Our last two days on the road involved more driving and fewer big attractions than the beginning of the week, and the kids have been more and more tired as we go along.  If I were to do it again, I’d consider a shorter trip or plan in a little more down time.

Friday we stopped at Lunds Landing west of Williston and had delicious Juneberry Pie and Juneberry Pancakes.  If you’re familiar with Juneberries, you know what a treat this is; if you’re not, you don’t know what you’re missing.

Then we continued on to Stanley to try a WhirlaWhip at the drug store’s soda fountain.  DQ thought they had something original with their Blizzard, but WhirlaWhips have been around since the 30′s or 40′s.  The machine in Stanley is the last original one known to be in use.

Then it was off to Minot and its Scandinavian heritage.  Even McDonalds has a Scandinavian flair to it!  The Scandinavian Heritage Park is beautiful with its replica and reassembled buildings.  The kids enjoyed the Roosevelt Park Zoo as well, although the Magic City Express wasn’t running around the park, to their disappointment.

We spent last night with friends; we had a good time catching up on the things of life while the kids played together.

Today was cold and rainy. Er, snowy.  Yes, it’s true, we saw several snowflakes on June 6 in North Dakota.  (Sorry, North Dakota tourism folks, it may be hard to convince people the state isn’t frozen all the time when it snows in June!)  Nonetheless, we saw the state’s (world’s?) largest walleye in Garrison, drove across the Garrison Dam, visited the Knife River Indian Villages, and then saw the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center in Washburn before the 4-hour drive to my parents’ house where we were reunited with the youngest member of our family, who has been loving her one-on-one time with Grandma.

At the Lewis & Clark center, I bought a $5 audio CD about the Lewis & Clark trail in North Dakota; I wish I’d found this a week earlier as it was very informative and would have been good background info before we visited many of the sites.

We’ve driven about 1200 miles so far, I believe, and overall it’s been a good trip.  I wish I had another five or six days so we could have spread things out a little more and seen the rest of the state!

We’ll stay here for a few days before heading back to reality and responsibility, and then I can begin to write about the specifics of all the places we’ve visited.

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