Day 21: Crossing North Dakota

From Minot to Rugby to Grand Forks to Fargo today. We are clearly out of the West and back in the Midwest. Clearly. As Lisa pointed out (the 5-star insight du jour): If we were any farther from home, we’d know where we are. (Translation for those of you who may not know our history: We are almost at the farthest point east from our California home. Any farther east and we'd be in Illinois and back home.)

Highlights:

Yet another geographic center. I get that these superlatives do draw tourists!



The restaurant there also specializes in jams and jellies and their menu includes "toe jam" even. We didn't go in.



Loved Grand Forks. Full of historic homes and an enormous greenbelt full of trails along the Red River in town. We enjoyed walking the dog along these well-groomed trails under the overcast sun (cool!).

Not loving Fargo. Icky motel, icky almost whole town (there's one strip of Broadway that has a restored 1920s theater and some art galleries), and the heat came back--96 degrees. Our worst meal of the trip was had for dinner. Here's Lisa's taco in a boat (!). [BE SURE TO READ THE COMMENT AT THE END OF THIS POST--really funny]



Thought we were stopping at a charming Irish pub. No soap. Twas an icky bar that required patrons to sign a "contract" (after turning over one's credit card) that if one left without settling the tab, the establishment could tack on 15% gratuity and charge the card for the full amount. Huh. We picked a great place. I should point out that we love a good dive bar. Moore's Tavern in Greencastle, Indiana, is the height of a great dive--good jukebox, wonderful pork tenderloin sandwich, cold beer.

But here, at Dempsey's Publick House, there was no choice in music, just old 70s rock blaring (primarily KISS). Of course, that wasn't playing when we sat down. I need to understand why this music is the only music on the radio in the rural Midwest. (Of course we heard Bob Seeger the minute we turned on the local radio.) Don't get me wrong--I enjoyed that music myself . . . at the time (in 1977), but there's 30 years more of interesting music. Lisa and I are exploring the fact that we are snobs (or are we just well-traveled? Or lefty liberal Californians?). Not sure. Helpful comments welcome.

But worth the stop in Fargo to visit Widman’s Candy Shop. See the Roadfood review and just know that some of you will be getting “chippers” for Christmas. Awesome.




Off we go tomorrow to our last "new" state: Minnesota. Heat will continue being a problem through tomorrow. Think cool thoughts.