Speaking of the Fair, we had an opportunity to visit Al & Lorraine in Beaulah and spent the day in Minot at the ND State Fair. We had fun visiting the commercial buildings, animal buildings, watching shows, and, of course, trying out the food. We had to try the "new" food -- bacon cinnamon rolls. Yeap, they were good!
I finally was able to eat at the Brazilian restaurant in Mandan! It was great and it reminded me of my time in Brazil. The owner is such a wonderful and gracious host.
The second week of the vacation was really a "Girls' Weekend." My sister, Carol, from NY, and two cousins, Beth and Catherine from Boston, were to meet up with me in Dorset, MN. Unfortunately, Catherine was unable to make the trip due to a stomach bug. So, we had to party extra hard for her! Our theme of this part of the trip was relaxation and experiencing something new. We had breakfast at an old logging camp, walked across the MS River, took a boat trip on Itasca Lake, biked part of the Heartland Trail, ate at Companeros, and just relaxed at Mike's home in Dorset. Then off to ND we went; Carol and Beth never had been at the farm, so it was great to show them the place. Tim worked hard in getting the yard and house all "prettied up." We toured the BNI Coal Mine (Center, ND) - that was a blast! We got to go up on the drag line equipment! That equipment is HUGE!!!!! We did some touring around Bismarck -- Fort Lincoln, Lewis & Clark Interpretative Center, Fort Mandan, and State Capitol. We met Scott Mestrezat -- a young man paddle boarding from the headwaters of the Missouri River to St. Louis.
Carol and Beth got a crash course in corn and wheat farming. Did you know each silk is a corn kernel? Now what is "dough" stage of wheat? Ask them about this -- let's see how good of a teacher Tim is.
Back in MN we had dinner at the Chase on the Lake (Walker) and were entertained at the Wood Tick Theater (Akeley). One of the highlights was to be a participant in the Taste of Dorset. This small community of about 20 people can put on a great show -- entertainment and food. It's such a huge event that the state highway is closed! Of course, we had to check out the hat Mom made for this month -- a chef's hat with a capitol dome and a flag. It represents Dorset's "claim to fame" as being the "Restaurant Capitol of the World" with five restaurants (remember it is a small town!). This year they made history again by re-electing the youngest mayor.
Oh, we saw large animals -- world's largest Muskie fish (Nevis, MN), world's largest buffalo (Jamestown, ND), world's largest Sandhill Crane (Steele, ND), and Paul Bunyan (Akeley, MN). Perhaps next time they'll get to visit Salem Sue (New Salem, ND)! Of course, nothing can be compared to the real deer surrounding Mike's home.
No this isn't the largest buffalo; this picture was taken at the ND State Capitol.
