The Plaid Pladd

I’m guessing that North Dakota and Minnesota run together in your heads as one expanse of Godless frozen tundra. Again, this is mostly true, but not as much in the summer. I’ve been to Minneapolis plenty of times because the Bismarck airport is so freaking small (3-4 gates) that often the best way to get there is to fly to Minneapolis and rent a car. We stayed in my uncle’s basement, which includes the prime attraction of his dog, a sheltie collie that can leap up to slam doors and gets unaccountably angry every time anyone unloads the dishwasher.

Since I have so much Minneapolis experience, I was expecting it to be a mere stop over instead of what it turned out to be: THE GREATEST STOP ON OUR ROADTRIP EVER!!! Seriously, Anna Baron has been holding out on us. Minneapolis may be the REAL Land of Enchantment. Yeah, New Mexico, I said it. Or maybe my low expectations only made it seem that much more amazing. The first order of business was to see Natalie, my erstwhile illustrator of The Knight, the wizard, and the Lady Pig fame:

That's my Meeting a Famous Illustrator Face

She took us salsa dancing. IN THE MALL OF AMERICA. I love the Mall of America. I know it’s the epitome of cheesiness, especially the theme park inside, but I like how it’s its own strange microcosm. Also, the wide availability of ice cream at every turn.

The next best thing: the antique carousel in Como Park! Complete with calliope!

OMGOD Carousel!

A mere picture cannot begin to convey how excited I was

I was literally pushing small children out of the way. Modern carousels definitely don’t have shit on the Como Park one. It goes faster, has hand carved wooden horses, and real leather stirrups! And lasted for like fifteen minutes! It was maybe the happiest fifteen minutes of my adult life so far.

And then, just so we’d be even, we went to this Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota where they fix broken hawks, eagles, owls etc. The tour was free, which was sweet.

"Helloooooo! I am an adorable yet injured owl!"

So, basically, I would suggest Minneapolis, not just for a convenient way to get to Bismarck, but as its own destination. In the summer. This cannot be stressed enough.