We woke up to a bright and sunny morning at the Bemidji KOA.
No rain. No gray clouds. Sunshine.
After the downpour the night before – it was nice to see some good weather for our next travel day.
We got on the road at a reasonable time after some buttermilk blueberry pancakes and the usual coffee and tea – and headed west towards the International Peace Garden in Dunseith, North Dakota.
We had the chance to stop a few miles from the Minnesota/North Dakota border at a really nice roadside stop – which gave all of us (including Aurora) the chance to stretch our legs a bit.
We continued on U.S. 2 – and took the opportunity to drive through Grand Forks, North Dakota – home of the University of North Dakota (UND).
Upon graduation with my Chemical Engineering doctorate in 1991, my first job was as an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at UND. Noel had finished her M.S. in EE – and she was hired as an Instructor in Electrical Engineering at UND. This was also the town where Andrew was born, where we bought our first house – and where Tim was first exposed to computers at his daycare.
We had an opportunity to drive through the UND campus and to see many of the new facilities which did not exist when we left in 1995.
Everything in Grand Forks is laid out in a grid pattern – so all the streets run either north/south or east/west – so it is not easy to get lost.
It was nice seeing many more places to eat and stay than when we lived in Grand Forks in the early 1990’s – and the campus grounds looked great.
As we were leaving – we drove by our old house – which is still the same color as it was when we sold it in 1995. I believe we paid around $62K for it – and making the house payment each month was a big deal.
After leaving Grand Forks – we headed further west and then north for our next camping spot at the International Peace Garden which straddles the border between the U.S. and Canada.
We had a very picturesque campsite and the campground was not very full – so we enjoyed a quiet evening enjoying the peace and quiet. Even Aurora eventually could not find anything to bark at – so she crawled underneath the camper and rested.
We had gone several days without Chef Noel making her savory pies – so Kirk made a blazing hot campfire and we enjoyed our Brie Cheese, dried cherries and pecan hot pie as an after dinner treat.
As the sun set in the evening there was little ambient light – so we stayed up late to enjoy the bright and clear star field as the temperature dropped into the high 40’s.
Most of the exhibits at the International Peace Garden didn’t open until 10:00 a.m the next day – so we knew that we could sleep in and enjoy a relaxed morning before starting out.
Tomorrow – photographs of the amazing International Peace Garden!
Kirk’s Travelogue 