Around Fargo, North Dakota

We started the day at Fargo-Moorhead Visitor Center, in Fargo, North Dakota. The outside looks like a 3 story grain elevator but inside it is open from the first floor to the ceiling. There isn’t any history or films but you can get a lot of information brochures about the area. You can buy postcards, write on them, and then the center will mail them for free. Nice. I did that. North Dakota Agriculture by the Numbers: 24% people employed directly by production agriculture or agriculture-related industries, 25,900 farms and ranches, 1514 acres is the average farm size, 90% of the land is farms and ranches. Wheat, pulse crops, sugar beets, sunflowers, dry beans, flax, honey, soybeans, canola, potatoes and barley are what is mostly grown here. 

When I was researching things to do around here, a place kept coming up called  Bonanzaville. I wasn’t sure if it was just a tourist trap or not. Boy are we glad we went! It is a pioneer village and museum. The lady at the front desk is in college majoring in history and she loved history! She told so much of the local history and her passion was fun to see. She had even put one of the Fargo history walls together. Very good job.

We learned that Northern Pacific Railroad planned a route through here and Native American reservation in 1850s. It didn’t arrive to the Red River Valley until 1871. The company found very few people/customers here so they made a plan. They decided to advertise throughout the United States and Europe. They wrote it in many languages and sent representatives to advertise in other countries. Doing this brought people from the US and around the world to move to the Red River Valley (Fargo, ND).

Fargo was also the Divorce Capital of the Midwest. One way they got people to come here plus a steady source of money coming in was to allow a person to live here 3 months and then they could have residency. After that they could get a divorce.  The divorce waiting period was much higher in other places around the US. In 1899 the legislature changed it to a year to get residency and the divorce economy dried up. People then went to Reno, NV.  Outside the museum are all sorts of original old buildings and original things inside, too. We saw a courthouse, church, barbershop, Steiger equipment, tractors, old cars, trains, trucks, and planes. It is a very large place. They even have Pioneer Days here which must be a fun event to attend.

One day we drove the short distance to check out the town of Buffalo, ND. There is a tiny “food market” and then several large grain elevators groups and several trucking companies. Some houses, church and that is about it. We saw a small train-car-puller-thing pulling one regular train car. It was sure a smoking! I told Kevin they need a “hump” here to move the train cars around (referring to the train yard in North Platte, NE). HAHA

 I don’t put in these posts all the cemeteries we visit for Find A Grave, (footnote 1) but this one was interesting. We went to Buffalo Cemetery. This place is laid out clean. It is beautiful with peonies next to each headstone. It looks so nice, especially from a distance. However, upon further inspection, and trying to see names and dates on headstones, some are completely blocked by the bushes. The stems are so thick you can hardly push them aside. I walked around looking for the headstones for the 4 photo requests. I found one and as I pulled out my camera, the rain started pouring. Nope, I thought, I am getting this one fulfilled! HAHA And then… I ran to the truck.

Baseball time! Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks is an independent team, meaning they aren’t part of the major or minor leagues baseball. The stadium seating is on one level and there were 4000 people in attendance. Kevin picked our tickets seats to be row 18 right behind home plate. We were just high enough to see over the ump and catcher and see the ball. Fantastic! We got some snacks; I got a pretzel and my eyes about fell out when I saw it. It is bigger than Kevin’s head! As we walked back to our seats people were saying all sorts of things about where did I get that and that is huge! HA Kevin got peanuts. The game was a blast. It was a very close game.

At one point, the other team hit the ball and it was foul out in the right field. But the ump called it fair and they scored two to lead. Oh goodness, the fans went ballistic and so did the Redhawks manager. He was out there yelling at the ump. He walked over to the spot where the ball hit and left the mark, foul, and went back and yelled some more. Kevin & I thought it was hilarious! Of course he got ejected. Redhawks came back and won. Then, fireworks! A very fun show. Fun day!

*The blog posts are taken from my daily travel journal. Would you believe – it takes me a 1/2 day every week to whittle down a week’s worth of journal so it won’t be too long for the post each week. HAHA Thank you for reading!

1. Find A Grave – https://www.findagrave.com/about