{"id":227078,"date":"2024-08-08T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-08T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lavendermagazine.com\/?p=227078"},"modified":"2024-08-05T10:23:00","modified_gmt":"2024-08-05T15:23:00","slug":"bis-mark-the-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lavendermagazine.com\/featured-home-page\/bis-mark-the-spot\/","title":{"rendered":"(Bis) Mark the Spot"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Leave chest-thumping to the folks on the coasts. While denizens of New York and L.A. can\u2019t wait to tell you how swell it is to exist in their particular paradise, North Dakotans are more circumspect. They\u2019re a modest and conservative lot, not likely to buttonhole you to extol the merits of their state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I\u2019ll do it for them. Let\u2019s start in its capitol city, Bismarck. The town arose from the confluence of steamboat traffic on the mighty Missouri River and advent of the railroad in the 1800s. It was named for Germany\u2019s ruler, Otto von Bismarck, in hopes of currying his favor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Didn\u2019t work. So in typical North Dakota fashion, they set out to grow the city by themselves. In the state\u2019s modest and budget-conscious fashion, its Capitol building boasts no gleaming dome, no marble colonnade. It looks like (and is) an office building of 19 stories, which visitors may tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bob, our guide, offers this intro: \u201cIt\u2019s like walking into a work of art\u201d: all Art Deco, with a Prairie wheat motif. Its Hall of Fame hails locals like bandleader Lawrence Welk as well as Teddy Roosevelt\u2014not a native, but he did rough-ride through these parts. Peek into the legislative chambers, the Supreme Court\u2019s room, and, tip-top, an art-filled observatory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there, you\u2019ll spot two don\u2019t-miss museums, starting with the Gateway to Science, which debuted in 2023 on a hilltop overlooking the Missouri River. It features 40-plus hands-on stations at which to, say, track your bloodstream\u2019s journey or simulate laser surgery. Adults elbow kids out of the way\u2014it\u2019s that much fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The North Dakota Heritage Center & State Museum showcases some of the many dinosaur skeletons unearthed in the state, plus an intro to its five Tribal Nations, where, interactively, you can make your choice of arrow to \u201chunt\u201d bison and listen to settlers\u2019 portraits spring to life to relate their stories.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Exterior
Governor\u2019s Mansion<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Drive along Hwy. 1804 and you\u2019ll experience the very same, very untouched landscape that its first explorers traversed. Hit the ground running at Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park, home of troops stationed under General Custer\u2019s command (tour his house, too). Head next to On A Slant, the Mandan tribe\u2019s village of 1575 with its earth-covered lodges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Explorers Lewis and Clark over-wintered in Knife River Indian Village, where today its Visitors Center showcases beautiful beadwork, a traditional earth lodge and its adjoining tobacco garden. This was the village of Sacajawea\u2014the Native young woman who acted as their interpreter along what\u2019s now known as the Lewis & Clark Trail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Double Ditch Village, vibrant from 1490 until decimated by smallpox the white men introduced in 1785, is the site saluting the remains of 32 lodges: one of the most spectacular archaeological sites in the entire Midwest. At the excellent Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center, explore those explorers\u2019 collection of books and gifts for Natives along their journey as well as medicines: a bleeding bowl; dental forceps, a gouger(!). When the river froze over, they wintered among the local Mandan (and nearly starved).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Present-day settler Jake Doan, who runs his family\u2019s 160-acre Black Leg Ranch, which his great-grandfather homesteaded (\u201cMy relatives back in England were a bunch of outlaws, who either fled the law or were hanged\u201d) and where his grandfather was born on the kitchen table, now raises 2,500 head of cattle on the land. \u201cBut,\u201d he instructs, \u201cWe\u2019re in the grass business. People are raping the land, and we need more raw, clean food, not chemicals dumped into it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Shot
Earthlodge<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

As land stewards, \u201cWe\u2019re not succession-grazing our herd,\u201d constantly moving it all over the property; rather, \u201cintensive mob-grazing: Eat it clean for two days, then let it regenerate for a year. All our cattle are grass-fed and grass-finished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy brother has also started a hunting venture; and we\u2019ve launched a brewery (Bison brand). In other words, we\u2019re selling an experience,\u201d he instructs. Soon to come: an event center, maybe a boutique hotel with a farm-to-table kitchen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back closer to the outskirts of Bismarck, we visited the United Tribes Technical College and its gift shop (shopping op for beadwork, blankets, books and more), which also tells the story of WW II\u2019s Japanese Internment Camp on the site, with barracks still standing\u2014another shameful moment in American history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A stroll through Bismarck\u2019s downtown leads visitors to the Governor\u2019s Mansion, a Victorian beauty outside (not so much, inside) harboring juicy scandals to unfold. A stop at the site of Camp Hancock of 1872 shares space with a gay, red-and-black-clad church, the town\u2019s oldest building. (Speaking of old: Two more blocks and you\u2019re at an intriguing antiques mall.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A murals tour explores now-prettified alleys (close to a dozen vibrant artworks on Alley 5.5 alone), while a DIY art tour visits a cluster of galleries along with the Downtown Artists Co-op (ogle a painted guitar plus elegant beadwork bouquets). Nearby, Capitol Gallery showcases, among others, works by Native artist Butch Thunder Hawk.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"A
Donuts at Bearscat Bakehouse<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Time for dinner. You\u2019ll find ramen, you\u2019ll find enchiladas; you\u2019ll find primo fish & chips at Blarney Stone \u2014but also Bismarck\u2019s spin on hometown fare. Hit Brick Oven for your morning java, complete with pastries galore. Don\u2019t miss Butterhouse, a quietly elegant eatery within original brick walls, where my brunchtime Asparagus Benedict and peach-guava Mimosa made me purr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seek fine dining at Pirogue for local spins on Midwest faves. Find donuts galore at Bearscat Bakehouse. Cross the river to sister city Mandan and head to Frieds for plate lunches and homemade pies from the good old days (with prices to match). And maybe, it\u2019s even National Mashed Potato Day. Find out by stopping at Mandan\u2019s National Day calendar company\u2019s HQ to learn which celebrations make the cut on their popular (Target, Walmart) calendars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more info, visit www.noboundariesnd.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gay-friendly venues:<\/strong>
Laughing Sun Brewery
The CraftCade (special Pride drink)
Brick Oven Bakery (Rainbow heart cookies)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Far(go) Out!<\/strong>
Fargo is to North Dakota what Austin is to Texas: a blue dot in a sea of red. Cruising downtown\u2019s venues, you\u2019ll spot many a welcoming rainbow flag at shops such as LGBT-owned Scribble Lady, offering gay merch including rainbow flags, nice-to-naughty greeting cards, and Queer Queen iron-on patches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grab breakfast at Marge\u2019s, decorated in shades-of-the-Fifties collections of salt-and-pepper shakers and cookie jars to gird you for a DIY tour of the town\u2019s marvy murals (maps available) and a stop at the Plains Art Museum (free admission), currently showcasing quirky-to-provocative pieces on loan from a queer collector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cross over to twin town Moorhead, where the Hjemkomst Center displays a locally-built and sailed repro of a Viking ship, a replica of a medieval Norwegian stave church, and a moving Right to Marry exhibit, complete with heartfelt testimonials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visit Brewhalla, a new food hall (think: taproom, oyster bar, local ice cream, a cheese and fish deli, and gift shops) before enjoying dinner at Rosewild, within the rustic-chic Jasper Hotel (Swedish meatballs to Parmesan walleye to hotdish pot pie) or Prairie Kitchen, saluting more meatballs, along with a lefse platter, bison tenderloin and Nordic banh mi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2014and a whole lot more\u2014is why the town\u2019s mottos is \u201cNorth of Normal.\u201d Truth in advertising: Bring it on! For info, check out www.fargomoorhead.org<\/a>. Also scroll through Lavender<\/em>\u2019s archives for a intro to Fargo story from 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leave chest-thumping to the folks on the coasts. While denizens of New York and L.A. can\u2019t wait to tell you how swell it is to exist in their particular paradise, North Dakotans are more circumspect. They\u2019re a modest and conservative lot, not likely to buttonhole you to extol the merits of their state. So I\u2019ll…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":228820,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","wds_primary_category":278},"categories":[278,141,151],"tags":[17651],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lavendermagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227078"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lavendermagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lavendermagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavendermagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavendermagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227078"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lavendermagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":228849,"href":"https:\/\/lavendermagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227078\/revisions\/228849"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavendermagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lavendermagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavendermagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavendermagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}