Fargo, North Dakota

Day 4 Tuesday, May 12, 2009 Miles City, MT - Fargo, ND 464 miles (6 hr 24 min)

After a nearly inedible breakfast at the Holiday Inn in Miles City, we set out for our last full day of driving before arriving at Grandma's. North Dakota wasn't quite as flat as we expected and the landscape was quite pretty, but there wasn't much to see along the way. The freeway was wonderfully empty, though, like Montana.

Most of our day looked like this.

Oh boy, a big sculpture thingy!

This was the only real attraction we stopped at in North Dakota, which was conveniently located at a highway rest stop. It's called the Painted Canyon and is similar to the more famous Badlands in South Dakota. Very pretty.

Fargo

At about 6pm we arrived in Fargo, which is right on the border with Minnesota. We only know it from the movie, of course, so we expected a little hick town with lots of woodchippers. But it was actually a city (albeit a small one) and quite a pleasant one at that. And nearly all the hotels were booked up! Didn't see that coming. Apparently there was a big conference.

We called about 10 different hotels with no luck until finally finding a fancy room at the Radisson. We spent more than we would have liked, but we sure enjoyed the beautiful room! It was on an upper floor and had a desk with a view, a fridge, and a jet bathtub. We didn't want to leave.

After relaxing for awhile, we wandered down the main street in search of dinner. So this is downtown Fargo:

For dinner, we found this little pizza place near the hotel and ordered a pie to go.

We waited outside for awhile, then I got too cold and went inside for the last few minutes.

It was so pleasant inside. A group of locals were gathered at the back of the restaurant watching a Minnesota Twins game (needless to say, North Dakota doesn't have a pro baseball team) and the waitress sat down to chat with them. They all teased the gawky young pizza cook about his new cologne and how good he smells. It was such a relaxed, friendly place and I could easily imagine them huddled up cozily in there in the depths of winter.

Then we enjoyed the pizza back in our beautiful hotel room, watching the North Dakota news on the flat-screen TV. Good times in Fargo? You betcha.