Day 4: Across ND

Day mileage: 289.4
States: North Dakota
Highlights: CAA-ND, Fargo, ND’s oldest
Noteworthy food stops: Moorhead Dairy Queen
Overnight: Hampton Inn Bismarck

This post is Day 4 of our summer road trip. For more, visit our trip overview post.

The Route

The actual route would not change much from the planned route because we had a hotel reservation in Bismarck – we just didn’t have as far to go since we would be starting from Grand Forks. This meant that we had more time in Fargo.

From a geocaching perspective, must-dos included Cache Across America – North Dakota (GCZ35R), the Fargo-Moorhead GeoTour (more about that below), and ND’s Oldest (GC551).

About Our Day

Originally, this would have been a long day from the middle of Minnesota all the way to Bismarck, ND, but our unintended long day yesterday meant a much shorter day today – giving us plenty of time to explore.

We were perfectly positioned to start our day at our next Cache Across America … I believe our ninth. After completing the necessary detour, we headed south to Fargo/Moorhead City en route to Bismarck.

Fargo and Moorhead City
We didn’t have the time to complete the GeoTour, but did add a few select caches along our route. Highly recommend a stop at the I-94 Visitors Center where you can see the woodchipper used in the film. Also, if North Dakota happens to be your last state to visit, you can join the Best for Last Club!

While in the area, we also visited one of the original Dairy Queen locations – the home of the original Dilly Bar – that operates under an old Franchise agreement, enabling it to sell items that other locations cannot, including an ice cream sandwich and a chili cheese dog.

The few caches we managed to visit did not disappoint, and I really wish we had more time to stick around and complete the GeoTour. You’ll definitely want to visit Stage 1 of GC8C3WF – you can even interact with it and grab some pretty cool photos. None posted here so as to not spoil the multi-cache … but if you’re a fan of the original Super Mario Bros. or murals or just creativity, definitely swing by.

We had more than our fill at Dairy Queen so, unfortunately, did not leave room for any other places in the area. We did swing by Drekker Brewing Company for a cache and lamented the fact that we had hours and miles to go. “Next time.”

Bismarck and finishing the day
It was a straight shot from Fargo to Bismarck along I-94. There were slight detours for some caches, the world’s largest Buffalo and Sandhill Crane, and leg stretches. Upon arriving in Bismarck, we had to head to ND’s oldest cache, The Buck Stops Here! (GC551), hidden on March 25, 2001 and still going strong!

Before scouting for dinner (ultimately finding The Walrus Restaurant), we headed to the state capitol building in order to check that one off the list. No one was around, so we grabbed a few pictures and headed out – dinner first, then the hotel.