Girls Weekend Journal

Wednesday, October 16 We woke up today in Fargo!   We hadn’t really made any plans for what to do here, so I did what I do and went in search on the internet for things to do in Fargo.   Right away something popped up that looked interesting and unique and after reading the description to Kath we decided to go for it.   It is a “Murder Mystery Detective Experience” call “Motive for Murder”.   Sounds interesting, doesn't it?   We thought so.   You download an app on your phone which provides you with a map of locations where you go to gather clues as to who committed the murder.   Two maps are provided: one for walking and one for driving.   What a great way to get to know the town!!   We opted for the walking option, even though it is supposed to be windy here today (which is quite common if you listen to the locals) with a high of 67, but the wind makes if feel about 10 degrees cooler.   There is audio on the app, too, where I think clu...

Tuesday, October 15, 2024 (Addendum from Lori: there are NO photos from today because all we did was drive across the entire state of North Dakota, from west to east and the most interesting things we did were not photo-worthy!! So, instead, I will add a sunset photo from a previous day just to add some eye candy!) Kathi here. Despite the VERY late night watching Mare of Easttown, which is rivetingly wonderful, we were up at our normal 7:30 this morning. Today is moving day. Lori’s train leaves Fargo at 4am Thursday, which is really the middle of the night on Wednesday if you ask me, so we thought we’d spend a full day in Fargo to see what there is to see. We usually don’t travel on GW until much later on the last day so that we have at least a little time on our travel day to do something in the morning. I have clearly informed Lori that the next time she travels by train, if she has to leave this early it needs to be on Friday, NOT Thursday. Checkout time for the Belfield Airbnb was ...

Monday, October 14 Another slow start to the day.   We were both up by 7:30 and worked on finishing up our respective journal entries.   We usually take turns every other day because this journaling thing is a bit intensive and takes a lot of thought, time and effort so we share in creating them.   We had some yogurt and bacon for breakfast.   Our intention for the day is to return to the South Unit of the park, which is only about 30 minutes away and stop and do little short hikes at various stopping points along the scenic drive. Once we both are dressed and ready for the day, we hop in the car and head towards the Park Entrance, which is in Medora.   Believe it or not, we get distracted while driving through Medora by one of the small shops there that we just saw a woman enter and thought was open, so we parked to go in.   Kathi has been saying that she wants a new pair of pajama pants with animals on them.   At one time she had a couple of pair tha...

Kathi here. We were up around eight again this morning and launched into the GW routine. We made a breakfast of bacon and eggs and added English muffins. Yummy! We watched the temperature all morning, because it started out at 31° today, and we did not want to hike in 31°. Not that we would have left the house early anyway since we’re making up for last year, but still. Eventually we deemed it warm enough to venture out, so we got showered and dressed, headed out of the house around 1:30pm, and arrived at today's destination around 2:30pm. But that was really 3:30 because by the time we got there, we had crossed the timeline again and were back to central time. Today we are exploring the North Unit of Teddy Roosevelt National Park, which is about an hour north of where we're staying. It is much smaller than the South Unit and possesses a slightly different topography. The Little Missouri River runs entirely through this section of the park. It also runs through the South Unit b...

 We have been in no hurry this year to get up early and   get out the door for our daily adventures. Last year we   had a LOT on our agenda and most involved early   mornings, so we decided that this year would be a bit   slower-paced and more relaxed. True to that goal, we g   got up around 8ish or so. The first thing we did was t   toss the states and they ALL went face down but one, l   leaving us with next year’s destination. ALASKA! We   talked a little bit about where to go in Alaska and I   suggested Homer, which is supposed to be a charming place to visit with lots of art, artists, shops and restaurants. We will give this more thought and make a decision later. The rest of the morning was spent playing word games (mostly me), catching up on work e-mails and work-related things (Kathi….I am mostly retired at this point!) We had decided the night before that today we would visit ...

Friday, October 11, 2024 After a great night's sleep for both of us, we enjoyed a gloriously typical GW morning. We had not yet tossed the states because we were just too stinkin’ tired to do them last night. So we decided that was how we would start our day. There are only 13 states total left! In case you need an accounting of why that is/how this works, let me remind you (or tell you for the first time for any new folks ) . Our first trip was in 1998. We both had small children and felt like we couldn’t be gone too long, but Lori and I really wanted to get away together because since we live so far apart, we never got to see each other. We had no idea where we wanted to go, but we needed it to be relatively inexpensive. We started brainstorming an d decided that neither of us had been to Minneapolis but would like to. Enter Joey Babay (see GW travelogue from yesterday), whom I had met about 15 years before through a friend; all of us were doing the amusement park show circuit i...

Fargo Train Station 4am  Thursday, October 10 2024  My phone was buzzing with text messages from   Amtrak most of Monday evening and throughout   the night letting me know that due to “trespasser   activity” on the tracks in California, my train would   be delayed the next day. By the time I woke up   Tuesday morning, the message was that the train   would be delayed by more than 4 hours. This   delay  would mean missing my connection in   Portland, so I let my husband Tom know that   instead of me starting in Salem he was going to   have to take me to Union Station in Portland to   begin my trip to North Dakota for this years’ Girls   Weekend trip, Yes, you read that correctly, I am   taking the train to Fargo, North Dakota for Girls   Weekend, and Kathi is driving! So we each started   this year’s trip a little early....