What’s on your bucket list?

Bucket List. This term was popularized by the film of the same name a few years ago and has become a familiar refrain for older people. I don’t have much on my “bucket list” because I have been fortunate to have traveled in most parts of the world except Africa and Antarctica (and wouldn’t really care to be there!). However, two states needed to be visited to make my “50 state list” complete. That happened at the end of September.

Minnesota and North Dakota were the two states — although I really also needed a bit more time in Wisconsin to be honest about the list. I flew into Minneapolis and stayed for two nights then went on the rest of my adventure. Minneapolis will be covered in a separate column because it has many more highlights than I anticipated.

Interstate 94 from Minneapolis to Fargo, N.D. was my first route. What a beautiful way to go. This section of Minnesota is flat — really flat compared to California standards where even in the flatland we see hills and mountains. The Minnesota horizon seems to stretch out forever with an occasional rise or hill.

However, throughout this section are farms and more farms with the typical picturesque setting — house, interesting barn, silos and other out buildings. The landscape was green and lush with trees surrounding the structures. I felt like I was looking at those pictures of the Midwest I’ve seen over the years.

Rest stops were excellent because they were far more than “mere” rest stops. All facilities had a huge indoor entrance for everyone, obviously because of the weather — snow, hail and rainstorms, and tornadoes. And the building was comfortably heated. Outside were picnic tables and picnic shelters in case of rain plus a large playground. The grass area either went down to a lake or ended with a trail to the lake. With all the lakes in Minnesota this is logical.

The Red River separates Minnesota from North Dakota. East of the river is Moorhead, a smaller town that has Minnesota State Community and Technical College and a Regional Science Center. The center of town is historic with a small building revival but not quite like its neighbor across the river.

Fargo was far more than I expected. I learned Fargo and Moorhead flood regularly, but guess they are so used to it they simply clean up and go on. Its streets are lined with lush trees and older houses many of which have been restored. North Dakota State University is the main employer in town with close to 40,000 students. Our waiter, who was a student, told us his was the largest freshman class to date with 13,000 students.

As we met other students during the trip we learned there is a five-state agreement for students in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and North and South Dakota. They can attend college in any one of those states. Our waiter was from Minnesota. A waitress in Duluth was from Minnesota and attending college in Superior, Wis. across the river. This may be the reason for the large student population in Fargo.

Fargo is proud of their downtown revival. Each restored building has a plaque about its past. One of the buildings once had been a Ford Assembly Plant. Seems Ford felt it was smart to have the cars immediately available. On the ground floor was the sales office. The second floor housed the Ford offices and the third floor was the assembly plant. This building is now offices with boutique restaurants and shops on the ground floor.

The Red River was best viewed from one of the city’s many parks. Walking along the river’s edge, we saw calm water, frolicking squirrels and a few homes on the riverbank, showing some residents didn’t mind being flooded often.

The road from Fargo to Duluth featured a few of Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes. Lakes were beside the highway as well as south and north with signs pointing to resorts off highway. Many lakes had these resorts and also houses along the shore. Occasionally a lake appeared without any human habitation. My companion, who was born in Minnesota, told me that in the summer the population in this area triples. Everyone wants to go to a lake to canoe, fish and swim. And in the winter ice skating and cross country skiing takes place.

We stopped in Walker for lunch in a park on a lake and learned this was the capital for Muskee (I probably spelled it wrong) fishing. I had this fish later for dinner, a white fish with mild taste. Minnesota parks have all types of facilities -— picnic shelters, playgrounds for children, activities like horseshoes or bocce ball, and huge grass areas.

Then it was on to Duluth — featured in my next column.