Things I Didn't Know About Grand Forks #10

North Dakota has the fewest endangered species! Of course, this might be because they have all been eaten or turned into jerky. 

But North Dakota also has the fewest clean energy businesses. What a difference from Oregon!

Right now my biggest fear (one of them, anyway) is that I will bring my reusable bags to a grocery store and they will be confused. I will outright refuse service if they try to put my groceries in a plastic bag. This is going to be trouble.

Images are taken from this website

Things I didn't know about Grand Forks #9

Notice the extremely flat landscape

North Dakota is home to the tallest man-made structure in the United States (#3 in the world)-- the KVLY-TV radio tower. It is in Blanchard, ND, which is nearly an hour south of Grand Forks. It's not too much to look at, but that's North Dakota.

An Unexpected Guest

We had a minor tragedy befall ShepAlder Manor.

Our house backs to a green space, and for whatever reason our backyard acts like a magnet for falling trees. This is the fifth tree to crash near our house, though, thankfully, it's the first one to ever do any damage. 

In the past, Josh has just sawed off the branches and we have either tossed them back to the green space or into our green waste, but this was kind of a bigger deal. Josh had to call Parks and Rec to come and remove it.

They came with their chainsaws and their woodcutter.

And now, thankfully, all we have to show for this ordeal is a minorly dented fence and a broken shed roof. When we bought the house, I never thought that there would be negatives to living so close to trees, but I guess living away from trees is something I can look forward to in North Dakota.

Things I didn't know about Grand Forks #8

Grand Forks is:

• 1, 587 miles from my house, which is 25 hours by car (19 days, 21 hours by foot, which is important to know if there is a zombiepocalypse and I have to skeedaddle).
• 1,871 miles from Disneyland, which is 30 hours by car
• 326 miles from the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN (5 hours, 17 minutes by car), which is the closest adequate shopping center
• 241 kilometers (so fancy!) from Winnepeg, Manitoba (3 hours by car), which is the closest big city (if you don't count Fargo-- 105,549 people and growing!) and closest Costco (ND apparently hates good deals)
• 448 miles from where I was born (in Wisconsin!), which is 8 hours and 14 minutes by car
• 724 miles from Chicago (12 hours, 17 minutes by car) just in case I get a craving for deep dish pizza and/or a Chicago dog.
• 4,970 km from Cancun (2 days, 6 hours by car), just in case I decide to throw it all away and live on a beach.

In other words, it's pretty much in the middle of nowhere.

Things I didn't know about Grand Forks #7

Here's a little Grand Forks history for you:

Grand Forks could have been a bigger city from the beginning, except, during the time that the most people had emigrated to the area, North Dakota was considered a "dry" state (meaning they didn't sell or serve alcohol within state limits). East Grand Forks was established across the river in Minnesota because the trappers and traders that first called "Les Grandes Fourches" home wanted to get their drunk on. East Grand Forks had a brewery and 30+ saloons.

These days, Grand Forks is full of drinking and hockey-watching, but I wonder if East Grand Forks is still considered the rough side of town.

Old Main (c. 1890), the first building of the UND campus (photo courtesy of this website)

Things I didn't know about Grand Forks #6

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Grand Forks and the nearby metropolitan North Dakota cities have among the lowest unemployment rates. #1 is Bismarck (3.2%), #3 is Fargo (3.7%), and #11 is Grand Forks (4.4%).

To compare: the Portland/Vancouver/Hillsboro area is #212 with 8.1% unemployment. Eugene, Oregon's next largest metropolitan area, is #246 with 8.7% unemployment. The highest is #372, El Centro, CA with 26.8%, but it's mostly prisons and farmland, so I'm not sure whether it really counts.

The farmlands of El Centro, where it can get up to 122 degrees in July

The good news is that if I choose to stay in North Dakota, most of my clients will be employed. The bad news is that if I don't open my private practice, I may bump the unemployment rate up and bring shame to the community.

Things I didn't know about Grand Forks #5

They love their Olive Garden!

Josh called my attention to this article about Marilyn Hagerty, an 85-year-old Grand Forks food critic who reviewed the "largest and most beautiful restaurant now operating in Grand Forks." That restaurant is Olive Garden.


There are multiple things I love about the story. Firstly, the fact that the food critic at the Grand Forks Herald is an 85-year-old woman who writes sincere articles about chain restaurants is awesome. Secondly, it reminds me that I, too, liked Olive Garden once upon a time, so I shouldn't be such a food snob.

The Grand Forks Olive Garden, with an inset picture of Hagerty

The best way to learn about a culture is to eat the local food. I was worried it would be all buffalo jerky and venison, but maybe it will be chicken alfredo and breadsticks instead.