In search of North Dakota (day 3)

Friday, May 16, 2008
North Dakota, Minnesota

North Dakota, we learned from our atlas, is the forty-eighth most populous state in the country. Only Vermont and Wyoming have fewer people. Fargo is North Dakota's biggest city.

Today was a quiet, non-travel day. After sleeping in and then eating a late breakfast at the motel, Peter had to take part in a conference call for his work. After he did that, we then packed a light lunch of fruit and peanut-butter-and-jam sandwiches and headed out to explore the city. We decided we liked Fargo.

As a part of our drive, we crossed the Red River of the North, the border between North Dakota and Minnesota, and visited a part of Fargo's sister city, Moorehead, Minnesota. We came back across a different bridge and parked along Broadway in downtown Fargo and walked through downtown until we came to a large park near the river. We ate our lunch at a picnic table shaded by large trees. The day was warm and windy.

While Peter walked back to get the car, Anna and I walked across a low foot bridge that spanned the Red River. It was only a foot or two above the surface of the water. Midway across the bridge, standing somewhere between North Dakota on the west bank and Minnesota on the east, we called home to Utah to talk to Mom. We walked on down the Minnesota side to a little waterfall and then returned to our picnic table to await Peter's return.

The Red River, contrary to what I had supposed, flows north into Canada and empties eventually into Lake Winnipeg.

We drove next to the Fargodome, where Anna picked up her race packet for tomorrow morning's marathon and I bought a five-dollar ticket to ride the spectator shuttle bus. Peter will be on his bicycle. We scoped out the last few miles of the marathon route and returned to the motel and took naps. And I read the entire May 19 issue of U.S. News & World Report. I typically take two or even three days to read an issue.

It was very windy by this evening as we went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant, Grazies, so Anna could bulk up on carbohydrates. Our waitress, a student at North Dakota State University, will be helping with the marathon tomorrow and said she'd see Anna at mile twenty-five. We have found people here in North Dakota to be particularly friendly.

We returned to the motel, and Anna and I played a game of Bananagrams, a Scrabble-like tile game. Anna won.

Late in the evening, beginning here at 9:50 Central daylight time, the Jazz and the Lakers played game six of their playoff in Salt Lake City. I watched the miserable first quarter or so, then turned off the TV in my room and went to sleep. Peter and Anna saw it through to the end. I did not learn until the next morning that game six became the last game. The Jazz lost on their home court and thus ended their season.