SLOW SALLY & CREW

Have you ever heard of Fargo, North Dakota? If you have, it’s likely because you’ve watched the famous 1996 black comedy crime film, or the more recent TV anthology, both the namesake of this Midwestern city. The only things we knew (or thought we knew) about Fargo came from the movie and TV series. When we decided to visit, we envisioned grey skies, vast empty plains, a small town with rundown buildings, thick upper Midwestern accents, and perhaps a Paul Bunyan statue. Boy, were we in for a surprise… and you will be too! In this post, we’re sharing the three things that surprised and delighted us most about Fargo. But first… why did we decide to visit?

Why Did We Visit Fargo?

We were planning our route from Badlands National Park to Thunder Bay, Ontario (Canada), where we would be visiting family. As we studied our map, the name “Fargo” jumped off the page at me. I recognized it from the film, of course. We remembered little about the movie, except that we had loved it and that at the end (*spoiler alert), one of the bad guys disposes of his accomplice’s body with a woodchipper. We watched the movie years ago but it’s not a scene that one easily forgets. A very quick Google search revealed that THE woodchipper from the Fargo movie is on display at the Visitor’s Centre. That was it, we were going!

The Visitor’s Centre

You can imagine our surprise as we neared Fargo on the I29, and a busy, modern city of well over 100,000 people appeared on the horizon. I mean, I don’t think we even realized that Fargo was a “city”, per se. There were freeways, billboards, an international airport, multiple Walmarts, and every other retail chain you can think of… and, the sun was shining! Who would have guessed?

Our first stop was the Visitor’s Centre. It’s up there with the best we’ve ever visited. It’s modern, easy to find, and best of all, dog-friendly! The super helpful staff passionately talked us through everything the city has to offer (which was a lot more than we could possibly see and do in the 1-day we had allotted ourselves) while we sipped our complimentary coffees. They were also very obliging in helping us take ridiculous photos with the woodchipper.

The most impressive resource we found was “A Dog’s Guide to Fargo-Moorehead”. It’s a pamphlet with a comprehensive list of dog-friendly patios, dog parks, dog-friendly parks, and the best places to find doggy treats. What a fantastic idea! Walter greatly appreciated it, and we wish more cities would do this.

The Bustling Downtown

After spending a night “camping” at Walmart, we headed downtown, armed with fantastic information from the Visitor’s Centre. The weather was sunny and warm, Fargo’s annual Marathon was in full swing, and the city was bustling with activity. We spent most of the day wandering along Broadway Drive, taking photos of the old historic buildings, admiring the vintage signs (the Fargo Theatre sign was definitely our favourite), popping into shops, eating, and drinking local fare, watching the runners, and relaxing in the central square.

Condé Nast declares Fargo a Midwestern food destination. It’s home to upscale restaurants, trendy bars, and cute boutiques. What? In Fargo? Yes! The city has all sorts of food scenes – coffee, ice cream, and craft beer, just to name a few. We sampled delicious ice cream at the Silver Linings Creamery. You know that the ice cream is good when even plain vanilla is scrumptious. We also treated ourselves to beer and sausage at the Wurst Bier Hall… watching the marathoners was hard work!

Street Art & Interactive Tours

Fargo keeps its visitors entertained with lots of street art and interactive tours. The city is dotted with a full herd of life-size bison statues, each uniquely painted by local artists. We enjoyed stumbling across them as we toured the city but if you are serious about bison hunting, you can track them down using a map from the Visitor’s Centre.

The walls of many of the buildings downtown are covered in murals. We followed the mural map, which was a great way to find little nooks and crannies of the city that we would likely have otherwise missed. I was on a mission to capture photos of as many murals as possible… not going to lie, Marc and Walter eventually tired of that mission 😉.

The most fun mural, in my opinion, was the Super Mario-themed wall. I was inspired to re-enact the Nintendo game that dominated so many hours of my childhood. I had Marc hold the shutter button while I ran around like an idiot, attempting to claim coins and jump on goomba’s head. It was hilarious and a good way to work off the ice cream.

Why Wasn’t Fargo What We Expected?

Well, primarily because we based all our expectations on a fictional movie. And on that note:

• Only one scene in the movie’s story takes place in Fargo (where the kidnapping is arranged), and it’s an indoor scene.
• Most of the outdoor scenes were filmed in Minneapolis and in the rural areas around Brainerd, Minnesota, where most of the story takes place.
• The Midwestern accents in the movie were somewhat exaggerated and are generally much milder in reality – especially in urban areas like Fargo.
• We visited on a sunny, warm Spring day. I’m sure that in the middle of winter, Fargo feels more…“Fargo-y”!

So why was the movie called Fargo? According to Google, the Coen brothers (the writers/directors/producers) called the movie “Brainerd” throughout the filming, but ultimately decided that “Fargo” sounded a lot cooler. They were right.

Stay Tuned

This is the final blog post from our 2023 Vanlife Adventure, during which we travelled roughly 13,000 miles over 141 days, and stayed in 59 different “campsites”. Click here for the whole blog series and interactive map.

We’re taking a 1-month hiatus from blogging, but will be back to posting in October with new vanlife and travel content that we think you guys will love! Over the coming months, we’ll also be planning and preparing for our 2024 Adventure to…. ??? TBD!

To all of you who followed along with our journey and blog posts, thank you so much! We love sharing our trip with you all ❤️.