We saw a lot other than Alexandria, but that was the main destination point.
This is gonna be a fairly long post, accompanied by a bunch of pictures below, so if you make it down to the end, give yourself and "Attaboy".
Here's a rundown of the weekend:
Thursday:
We get out of town a little later than we hoped, and Isabella has developed a screaming fear of bugs, so summertime car rides for 30 miles can get interesting. We dropped her off at Karissa's mom's place and headed out close to 11am.
W spent a little bit of time on th west end of Fargo, but lately that side isn't as fun, so we headed over to the east side, where downtown Fargo sits. It was hot as hell, but we had some fun hitting the antique stores on Broadway. We ate at Bertrosa's for lunch, then headed off to Moorhead.
At Moorhead, we stopped at the antique store we found last March, the one with all their junk piled up in a warehouse. We saw a hanging light last time that was really cool, so this time Karissa haggled a bit, and we got a good price for it. You can see the pic further down. When you see the light, you will realize why I'm not coming off as the gayest straight guy ever for gushing about a light fixture.
Next stop was the antique mall in Moorhead, where Karissa found tea pots and other containers made of silver and every other kind of metal. I found a wood model of th Edmund Fitzgerald, and fought with myself not to get it. I had made the decision not too long ago that I would rather do a painting of it as a sunken wreck that have a model.
We checked into the Travelodge & Suites and had to haul the light and everything else into our room so nobody would steal it. Despite the fact that this Travelodge looks uncomfortably like a Choice Hotel (no offense April), they treated me like a fellow employee, and I had a good stay.
We checked one more little antiqu store downtown, where I found a new hat (green one with no brass badge on it below).
That night, Karissa and I skipped th Speakeasy and opted for Toscano's a fancy little place on Broadway. It turned out very nice, and the waitress served us so well, we began questioning why we still go fast food.
Friday:
After a good night's sleep, we headed out to Alexandria.
We hit the antique stores there, and came out with quite a bit of junk. I was debating getting a guitar I found at one, but it needed too much work. I also found the same Russian officer's hat I saw last March, but didn't feel comfortable with the price I'd be paying for it, so I left it. I did, however find a cool painting from 1963. At another one, I found two 8mm cameras I would have loved to own--on with a manual zoom lens, and one equipped with 3 different lenses that rotated into position like those old 16mm ones. I also found one with a "quatrolens", which apparently takes 3D pictures. I thought April would think it was cool. Karissa found a couple compacts and a ring that looked like a Roman brooch, and I found another hat (the dark blue with a badge on it).
We ate at the Traveler's Inn for lunch, and were asked before being seated if we wanted to sit by the family with kids. The family in question had a couple of kids that were bing typical kids and misbehaving a little, and I'm pretty sure they were within earshot. We replied that we didn't mind, and marveled at the host's rudeness. For the record, I have nothing against those who don't want to sit near kids, nor do I have anything against sitting near noisy kids, so long as they are touching me. But for the host to bring it up almost right in front of them, that's not professional.
Anyway, we hit another antique store, where I saw a lot of stuff we saw last October, like a 4-stringed banjo, a dirty sax, that kind of stuff. I also found what may have been a dulcimer missing a string, which I didn't get, and a top hat, which I did get.
We also stopped at a comic shop, where we wound up discussing Max Collins' "Road to Pertion" book, and finding out that one of the owners had a sister-in-law who was in the film adaption.
We drove around a bit, becoming acquainted more with Alexandria and finally stopped at Raaper's, where I tried not only fish, but also Jamaica's own "Red Stripe" beer, and "1919" root beer.
We checked into the outdoorsman's room at the
L Motel, which was better than the Teddy Bear room last time we stayed.
Saturday:
After a good night's sleep, we checked out and went to the Minnesota Lakes Maritime Museum, which turned out to be cooler than we thought it would be. I got to learn a bit about Alexandria's older hotels.
After that, we went to the Runestone Museum, where we learned about Olof Ohman and his discovery of the famous and very controversial Runestone on his farmstead. Somehow, despite the fact the the actual Runestone, which has pretty much traveled the world , sat in the middle of the room in a big glass case, Karissa missed it.
There was actually a lot more to the museum than the Runestone. There was a lot of info about the Native American community, the ways of life back in the early days of the city's settlement, and even some war memorabilia. Outside was stationed Ft. Alexandria. Pics below.
We then took off for Fergus Falls. In Fergus Falls, we ate at the bar in Mabel Murphy's which was pretty good food, then visited the Douglas County Museum. Karissa and I were both very surprised at how cool this museum was. They had ambient sounds for different exhibits, depictions of farm life, even a little town to walk through, which was cool and creepy at the same time.
All the antique stores had closed by this time, so we just went to Swan Lake, where we had reserved a campsite. It was boiling hot by this time, and I was covered in sweat before I even had our tent out of the bag. I did get it set up, then we went back into town for some provisions. The best idea we had? Handheld fans with a spray-bottle attached. I also got a pair of shorts, but there are no pictures of me wearing them, so ladies, put it out of your mind.
It stayed in the 90's until sometime after midnight. It was not comfortable, and the batteries in our fans did NOT hold out for us.
Sunday:
Sleep at 3am was much less cumbersome. Still, after a shitty night's sleep and an unsuccessful attempt at fire-brewing coffee, we decided to pack up and leave.
It was a good decision, because we were ready to go home. We only planned a three day trip, and our minds felt that third day was enough. We missed Isabella, we were ready to get back home and get everything out of our car.
Isabella was alright, except for the bug thing. She had fun at her grandma's and told us all about it between screaming at what she thought were bugs and after her nap at home. She also sang "Happy Birthday" to us, which puzzles us.
It's good to be home. It's even better to think of getting back to my drawing. But we did have a helluva time, and it'll b fun to do it again someday. So that's it. That's our weekend in a nutshell. Karissa will point out anything I left out.
Odometer reading at the end of the trip: 567 miles.
