Daily Mileage=372; Trip Mileage= 10,392Today we drove through Fargo and stopped to look around. Fargo is in North Dakota as is Theodore Roosevelt National Park. I need to make this correction in my previous blog. Andrea pointed out that we kept saying SD instead of ND. Andrea was born in Grand Forks, ND so we didn't mean to insult her and apologize to any other North Dakotans that may have been offended. Having said that, I must add that although they are both beautiful states in their own ways, they are similar in that they don't have many people or cities in them!! Great places to visit but we don't think we could live here. But if you're out this way, definitely stop by (drive through several hundred miles) and visit.
Fargo is a very small city with a couple of streets in the downtown area that's similar to others in that they have restored their "historic" downtown area. They have done a lot of rebuilding over the centuries since fire and floods had destroyed the city in the late 1800's and early 1900's. It was quaint but really small!! We stopped at a drug store and the woman who checked me out was right out of the Fargo movie. The people are very nice but sound like they are acting. (No one can really sound like this, can they?) Of course, with my NJ/NY accent, they probably think the same thing about me. We get a laugh when they ask us where we're from because they don't think we sound like NY. Give me a break. We definitely have NY accents. They just never hear anyone from there, so they don't know the accent. (Check out the sign on the pole, about no cruising from 9PM to 6AM, (so it's OK to cruise other times?)
Fargo is a very small city with a couple of streets in the downtown area that's similar to others in that they have restored their "historic" downtown area. They have done a lot of rebuilding over the centuries since fire and floods had destroyed the city in the late 1800's and early 1900's. It was quaint but really small!! We stopped at a drug store and the woman who checked me out was right out of the Fargo movie. The people are very nice but sound like they are acting. (No one can really sound like this, can they?) Of course, with my NJ/NY accent, they probably think the same thing about me. We get a laugh when they ask us where we're from because they don't think we sound like NY. Give me a break. We definitely have NY accents. They just never hear anyone from there, so they don't know the accent. (Check out the sign on the pole, about no cruising from 9PM to 6AM, (so it's OK to cruise other times?)
We stopped to have lunch in the southeastern portion of North Dakota, Hankinson, on our way to Sioux City. We had a great lunch at this little 1950's drive-in stand. These places still exist, they're not retro places coming back into style , they never left! They have the slide window/screen just like the dairy queens used to have (in fact, we've seen a number of what we would call old dairy queens still functioning except they're not old). It's great! We love them because it brings us back to years ago. In the same town they had a rather large Polish Pottery shop which of course I had to stop at. I kept saying that the town reminded me of Duryea, PA so when I saw the Polish connection, I couldn't resist. All I know is that we were in the middle of no where and we still managed to spend money.
We reach Sioux City, Nebraska where we were staying only to find out that Rich Many had been chosen as the "Guest of the Day." We've seen this sign in a number of the hotels we've been in and after traveling seven weeks, Rich was chosen. Apparently they randomly pick a registered guest each day to be the lucky one. We got upgraded to a suite overlooking the Missouri River and given coupons for free drinks and a discount on dinner. We are staying at a very nice place that overlooks the river so we view Sioux City, Iowa. Unfortunately we have this very nice suite but no one to share it with and we're only here one night (oh well, we will just have to suffer alone!)
We then went across the bridge into Sioux City, Iowa and walked their "historic" area. It took about 15 minutes because it may be the smallest historic area we've seen. The buildings are wonderful and there are restaurants and bars in many of the old, large office buildings. However, they really haven't done much restoration. Here is photo of the river from Iowa looking over at Nebraska. Almost the same view but slightly different perspective. They have a wonderful park on the Iowan side that runs along the river.
We then drove around to other areas in the city and went to a wonderful park that has one of the only original "band shells" in America still used. It was neat and the surrounding neighborhood was like driving through Mt. Vernon (lower Westchester County) in New York. It was unbelievable, we really thought we were in NY (and then reality hit and we realized we were in Iowa!).
In many cities we have seen "painted (fill in the blank with an animal/mascot"). They are usually done very nicely by local artists. Well, in Sioux City it's a dog, a Newfoundlander in honor of Merriweather Lewis' faithful dog, Seaman. He accompanied Lewis and Clark on their expedition. There is a Lewis and Clarke center here because apparently Nebraska and Iowa were major stops on their trail. Here is Rich with one of the dogs. It's called "harmony of the river."
Tomorrow we move along to Missouri.
We started a new book, Silent in the Grave, which is a novel about the death of an English nobleman in the 19th century. His wife and an investigator try to find out if and why he was murdered (it's kind of like a 19th century CSI episode). It's interesting but we put it on hold to hear yet another new novel by David Rosenfelt and his Paterson, NJ lawyer character, Andy Carpenter. This one is Play Dead and really has golden retrievers playing a central part in the murder investigation. Sounds corny but really is funny and not as bad as it sounds. It also makes the drive go by much faster!!
Good night, Love&Joy, Mare&Rich
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