We awoke at 8a. I tried to blog a bit but the Internet was terrible and I couldn’t even upload the prior day’s pictures. Breakfast at the normal Holiday Inn Express buffet at 9:15a, checking out by 11a. First stopped by McDonald’s for the kids’ breakfast (they had both opted to remain in bed as long as possible) and then the gas station. Headed out on US-2 from Minot heading east towards Minnesota. Another huge driving day.
As we crossed the northern part of North Dakota we passed many ponds and saw fields of bright yellow and a pretty bluish-gray. An unexpected surprise was visiting the geographical center of North America in the town of Rugby. It was marked by an impressive stone obelisk and flanked by the flags of Mexico, the United States, and Canada. Also present was a small stone with a petroglyph made by Native Americans long ago.
Geographic Center of North America in Rugby, North Dakota
In the town of Devils Lake we stopped at the Cedar Inn Family Restaurant. It was quite tasty! I had chicken fried steak with two eggs over medium and hash browns and toast. Michelle had a BLT with apple pie a la mode for dessert. Genetta had some meat with two eggs over medium and hash browns and toast and Addison a bacon cheeseburger and fries. The waitress was very friendly, when we asked her about the crops we saw she asked some old timer farmers at the adjacent table. Turns out the bright yellow fields were canola and the blue-gray flax. As we were eating I realized something — I had been so focused on the drive ahead we forgot to visit the Scandinavian Heritage Park in Minot with its impressive stave church. I (somewhat) jokingly said we should go back — yeah, that wasn’t going to happen as we’d already driven over two hours. Oops.
One of numerous lakes in northeastern North Dakota
Finally arriving in Grand Forks we stopped at McDonald’s for drinks (half cut sweet tea, yum!) and gas and to de-bug. So. many. dead. bugs. We crossed into Minnesota. As we headed east corn and wheat replaced other crops and many more trees started to appear. We crossed over a very small creek — the mighty Mississippi! As we drove through Leech Lake Indian Reservation we noted that they had their own license plates. I briefly entertained the thought that I should try and spot all of the different type of plates in addition to the 50 states but quickly struck that from my mind!
We stopped in Grand Rapids (not the Michigan one!) at the Forest Lake Restaurant & Lounge at about 8p. It was excellent — appetizer was a combo plate of fried cauliflower, cheese sticks, onion rings, and potato skins (HUGE!). Michelle had shrimp alredo, Addison and I Jack Daniels ribeyes, and Genetta a huge half-rack of ribs. The bread was also great. The waitress was friendly and just out of high school, chatted with us about travels with her high school band including to Hawaii. She had an incredibly thick Midwestern accent. It was awesome.
Forest Lake Restaurant in Grand Rapids, Minnesota
Lake behind Forest Lake Restaurant
After walking a short distance down to the lake behind the restaurant we hit the road and drove on to Mountain Iron, Minnesota. Along the way we stopped again at McDonald’s for tea and saw a mama raccoon with four babies as well as three deer. We finally arrived at the Holiday Inn Express at 10p. As the internet was even worse than the night before I headed to bed without blogging or uploading pictures.
Route for July 6, 2017