And the drive continued. Fueled by Starbucks Caramel Macchiatos in the morning and Dr. Pepper in the afternoon. (And a supersize bag of Jelly Belly jelly beans courtesy of Anne Brisendine.) I had decided to take the Northern route across the country as it was one of the few roads I had never driven. It wasn’t the most exciting of drives…
Dateline Bismarck, North Dakota…
The drive today was nicer than yesterday as the weather cooperated. No more rain showers and instead sunny and 70s all day long. I slept in a little bit this morning and got a later start than I wanted so decided 500 miles was going to be the limit and that took me from the wilds of Wisconsin through Minneapolis/St Paul, St Cloud, Fargo and into the middle of North Dakota where I have stopped in Bismarck for the night.
Bismarck seems to be the same general size and shape as Oxford/Anniston with the cultural amenities of Eufala. It may be a state capital but Montgomery has it beat by a mile. I can now cross North Dakota off my bucket list (it was one of four states I am missing) and can think of no reason to ever return.
After checking into the local Hampton Inn (keep those Hilton points coming), I walked to something called Space Aliens for dinner. It seems to be a high concept TGIF/Chilis type place only decorated with plastic ET dolls and built around a circular dining room with a planetary mural on the ceiling. Neither my caesar salad nor my chicken tortilla soup was overly appetizing so I cannot recommend you stop here for dinner unless you have a seven year old going through a sci-fi stage.
On to Montana tomorrow. Trying to decide if I am going to detour through Glacier National Park. I spent my Family Practice rotation in medical school in Whitefish, Montana, right outside of Glacier, and Logan Pass is one of my favorite spots on the planet.
Maybe… and maybe I’ll save it for a trip when I’ll have more time to savor it. At the moment I just want to get to Seattle and hug my family.
Life, The Universe, and Everything 