonwoods near Lewis and Clark's Fort Mandan. It hangs on the pungent scent of sagegrass in a Mandan Indian earthlodge.

It pierces the crisp morning air as a bugler calls cavalry re-enactors and visitors to the parade grounds. It whispers from fossil bones where tourists and scientists work side-by-side to uncover its treasures (how cool is that?) And it clomps down the halls of "bonanza farm" bunkhouses and pioneer town boardwalks. North Dakota has made legends of many men and women. You know their names: Lewis, Clark, Sakakawea, Custer, Sitting Bull, Roosevelt. Now it's time for you to do what they did, and let North Dakota shape your legend.