| Not Logged In |
|
Wednesday July 16 We left Minneapolis around 11:30 and took the Interstate to North Dakota. While there was a weather prediction of thunderstorms, which Suzy and I were both looking forward to (well at least for the first few minutes), we got barely any precipitation at all. The drive was pretty uneventful except for the unmarked state troopers which had pulled various people over. We arrived in Fargo around 3:00. My friends Eric and his wife Kit had suggested a store called Zandbroz for lunch. Inside the store was a small deli with sandwiches and chocolate phosphates, but we were both stuffed from breakfast and nothing on the menu jumped out at us, so we decided to just get an early dinner and drive up to Grand Forks. We checked into a Days Inn, and as usual they asked for my credit card as a deposit. Unfortunately, they forgot to give it back to me, and I didn't realize they hadn't returned it at the time. We drove over to Eric and Kit's house, which was only a few minutes away, and we all went out to dinner along with their son Joe to The Blue Moose. The Blue Moose had a great selection of beers on tap. I ordered a Raspberry Walnut Gorgonzola Salad to share with Suzy, and a Hot Sicilian, while Suzy got a Fajita Wrap. After dinner, we went to a local park with a huge wooden fort. We learned that after the 1997 Red River Flood most of the area along the banks of the river were developed as park and public space. An area close by had been turned into a golf course. Of course none of that mattered to Joe, who happily tromped through the multi-level wooden fort and swung on the swings. Afterwards we went back to Eric and Kit's house. Kit was feeling tired and took care of Joe while Eric, Suzy, and I went to Culver's for custard. Afterwards we returned to their house and chilled out for the evening. Thursday July 17 Suzy, Eric, and Kit went to breakfast at the Northside Cafe while I slept in. Afterwards, Suzy and I went shopping for water and snacks. For lunch we met up with Eric and Kit again and went to a local famous drive-in called Fabulous Kegs Drive-In, which featured a small kitchen area sandwiched between two 18 foot high kegs, and complete with a driver's side tray. We all ordered various burger items. I didn't want to eat in the car (too cramped for my taste and I'm a messy enough eater as it is), so we went to the University of North Dakota campus to each lunch. We found a bench near Eric's office at the Law School which was nice. It sprinkled very very lightly for a few minutes, but the rain soon left, and we had a relaxing lunch. After lunch we toured the law school and walked around the University of North Dakota campus, drove around Grand Forks getting a tour of the city, and stopped by Widman's Candy Shop, which sold "Chippers," chocolate covered potato chips which are evidently famous. Later in the afternoon, Eric and I drove around some more as I wanted to take some stock photos for possible use in upcoming projects, and there were many shots around there which would be harder to get in the Bay Area, like tractors and fields. We also stopped by LM Glasfiber, where they manufactured the blades for the giant windmills used to collect wind power. Kit had originally planned on making dinner, but with her pregnancy the smell of food was making her nauseous, so we ordered pizza instead from Green Mill Restaurant and Bar. Eric and I picked it up and we spent the rest of the night chatting and playing with Joe. When we arrived back at the motel, they had left a message letting me know my credit card was down at the front desk because they had forgotten to return it to me the previous day. I vaguely thought about checking to see if my credit card had been used fraudulently, and then promptly forgot about it walking down to the front desk. Friday July 18 We met with Eric and Kit one last time before we headed back to Minneapolis to fly home, and we decided to go back to Northside Cafe for brunch since it was near the freeway and I hadn't been there before. The food was typical breakfast fare and fine. Afterwards we said our goodbyes and Suzy and I started our drive back to Minneapolis. A few minutes out of town, I received a phone call; it was my credit card company, calling to ask if I had just tried to purchase something in Europe using a card-not-present transaction (ie one where you punch in the numbers of the credit card instead of swiping it). Luckily, the credit card declined the transaction, and we went through the charges and I determined there were no other unauthorized transactions. I started the process to cancel the card and get a new one when my cell phone cut out because we were in the middle of nowhere.
Other than that, the drive back to Minneapolis was uneventful.
| |||||||||||||||||||