Golden Gophers

We continued our great western trip by leaving Fargo and immediately driving into Minnesota ... on our way for a two night stop in Minneapolis.

The drive through Minnesota was very scenic as we saw first-hand why it's called the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes. Once we got into Minneapolis, we stayed at a Holiday Inn right near the Mississippi River with views of downtown, the Metrodome, and the University of Minnesota.

We really enjoyed visiting UM, a beautiful old Big Ten campus.

While it is right near the city, it does not have an urban feel ... lots of green space, pretty buildings, the whole bit for a big campus. A fun part was a stop at Raising Canes, a chicken finger place that's one of my favorites. The owner (who asked about Susan's accent about 10 seconds into our order) was a great guy who actually knew the two fellows that worked at the original Guthries in Athens (and then used that restaurant as the model for founding both Raising Canes and Zaxbys).

Enjoy the pics ... next post - Mall of America!

You can barely see the new Twins Stadium - Target Field - above on the left ... never got a clear look at it.

Minnesota was a great old Big Ten campus .... very pretty and friendly.

Giving the Raising Canes #1 sign outside the restaurant in the heart of campus just a couple of blocks from the football stadium. Manager/owner was a great guy, good football fan, and familiar with the great Guthries of Athens tradition. Make sure to stop if you are in town.

New TCF Bank Stadium at UM ... smallish by SEC standards, but very nice.

Views of Metrodome from our hotel ... stadium has long been one of LJE's favorites and we were glad to finally see it.

Next stop ... we visit the magnificent Mall of America!

The Dakotas

We left Custer (South Dakota) after three nights and headed for Bismarck, ND.

To get there, we drove north to Rapid City and then west along Interstate 90 (past the motorcycle haven of Sturgis) to Highway 85 which we then took north for several hours. 85 was mostly a two-lane road, and we saw thousands of acres of treeless plains ... plenty of cattle ranches and the like, an occasional big farm, and very few towns, cars, or people.

We got into Bismarck on Saturday evening, spent one night and headed east on I-94 to Fargo, ND. North Dakota was prettier than I expected (many, many lakes along the interstate), and we stopped in Jamestown - home of the world's largest buffalo statue and a neat authentic, old west town.

Click on any pic to enlarge.

These were our views for much of a Saturday ... miles and miles of plains.

Entering North Dakota ... 14th state on trip so far!

Holiday Inn Express breakfast in Bismarck, ND.

Jamestown, ND ... a nice stop along I-94 between Bismarck and Fargo.

Pretty cool authentic western town beside site of old railroad station

A good playground too!

I was a little low on this 4th Sunday in May ... it was tough knowing so many relatives were gathering for decoration down in Cave Spring, Weiss Lake, and Centre (and I was missing all that food!). I also have family on my father's side that meets for decoration the same day in West Virginia (although I've only gotten to that one a couple times).

Super water park at the Holiday Inn in Fargo, ND. Great fun and wish we could've stayed longer. Susan searched out outstanding deals and attractions for our various stops. This was top pool on trip.

LJE going down middle slide.

No hands!

Mother-Son down slides.

Backward!

Great pool in Fargo to wrap up the Dakotas portion of our trip. Fargo is right on the Minnesota border.

Next stop ... Minneapolis ... Mall of America - University of Minnesota - Metrodome pics.