Happy Fall everyone! I visited North Dakota recently as part of a new goal, inspired by my friend Kimberly, to visit all 50 U.S. states before my 50th birthday! When I tallied up all of the states I have visited previously, there were only 7 states left on the list, and North Dakota was one of them. Since it was the easiest to get to via a short roadtrip, I decided to venture North for a few days to check out Fargo.

Airbnb 🤩

I found a cute airbnb in a loft apartment near downtown and it was a fun place to stay to check out the area.

The Wood Chipper! 🎥🎬

Remember the Coen brother’s 1996 dark comedy, crime film Fargo? It is set in Fargo, ND and was responsible for Frances McDormand’s Oscar win for playing pregnant police chief Marge Gunderson. It also has a very infamous wood chipper scene, and the actual wood chipper is on display in Fargo at the visitor center, along with some other movie memorabilia.

There is also a neat ‘walk of fame’ with hand prints and signatures from musicians, authors, actors and athletes who have visited Fargo near the visitor center as well.

Downtown🏙️

The downtown area of Fargo is very clean, quaint and aesthetically pleasing with a smattering of shops, restaurants, and a 1926 restored vaudeville theater. These sweet ladies asked if I had any cash, and when I told them I didn’t, they asked if I would take their picture instead.☺️📸

Art & Murals 🎨

Fargo is also known for its unique murals, free art museum and various pieces of art all around the downtown area.

Viking Ship & Stave Church

Though technically just over the border from Fargo, in Moorhead, MN, there is an interesting museum called The Hjemkomst Center, which means ‘homecoming’ in Norwegian. It houses a full-scale replica of a Norwegian Viking ship and behind it, a Norwegian stave church.

The ship was built by a Moorhead resident, Robert Asp, and it was sailed from Minnesota to Norway in 1982 by his family!

The church was dedicated in 1998 by Fargo resident Guy Paulson. Of Norwegian ancestry, he dreamed of building a stave church for years and modeled this one after the original stave church in Vic, Norway which dates from the end of the Viking Age, about 1140 A.D.

And last but not least….Dairy Queen 😆🍦

While researching things to do in Fargo, I came across this unexpected Fargo/Moorhead staple: Diary Queen! This is one of the oldest original stores in the entire franchise, having opened in 1950! DQ’s famous Dilly Bar was created here and they have a 20-foot-tall Dilly Bar statue out front. Having a special place in my heart for Dairy Queen, of course I had to stop by to see it for myself. 😂

Thanks for checking out the blog! Hopefully I’ll have a few more U.S. related travel posts coming up in trying to meet this new goal. 🎉🎊 And I welcome any suggestions on places to visit in the states I have left, which are: Montana, Alaska, Rhode Island, Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama. Happy Fall Everyone! 😃