It's a long way: Bismarck

On May 22, I picked up 94 west from Minneapolis, lunched in Fargo, and arrived to Bismarck, ND.

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I left with a belly full of farmer's cheese, labne, tea, and had ma'moul and quzha to snack on as well as the remaining Doncker's gummy bears. Yummmmmm.

Minnesota is absolutely gorgeous- and expensive- to drive through. Gas was well over 4, which it wasn't in Michigan or North Dakota. I wonder if there is a different tax? I noticed a great attention to conservation practices as well. There are so many rolling hills with small lakes and ponds that are surrounded by agricultural land. Every wetland, lake and pond that I could see had a wide buffer around it of cattails or other plants to filter agricultural runoff. There was no exposed soil. There were numerous fields put to prairie grass or otherwise resting. It was so, so good to see.

And you could see the effects of the practices. A bald eagle flew right in front of me while driving! First one since Misa and I saw two fly past us on Lake Superior back in March.

Oh my goodness I almost forgot.. I saw a bittern in the UP before leaving Michigan!

(pic from here.)

I made it to Fargo and, at Fayyad's suggestion, went in search of Arabic food since apparently there is an Iraqi community in Fargo of all places. I ended up finding a yummy Palestinian-owned new restaurant where the health department guy was still there inspecting and telling them they needed to put trash bins in the bathroom. The things one does not think about when one is not woman-bodied...

Stopping at the Fargo visitor's center I asked whether I should head back north (as had been the original plan) or continue on 94 now that I was here. The woman there told me "Now, we're not supposed to say this, but if you're traveling by yourself you're better off to avoid oil country." I had heard a hint about this before leaving Michigan as well. Apparently North Dakota is the only place in the country with plentiful jobs due to an oil boom, so there are many many single men working, staying in all the hotels, so it is not a good idea to stop in northwestern North Dakota. Rather, drive straight through. Or stay on the main highway as a woman traveling alone. Staying on 94 would mean I'd be a bit more south than I would have been- I would miss Glacier National Park, but I put myself en route to Roosevelt National Park.

North Dakota sat a little off with me. The Fargo visitor's center had the wood chopper from the Fargo movie and encouraged you to take your picture with it. A little off, and condoning something creepy I'd rather ignore especially when embarking on a drive across a state I'm already nervous about with a rainbow sticker on my car. The freeway exit signs all have the outline of an Indian head- I'm not sure how to read this, whether it's recognizing Native Americans, or using them as a mascot of sorts, or both.

In case you weren't creeped out yet:

Driving through North Dakota was a study in non-conservation after Minnesota. And big ag. The fields were so vast I couldn't see where the farmhouses were. There was plenty of exposed soil to blow away. There may have been high water from snow melt, but it was odd how lakes lapped at the highway and at agricultural land without a buffer around it.

I saw some large birds flying in formation that at first I thought were geese. Then I realized they were weaving in and out of one another, gliding, and that they were huge and white with black wings. I've never seen anything like that before.

They were white pelicans, which apparently have one of the two North Dakotan wildlife reserves dedicated to them.

Here's one of several pelicans I saw later- none were at the actual pelican reserve:

Here's what the white pelicans look like flying:

Photo from here.

(Photo from here.)

Other wildlife I saw in North Dakota prior to arriving in Bismarck:
killdeer
robins
"little yellow-winged birds" is what I wrote and now I believe they were western meadow larks
redtailed hawks

Once in Bismarck I found the Missouri and watched the sun set a while from the east bank. There was a steam boat model and many people out and about. I spent my last night east of the Missouri River, on this trip anyway. The town immediately across the river from Bismarck is called Mandan, after the Mandan Native Americans. There was a plaque somewhere saying that the Mandan people were "extinct." Wikipedia says that there are people registered today under the Mandan tribe. I wonder what it's like to be told that you're extinct?

Sacagawea statue at the North Dakota Heritage Center on the grounds of the state legislature: