Vikings, Ho!

 After lunch on Thursday, we went across the river to Moorhead, Minnesota (only a few minutes away, but the lovely woman working at the hotel gave us a ride) to see the Viking Ship replica at the Hjemkomst Center.  (Hjemkomst means "homecoming" in Norwegian.) 

The ship was basically one man's dream project, and he recruited his family and community to help build a replica of a viking ship, and then his family sailed it to Norway (he died of cancer before the voyage).  It took them about five weeks at sea, but they did it!

The center also included an exhibit on WWI and replica of a Norwegian stave church, made out of wood.  It was a fun way to spend some of the afternoon!  It was also amusing seeing all the Norwegian-themed stuff not so long after coming back from Norway.  In fact, although the replica ship first made landfall at Bergen, Norway, they did travel to Stavanger as well!

Then it was just a short walk back to the hotel (sadly, no sign marked the border between North Dakota and Minnesota over the river), and off to the airport.  They made us nervous with another ground stop delay, but this time we made it to Chicago, and back home to Buffalo. 

North of Normal

After a few hours of delays, our flight home on Wednesday night ended up being cancelled due to ground stops in Chicago. It was too late to go back to Eden (and there weren't any rental cars available anyhow), so we ended up getting a hotel in downtown Fargo. It was a nice place to walk around!  We had dinner in a place called the Boiler Room (which only allowed kids until 10 PM, when it turns into just a bar). We didn't make it to the ice cream shop, but we did take pictures with their angel wings. I think the one the boys are sitting by is actually intended to be for dogs, but that's okay. :)

PS: North of Normal is Fargo's tourism slogan. :)

Sica Hollow

 The weather cooled down a bit on Tuesday, so we went for a hike in Sica Hollow State Park.  There was a lot of uphill climbing, but we also got some beautiful views!  The lower part is wooded with little hidden waterfalls under the foliage, and the upper part is more meadow/prairie with views to the far distance.

Legends say that the park is haunted.  We didn't see any ghosts, but there was a fallen tree rubbing against another tree that did make a pretty spooky noise!

Hay Baling

 The kids had a great time climbing and racing on Joe and Joy's hay bales.  Even Maggie the dog got in on the action!  And they finished off the evening with even more of a thrill -- four-wheeler rides with Uncle Chris.