Where the buffalo roam....

We laughed when we passed an exit sign that read "Home on the Range." Not some kind of billboard humor, a real - official, green with the white letters and little arrow sign! We were chuckling, oh, only in North Dakota could you see a sign like that. And of course we started singing....home on the range, with the whole buffalo roaming bit.

An hour or two past Home on the Range, we pulled off to a rest stop where Buffalos were inches from our car. Just hanging out. Anna Grace thought they were lions, the boys thought they were awesome and I felt they were just too close for comfort. We excused ourselves and parked, what I felt was safe distance from the wildlife that all the other North Dakota rest stopping folks seemed very comoftable with. Maybe it was all that motorcycle gear that made them feel so invinsible near these really huge, huge animals.

This was taken through the safety of my car window without zoom!

Day 3 was another success. North Dakota is beautiful. Fargo is actually a neat town. If Maine does not work out I may just plant my route-less seeds right in North Dakota. One of my closest friends has family there, I am sure we could crash with them. We passed more "no services signs," than services signs, got views unlike any other landscapes we had seen before, and landed at a fabulous hotel with an indoor water park.

Creating our own rest area

The view here is amazing, also of note my kid gets to wear shorts in June!

Apparently Fargo is not a hot spot for water parks on a random Monday night as we were the only family there. The boys swam and slid off some excess energy, Anna Grace clung to Erik for dear life, and I shamefully sat in the hot tub pretending I could not hear the screams beyond my jetted oasis.

And just like that we are half way there! Somewhere between where soda meets pop, highway meets freeway and new old friends meets old - old friends. Onward to Wisconsin....