Summary:
This was one of our best trips we've taken in recent memory, with the exception of Microsoft Streets and Trips 2007, that is. We purchased an Asus Eee PC, and loaded it with MS S&T with a GPS locator. We've used S&T before, in fact, we've used it on almost every trip we've taken in the last 6 years. But, for some reason, it almost totally failed us this time around. It wouldn't lock onto a GPS signal, and when it did, it would put us on the wrong segment for our route, and when it didn't do that, it would tell us that we were 'off route' when we clearly were on route, and would refuse to give us directions. Finally, on the second day, it got stuck in a menuless view that rendered it almost totally useless. I had to boot the other laptop to learn hotkey commands just to use it. Streets and Trips plagued our entire trip.
I have posted almost all of my Rollercoaster videos HERE!!!!
Day 1 (July 30) : From Billings, MT to Fargo, ND
The first day of the trip was great. We left a little late, by about 9:30 am. I've never travelled along the I-94 past Pompey's Pillar. Most of it was familiar high plains with rolling hills covered in tall grass. This late in the summer, most of it has turned from bright green to pale brown. As we got closer to Minnesota, however, things began to change. We encountered more and larger hills, more and larger trees. The small grooves slowly became small forests, and the large plots of farmland became small lakes and valleys. The transformation was a welcomed one.
We stopped in Bismark, at the Alien Cafe. It had fantastic decore, but horrible food. Everyboyd who ate the french fries got sick. I was lucky, I guess, as I stuck to ribs and boneless buffalo wings.
Fargo popped up quickly, as do most northern towns. In southern California, or other large metropolises, large cities slowly become more and more populated from the rural farmland to the urban center. In the north, however, there is a line. On one side of it, you'll find rugged wilderness. On the other side: humans.
We accidentally drove through Fargo rather than taking the quicker interstate route thanks to Microsoft Streets and Trips. This was, at least, illuminating as we got to see almost the entire city, end-to-end. It is very similar to Billings, with an 'older' part of the city devoted to industry and farming supplies, and a 'newer' part devoted to consumer commerce.
The hotel was one of the most interesting parts of Fargo. For some reason, there were about a half dozen people milling about the lobby and just outside the main front door. This was in spite of the fact that it was almost 11pm. They ranged in age from 4 years old to a person in their 70's. Some smoked, some sat around drinking coke from plastic bottles. The kids played on the computer in the lobby while the older got drunk. The room was clean, at least, but the bed was lousy.
Day 2 (July 31) : From Fargo ND to Valley Fair Amusement Park (Shakopee, MN).
Valley Fair is fantastic. We first jumped onto the bridge over "The Wave" where we got absolutely soaked from head to toe. It cooled us off perfectly. The kids decided that they wanted to hit the biggest, and scariest ride first of all, to get it out of the way. This was the Wild Thing. About two-thirds of the way through the line, they both started having second thoughts. I got a great video of them, in the second-to-front seat, screaming almost the entire way through the ride.
I have posted almost ALL of my rollercoaster videos HERE!
After that, we had a hard time talking one of the kids onto any more rides :) We went on for a very full day, hitting almost all the rides in the park. Since it was a Thursday afternoon, the lines were short, and the rides were terrific. In most cases, we were able to get off the ride, and then right back on again.
I'll have a full review of Valley Fair in another blog post.
We left the park at 10:15, after finishing off a couple last minute rides, and we were back on the road to our hotel. Streets and Trips, fortunately, didn't get us lost, but it also didn't tell us that the name of the hotel had been changed almost 2 years ago. We called the phone number, and found that we were indeed sitting in the parking lot for the right place. We were shocked to find, however, that they did not record our reservation (made a week prior) and that they didn’t have any rooms for us. So, at 11pm, we were stuck trying to find a hotel. We did find one, for $30 more than what we had reserved, but at least it was close, and it was a place to sleep. I wasn't happy about the extra $30, but it came with beds and a shower, which I desperately needed.
The rooms were clean, but the hallways smelled of stale cigarettes, and people were walking around and again, having too much to drink.
Day 3 (Aug 1) : Valley Fair day 2
In our original plans, we were going to stay in the last hotel for two nights, so that we didn't have all our stuff in the back of the truck while at the park. This would also eliminate packing / unpacking time so that we didn't have to wake up any earlier. We called the hotel at 7am, and found that they had a room ready for us. We packed up, drove over, unpacked again, and we were off the park. We made it there by 10:30.
This day was fantastic. We split our group of 4 into 2 groups, so that one group could hit the roller coasters, while the other stuck to the fair rides. We met up again around 1pm, had lunch, and sauntered over to the water park to beat the afternoon heat. The water park lines had picked up considerably since yesterday.
We spent the entire day running from ride to ride trying to get every minute possible. We were at our car at 10:05, watched the Friday night fireworks, and were out of the park before anybody else was to their cars. We tried to race over to Ruby Tuesdays for a late dinner, but Streets and Trips thought I was going to the hotel, and misdirected us. When I tried to correct this, wasting 5 minutes, it then stopped receiving a GPS signal. So, I winged it, and guessed at the best route to where I thought Ruby Tuesdays should be. Halfway there, it picked up the GPS signal again, and tried to direct me back to Valley Fair. I did eventually make it to the restaurant, 20 minutes before they closed (40 minutes later than I should have been there), and we had a fantastic meal with fantastic service. Streets and Trips did give me the correct directions back to the hotel, and we made it there by midnight.
Day 4 (Aug 2): Around Minneapolis and drive to Fargo ND.
I found the biggest problem with Streets and Trips during this leg of the journey. It consistantly told me conflicting directions. For instance, it would tell me to take an exit number, then then tell me that this exit was called something that was being displayed on the street signs as being the NEXT exit. It would also tell me to get onto into the left lanes of a freeway, when the exit was on the opposite side of the freeway. I eventually stopped paying attention to it, and found myself better off looking for signs for my destination as we got colse to where we were going.
Our first stop was the Walker Art Center and the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. There we saw the somewhat famous Spoonbridge and Cherry sculpture. Next, we were very open, and had many options. We decided that since we were here, and the theme of the tirp was to see silly things, we treked over the Mall of America. I don't think that anything I've seen in American quite describes the pure essecence of modern American like this place does. It is the mecha for modern consumers, complete with a TV channel theme park in the middle of it, as well as many other tourist driven sights and points of interest. The Mall of America points out that "If a shopper spent 10 minutes browsing at every store, it would take them more than 86 hours to complete their visit to Mall of America". We got some 'points' so that we could do some of the rides there, and found them to be very entertaining. We had lunch at Hooters, so that the kids could understand that it's not a topless restaurant, and so that they can have some of the best wings in the world. Neither point failed to impress us. I ate (almost all) of my 20 wings; yum!
We finished the day 'early', and began our trek back to Fargo, ND, only to again, have Streets and Trip fail to get a GPS signal, and we circled around trying to figure which way to go. Our next stop was to be the Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota. It no longer the biggest in the world, because somebody else thought it'd be cool to beat it. God knows why. Then again, I'm driving there to see it, so I guess that answers that silly question. The detour to Darwin, NM was a fantastic one. If there was ever to be a label for 'gods country', it would be the stretches of highway leading to and away from Darwin.
We reach Darwin at 7:35 pm, and for those familiar with the Weird Al song, you'll find a note of humor in that. The town was quaint, and we were the only ones there, for some odd reason! The locals were in the park across the street, playing behind a sign that read 'twine ball days...'. The ball was large, and sagging at the botton from too many years sitting still. How do they keep the ants and rats out of it? The gift shop was closed, so we couldn't get any 'wish you were hear postcards'. The Twine Ball Inn also seemed to be closed from too few visitors.
We made it back to the same hotel from our first night, arriving at 11:30, again. I stood there, at the front desk for almost 10 minutes, while the person behind the desk was on the phone, looking very busy. Although he didn't say a single word to me, he did look at me twice, and pointed at his computer with shoulders shrugged. I assume that meant that either the computer didn't work, or he didn't know how to use it. I was relieved of desk duty, and Tab spent another 10 minutes standing there. We eventually got they key, and we started unpacking. We were greeted by the same number of people in the lobby. They milled about, being drunk and lazy, watching us pass through with determination not to engage any of them with direct eye contact.
The room was clean, and the bed was again, horrible.
Day 5 (Aug 3) : From Fargo ND to Billings MT.
We left at around 10:30 am, since we really didn't have anywhere quick to get to. Since the latest book in the 'Twilight' series was released at midnight the night prior, and since one of the kids had been panting to get her hands on the book, we thought it'd be a great surprise to get the audio books for the trip home. We found a walmart in Fargo, and learned that not only was it NOT a 24 hour Walmart, but that it wasn't allowed to be opened before noon. Apparently, the city of Fargo doesn't like to have people shopping before noon on Sundays. This was a shock to us, as well as to the dozens of other people that were standing at the door trying to buy stuff. Litterally, dozens of people were walking up to the doors, and listening to the poor person try to explain the law. It'd be fascinating to watch, if it were so agrivating. So much for Fargo. No way I'm going to contribute my tax dollars to them. We didn't think that'd be a problem, however, since Bismark was only a couple hours away.
We arrived in Bismark and found the Walmart there. The employees there didn't know of the book, didn't know if they sold it, let alone, if they had it in audio books. They directed us to the musical area, cause that's where they had CD's, dontcha know. We asked the employees if there was a book store in town, and they replied with their best blank stare. We couldn't figure out if they didn't understand the question, of if they didn't know what a book store was. We tried KMart, and found that they didn't even sell the rest of the books in the series. We asked, again, for a book store, and was told that it was 'on the other side of town,' but we couldn't get anything more direct than that.
We eventually gave up, and went to the hooters in Bismark, cause you can never have enough wings :)
The rest of the trip home was uneventful, and we got home around 10:30pm.