Our Great Northern Adventure 2002: Part 2
November 5, 2002
We drove out of Angle Inlet, after a routine stop at the Customs Phone Booth at Jim’s Corner to tell them we were leaving the U.S. and going back to Canada. We drove for a while, had a snack, then stopped in a deserted park in Letellier, Manitoba. There was no snow on the ground here, and the air was crisp and clear. It looked like fall.
Aside from the park, all we could see of the town was a grain elevator and not much else. Alexander liked the park and primarily wanted to swing…and swing…and swing… We were able to coax him back into the car when he heard a train passing. We jumped in the car and searched for the train, which was a couple of blocks away. It was probably the longest freight train I have ever seen in my life and it seemed like it took an hour to pass. Alexander was obsessed with trains at the time, so he loved it.
Before we left for this vacation, I started a small scrapbook of “Alexander’s Fifty States” with the names of all the U.S. States in alphabetical order, with room for a picture and information about when Alexander visited that particular state. I figured that a grown-up Alexander could fill in the missing states on his own someday, but it would be a fun record of our travels together.
Frank, being the goal-oriented traveler that he is, got a little carried away with this little book. He would seize any opportunity to add a state to Alexander’s collection. Since we were close to the North Dakota border, Frank had suggested that we cross over to have lunch, take a picture, then drive to our motel in Steinbach, Manitoba. Sounded like a good idea at the time, so we headed south.
The Customs Agent peered suspiciously into the car and asked, “How long are you staying?”
“Until after lunch.” Frank replied. The Customs Agent looked a bit concerned, as though there had been a rash of lunch-time terrorist bombings in North Dakota, so he couldn’t be too careful. He sized up the miniature terror machine in the carseat in the back, obviously concerned that he might be packing some heat in his snowsuit.
I chimed in, “We’re on vacation and are sightseeing. We’ve never been to North Dakota. Not sure when we'll get back up here.”
The Customs Agent chuckled and shook his head, like it was odd that people from California would go to North Dakota on vacation. For two hours.
Frank then asked, “Can you recommend a place near here for lunch?”
The Customs Agent thought for a moment and replied, “No, sir, there’s not much around here. The next town is Pembina, but the food there is bad. You may have to go to Grand Forks, about 20 miles down the road.”
That seemed like a little more of North Dakota than we really wanted to see, but we crossed anyway and hoped for the best.
We took the first exit we could find. There was a large sign that read, “Welcome to Pembina, North Dakota 1797-1997.” This was the perfect site for our obligatory scrapbook picture. Alexander liked running around the sign and found a fascinating block of ice to play with on the ground. We looked around the Pembina exit for a restaurant, but everything appeared to be closed.We then proceeded down I-29 deeper into North Dakota, down the vast expanse of interstate with not much to look at on either side other than the occasional freight train. We took the Grafton exit and came upon Granny’s Family Restaurant, and decided to stop for lunch. The restaurant was not terribly busy. Most of the other patrons appeared to be chain-smoking retirees who did not really warm to our two-year-old’s desire to run amok and break things after being trapped in a car for two hours. Frank succumbed to the glares and took Alexander outside to the parking lot to take a walk, where he found some very enchanting rocks to throw into the dirt.
I ordered Granny’s Famous Fried Chicken. It was surprisingly good, and very much like the fried chicken my own Granny used to make. I miss that and have never perfected the art of frying chicken.
After lunch, we turned around and drove back to Canada, passed through Canadian customs without incident, and headed toward Winnipeg.
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