My time in North Dakota was purely a work trip. I flew into Bismark, went to dinner, spent the night, taught a full day workshop the next day and flew home that evening. Dinner was on a River Boat, the state aging commissioner picked me up in a massive Buick station wagon. I remember the car more than the dinner or boat ride.
It was before digital cameras, and I was traveling lite and didn't take a camera with me, it was an overnight work trip. So, sadly I have no original photos from the trip (the photo above was taken last April in England.)
A few stand out memories. A Hops farm near the airport. I had never seen hops growing before. It is essentially a vine, and they grow it on massive trellis, probably 10-15 feet tall, and probably a 40 acre field of it near the entrance to the airport.
The hotel we stayed in was on a hilltop on the edge of town, out near the interstate. I was standing there looking out at the view, and a local walked up and started talking. He said, see that tree on the horizon? That is over a dozen miles away, and there is not another tree between here and there, hell there isn't a cow between here and there. The vastness of open prairie is something to see. There are hundreds of miles of gently rolling grasslands across the middle of the country that most people will never see. It is easy in DC, or NYC, to think that we are covering the country with pavement and houses, but we are not.
Would I go back there, yes. Maybe someday I will take a train across the country.
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