Bismarck, North Dakota is one of them.
It’s not that we had a bad time there at all, because we didn’t. We drove the 430 miles in record time on Friday, and had a pretty excellent meal and cocktails at a place called the Toasted Frog. We managed to find the Gophers hockey game on at Buffalo Wild Wings down the street, which was amazing. There was a brief stop at a crazy hickish bar, and then we ended up at the Blarney Stone, which had an amazing beer selection for that part of the world.
Saturday, I dropped Matt off at his conference (in the true middle of nowhere: a college well south of town on top of a bluff and next to a monastery), then went back to the hotel to sleep for another hour. I knew I wouldn’t be able to kill that much time wandering around Bismarck, especially since it was cold and rainy and outside was not the least bit appealing. I checked out around 11:15, got coffee at Starbucks, then drove to see Mandan. (That’s Cindi’s fault… she said I had to because her dad is there.) I spent the appropriate amount of time in Mandan (about 15 minutes), then headed back to Bismarck.
I went to the North Dakota Heritage Center, and was the first person there, even though it had been open for 2 hours already. I figured I could kill a good half-hour there, but ended up staying for over an hour. They had some pretty good exhibits on Native American history and a bunch of dinosaurs, plus some really entertaining photos of old North Dakotans. Not to mention the FIGHTING SIOUX!
After that it was all downhill. I got a vegetarian sammich from Erberts and Gerberts, saw basically every single aisle at Target, drove around to see the river, and even stopped at CVS for the couple things I missed at Target. I was still about an hour early, but by the time I got back to the college to wait for him, I only had a half-hour to kill. I had knitting, so that was fine.
Matt hopped in the car and we tore the hell out of town before I died of boredom. We had a really impressive meal at the HoDo Lounge in Fargo, then got back on the interstate home. Matt was going to take that shift but was really sleepy, so I managed to get us the whole way home. (That’s 900 miles in two days. I’ve driven more than that, but I’m definitely out of practice.) We got home at 12:30am, and could not have been happier about that.
And in case you didn’t hear me yelling all the way from the middle of nowhere, the Gophers swept Duluth, the team also known as last year’s national champions! We picked up the Saturday night game loud and clear on a radio station based in Ada. I have no idea where that is, but I appreciate them for rebroadcasting ESPN radio.
In other news, we’ve been married exactly one month today!! To celebrate, we’re going out while you check out a preview of our photos!
Last winter Zach was driving home from Billings and was stuck in Bismark overnight because the highway was closed. He also went through every ailse in the Target there and told me that it was the most boring town ever.
it totally is, especially if you’re by yourself!