North Dakota

So Katie emailed me and asked me a bunch of questions that, quite frankly, I think you all would like to know.  So, I will post them on my blog.  Overall, I am very happy with Fargo.  When you hear of Fargo, you think of some podunk (sp?) town.  But it really is an up and coming place.  We are quite centrally located to pretty much anything we could want.  To illustrate this, there is a Mongolian BBQ restaurant right across the street from where we live... MONGOLIAN.  Ya, you wouldn't think so hu?  I really like out apartment for several reasons. It is on the third floor, so we don't have people banging around above us.  Also, all the windows face south, which means we get sun all day long (maybe Lianna will stop killing all the house plants and claim its because of lack of sun =D )  That also means we will be able to house several plants on our balcony that will grow well.  Our apartment is much bigger than anything we've lived in so far (excepting mom and dad's house).  I am really liking my job, but it still can get confusing at times.  Lots of hoops to jump through to please insurance companies and odd state laws.  And yes, it is super cold up here.  Like, when you walk out in the morning and inhale the mucus membranes inside your nose freeze (weird feeling!) and when you exhale they thaw out.  Yesterday, it was -7 degrees.  But they way I see it, below 30 degrees its cold and it will kill you anyway.  I don't feel much of a difference between -7 and 30 degrees because I'm always wearing clothes.  So that is Fargo in a nutshell.  So now for some pictures!  Granted, these were taken with my blackberry (hatehate) so they aren't great quality, but you'll get the picture.

So I had to chuckle about some of North Dakota's advertising lures.  Since the entire is state is pretty much growing like a deacon hitting his growth spurt, they advertise the life here, and they LOVE billboards.  Tons, everywhere.  Anyway, here is one of them.

However, I think these next few are more accurate (at least right now)

That is fog.  Actual fog, and not snow fog (I know right?  I didn't even know snow fog existed... but it does.  It looks really similar too, but its just snow blowing so much that it's, well, foggy.)

It's not super common that we have that dense fog, but it does amazing things to the landscape.  I have only seen snow flocked trees a few times in CO, but here it is understandably much more common.  Here are some that I snapped with my dumb phone.

Once the fog lifts and if the sun comes out, the effect is absolutely stunning (I have yet to capture this on camera).  It is like each tree is covered in a million little crystals.

With all that said. I like Fargo.  Sure, the floods haven't hit yet and they have experienced an extremely rare mild winter, but we will likely be moving more into Minnesota so floods won't be too much of a concern for us.  So there you have it.  Now all that's missing is my wonderful wife, without whom, I realized, means I am a very lame person.  I can't wait to be with her again.