Things I learned about living in North Dakota & Minnesota.

• Driving 15 minutes across town is "a long, long way to go"
• Driving 4 hours across the state is no big deal for a wedding or a visit.
• You're either from a small town or you know people from a small town. Everyone loves to name drop when it comes to small towns.
• "Small town" is a relative term. All cities in North Dakota are small compared to Atlanta.There are small towns with no stop lights and there are small towns with a Walmart.
• High school past times in small towns include driving around in a pick-up truck and shooting stuff out the window.
• Rumor has it in some small towns the bar will give you a to-go cup for your beer because they prefer you walk home with an open container than drive drunk.
• These people are lake people. I prefer the ocean but from here the ocean is a long way away.
• There are no professional sports teams in North Dakota.
• Minnesota's professional sports teams kinda suck.
• They say, "Can I have a scissor?" instead of scissorS.
• They say, "She is driving bus or riding bus" rather than "She is driving THE bus."
• These here parts are full of Lutherans.
• Fargo is a booming North Dakota metropolis but I still have to travel 4 hours to Minneapolis, MN for some comforts of home.
• They eat Lefse. Lefse is a traditional soft, Norwegian flatbread. Lefse is like a tortilla made out of potato, milk or cream, and flour.
• They don't actually talk like the people in the movie "Fargo".
• They say "Uff da". I'm not entirely sure on the definition but I think it's comparable to "wow, oh my, or bummer.
• Mexican restaurants just aren't quite the same. You cannot find satisfying cheese dip up here nor can you buy the ingredients in a grocery store to make your own.
• School gets cancelled if the wind chill is below -50 or if there's over 12 inches of snow over night, otherwise, suck it up and deal.
• Flooding and sand bagging are a regular part of every spring in Fargo. Except this happened to be the mildest winter um.... ever.
• They say "for funny" or "for cute". What's with the midwestern valley girl thing? Just say, cute or funny.
• I am farming illiterate, which makes conversations with old people very difficult.
• No offensive to those of you who roller blading but I'd say it's a little nerdy. Up here it's very popular. I tried it for the first time since I was what? seven? I did not fall :)
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1,394 miles

22 hours total

Day 1: 14 hours.

I crossed 6 states, saw 11 wind turbine blades being transported, nearly ran out of gas in rural South Dakota, passed through De Smet, SD "Home of Laura Ingalls Wilder", battled a spider in the car going 75mph, and ended the day with the Gateway Arch.

Day 2: 8 hours

I crossed 3 more states and arrived safely home!

 

Fully packed car!

Here are some photos from the drive. Notice the change in geography from flat North and South Dakota to the mountains for Tennessee.

 

I was happy to get home around 6 o'clock on the fourth of July for a BBQ with my family and Brad's girlfriend, Katie. We saw the fireworks in the Marietta square like usual and we set off our own fireworks at home ( I smuggled them in from TN!).

The next day I started the job hunt. It's gone surprisingly well and I've already had two interviews. I'm crossing my fingers that I'll have an announcement about my new job by Thursday.

Camp Metigoshe

For just one week this summer I went back to Camp Metigoshe as a guest coordinator. I coordinated Voyageur week. Voyaguer campers are campers who have physical or developmental disabilities. It tends to be a little slower paced than your average camp week and Voyageur campers tend also to be older (like teens-60s). They also happen to be the most wonderful people and they have such an impact on me! They help you realize there is pleasure in simplest things and how something so unsuspecting can bring so much joy to someone. I had a great time coordinating with another guest coordinator, Kate! We had a fantastic time and it was so great to be back at Metigoshe! Here are a few photos from the week!

I arrived Friday night after a four hour drive and spent Saturday laying out on the dock and admiring Lake Metigoshe from the comfort of Melissa's house on the lake.

Welcome to Camp Metigoshe! Always an Adventure Anchored in Christ.

My awesome co-coordinator, Kate!

Doing some parachuting! This brings everyone back to their youth!

Shawny, the most wonderful and cheerful lady!

Voyageurs love to ride the pontoon and the paddle boats at the water front!

Sweet counselors I got to coordinate for! We did a Kooky Counselor & Kooky Camper event and I make them race to lick to stripes off a candy cane and find over 20 M&Ms in a bowl of powdered sugar!

More campers having a good time at camp!

There is a big emphasis at camp on making things possible for Voyaguer campers that they would not get to do ordinarily. We had some Voyaguer campers participate in the high ropes course which is an amazing accomplishment for them and something they'll always remember!

Special camp fire in the middle of the road on Thursday night. Nothing like singing camp songs as loudly as possible while you dance around like crazy!

Goodbye Camp Metigoshe! Hope to see you again soon!