Fall is coming...

The good thing about being in Fargo this time of year is that we'll get to have a really long fall...the trees are already starting to turn colors here, and by the time we get home, the trees in NJ should be turning too!

3 weeks to go. Time has gone by so fast! I could get used to this life...quiet days of puttering around the hotel room, watching HGTV...I mean, studying at the library! Seriously, studying has been going well. I've been putting in some extra time evenings and weekends when I can, which is why I'm behind in updating the blog.

Before we came out here, I thought we would be spending our weekends taking little road trips. However, after the long ride out here, nobody has been too keen about getting back in the car for any length of time. Fortunately, there is a lot to do around Fargo with the kids.

A couple weekends ago was pretty rainy. We decided to spend the afternoon at the Hjemkomst (pronounced yum-kost) Center across the river in Moorhead, MN. The main attraction there is a full-scale replica of a Viking ship just like the ones that sailed across the Atlantic in the 1200's or so. It was built by a MN man who wanted to prove that the Viking design was seaworthy. He spent a decade or so building it himself, and after he died, his family finished it. They eventually sailed it through the Great Lakes starting at Lake Superior, through the St. Lawrence Seaway, down the Hudson River to NYC, then across the Atlantic Ocean to Norway! The ship was really cool. The most interesting part to me is that the crew's sleeping quarters were on the deck instead of below. I tried to get a good picture of this. Apparently the main food staple on the journey from NYC to Norway was Cream of Wheat! After a few months' voyage, that would get pretty old.

The best part of the day for the kids was going to the mall to the dinosaur playground. Right off the food court is a large playroom with huge dinosaurs for the kids to climb on, crawl through and slide down. After an hour they didn't want to leave, and they keep asking to go back! It was a good place for a rainy day.

This past weekend we went back to the zoo on Sat., and went on our first mini-road trip on Sun., to Buffalo River State Park. We chose the park because it is only about 20 miles away, and because they have a man-make swimming lake with a sandy beach (it was in the mid-70s that day and sunny). Well, apparently they drain the lake after Labor Day, because when we got there all we saw were the lifeguard stations and sand! Good thing we weren't planning on swimming. We did go for a hike along the Buffalo River, and we had fun trying to catch minnows in the shallow water. We also decided to extend our road trip and drive another 45 miles to a real lake, in Detroit Lakes, MN. The best part of that excursion was that the kids got a nap in the car! The lake was pretty, but pretty much surrounded by residential areas. The few restaurants we could find were dead, since it's the off-season. It was still a nice day for a drive. We capped off the day at one of our favorite area restaurants, the Thai Orchid. They have an awesome dessert, fried banana with coconut ice cream.

Time to hit the books again. I realized that I haven't posted many pictures of Fargo itself. I will try to do this next time!