North of Normal
It was all Vince’s fault really. Years ago - in 2017 - we were on board Seven Seas Explorer sailing from LA to Miami through the Panama Canal and Vince and his wife Joyce were on our Trivia team. We chatted about our travels and they told us how they’d recently been to Fargo, North Dakota and enjoyed a small celebration in the tourist office there, because North Dakota was their 50th State and they had completed their collection. At that time, we were some way off and really, had no intention of visiting all fifty states but as time went on and we got nearer the mark - Idaho being our 49th a couple of years ago - we began to think “why not?”
If you’ve watched the movie, you might recognise the woodchipper. I haven’t, so I didn’t!
Then along came Covid. For a couple of years we didn’t do a road trip and our summer plans took a different slant. But then as we sat at home thinking, the idea percolated through. Why not? Yet North Dakota isn’t the easiest of places to reach. Why hadn’t we made a small stretch when we were visiting Mount Rushmore? Travelled a little further west when we were in Minnesota? Well, we hadn’t, so creating a route that started in Winnipeg and finished in Edmonton with a small detour over the border into North Dakota, we felt we’d got the answer.
So here we are!
This morning, taking Vince’s advice, we made it to the Tourist Office, explained it was our 50th State and enjoyed a little fun as we registered as members of the Best for Last club.
There was a certificate for each of us.
We were given T shirts and of course, we posed for photos. Vince, you have a lot to answer for - but what fun!
Having fulfilled that little ambition, we went shopping! With just a few days in the USA to complete a small shopping list, we thought that this morning might be a good time to make a start. So my Hero drove from one place to another, enjoying a peaceful half hour reading as Mary and I headed into a variety of stores, almost always emerging empty handed - now that’s surprising!
By lunchtime we were ready to combine some sightseeing and some ice-cream at the Moorhead Dairy Queen a local landmark.
From there, we’d decided to spend a couple of hours at the Hjemkomst centre where we had learned of some interesting exhibitis.
The first, a handmade Viking ship after which the centre is named: The Hjemkomst sits in a purpose-built gallery with the story of its adventure told in displays around the walls. It’s quite a story too, told in a short video clip here as well. But it wasn’t the only masterpiece by a man with a vision here.
Here there is also a replica of a Norwegian Stave Church, built by Guy Paulson, a local man with Norwegian heritage and remarkable woodworking skill. To view the church, we joined a group with a guide and heard how it had been constructed using traditional materials and methods, almost single handedly.
Inside was breathtakingly beautiful and our guide pointed out some of the important features as we stood and admired.
In particular, he pointed out how each of the main load-bearing pillars - or staves - was created from a single pine trunk, standing on a stone base and reaching up into the roof. Cross beams and a horizontal band held the staves vertically spaced and the whole structure was utterly remarkable. Though we’d been inside an historic stave chrch when we were in Norway last year, the design was somewhat plain and nowhere near as awe-inspiring as this one.
We are so happy to be in North Dakota, finding Fargo to be a city with a real buzz. We’d happily stay here longer, but the I-94 is calling and tomorrow we’ll head a little further west in search of bridges, buffalo and Bismarck!
