Fargo

Over the week-end I took a long postponed road trip down to Fargo, North Dakota. Every so often, I find it does a world of good to get away from my everyday routine and venture out into the world all by myself.

I'm not reusing old photos of other trips for this shot. It doesn't really matter which direction you leave Winnipeg, you'll find the same kind of scenery. In some directions that means for thousands of kilometres. It's a prairie thing.



My favourite man-made structure along the road, this tiny church has been left standing and the divided highway has been built up on either side. There's even a little cemetary. I can only assume that one of the parishoners held some sway with the provincial government at the time the highway was being constructed.



Here's a snap of the U.S. border. I've found the U.S. border gaurds to be a somewhat humourless bunch - they didn't give me any trouble this time, but then, I suppose I didn't try cracking any jokes. By the way, that's rain on the windshield, I'm not being attacked by tiny little flying saucers.



Fargo has grown very slowly over the last hundred years, which means many of the older buildings weren't torn down in the name of progress. Most towns now are able to recognise the value in the old signage and architecture, and Fargo's got a few gems.













The local art museum had an exhibit of Rodin's sculptures (this was the same Rodin exhibit that was in Winnipeg recently). I've seen these works twice now and they're still impressive. The second floor of the museum is devoted to the permanent collection. My favourite part of any art gallery are the pieces that make me think I could have been an artist if only I had a little vision and maybe some talent, like this .



On Broadway in the downtown, there's the most fantastic yarn shop called Boucle.



Thre were so many things that just couldn't be resisted. I bought Elly a set of pink Denise needles. Now she doesn't have to borrow mine. Hooray!





And for me, from Lantern Moon, a beautiful small project bag and a pair of ebony needles. Very swish.



I also bought a little bit of yarn (well now, it is a yarn shop). Three skiens (100grams each) of bamboo in a colour called "white", and though it looks white in the photo, really has more of a silver hint to it, and also a hank of Holo Hoops by Great Adirondack Yarn Co., in colourway Beach House. An interesting yarn - I don't generally go for novelty yarns, but this one appealed for some reason. Inside the shop - which was very slick - Holo Hoops had been knit into a skinny scarf and seemed almost avant garde, but now that it's home it seems a bit more disco fever. I'll knit it up none-the-less.



And just one more thing - buttons. I really couldn't resist these.



acorn buttons,



scottie buttons,



shell button,



Here's a better look at the Holo Hoops. The colour has the same shades as the shell button - a bit of silver, hints of pink and green, and maybe a touch of blue here and there.



A very successful outing, don't you think?