August 23rd through September 6th, 2025
We had a whirlwind trip planned in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Though we had a lot planned, it wasn't too stressful or too busy. We left Saxon, Wisconsin, and headed to Minneapolis the day before Margot's birthday.
We had a fun idea for her birthday -- to go to the Mall of America (MOA) to see what it's all about. To start the day, we met with some of Monica's friends from work for brunch at Cedar + Stone, Urban Table in the Marriott attached to the MOA. Sometimes hotel restaurants aren't that great, but this one was awesome. Everyone enjoyed their food.
After brunch we headed into the MOA with Josh. The mall is huge, with a decent-sized amusement park in the middle. We wandered around but didn't ride anything. Josh couldn't hang out for long, so he went home and we went out into the mall to see what else there was to do. Monica bought a handbag at the Michael Kors store (it's an addiction).
What we found was so fun! We found a package deal and started at the Great Big Game Show. There was a real host, lights, big music, and games. We played against two other people, and we were ahead for the entire game until the last event when we had to shoot Nerf darts at targets. They won in the end, but we had a great time (we weren't too bitter about it).
Next, we went to The Escape Game. Neither of us had ever done an escape room, but we'd always wanted to try it. We joined another group to do the Mission:Mars room. It was challenging and fun, and the other family was a blast. We got out of the room in record time. We can't wait to do more escape rooms!
We were only in Minneapolis for a week, but we were able to hang out with our friends from Monica's work on many of the days. Alissa, Fetsum, Kris, and Josh all hung out for a while at our place, which was nice. We were sad to leave everyone.
We soon had to head out, picking up the trailer in its storage location in the campground and taking out a speed limit sign in the process (whoops). We stayed one night on the eastern side of North Dakota and then made it to western North Dakota the next day. We stopped at the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site on the way there to check things out. We stopped at the visitor center but didn't do any hiking or driving around -- Margot was still healing, and our car was in the trailer. We saw a tobacco plant, which was interesting as we hadn't seen them before.
It was Labor Day weekend, and we spent the holiday at the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It was so pretty, and so isolated. The visitor center was small, but the huge park made up for it. We saw plenty of bison, wild horses, and big views.
We also took an afternoon to check out the North Unit of the park. They are two sides of a huge national park, and they are both beautiful. It seemed the North Unit was a bit more remote and probably didn't get as many visitors, and we may have enjoyed it more. This area of the country is so awe-inspiring.
Our water pump was failing so we had someone to come out to fix it. He didn't do anything and still charged us way too much, so that was a drag. Most of the time, our interactions with mobile RV repair people are good ones, so we just let it go. Margot ended up ordering a new one and replacing it herself later.
We didn't have long to spend in North Dakota before we headed south. We'd been up north for a long while, and it was time to start making our way to Arizona before the snow trapped us up there. We stayed one night in South Dakota and then ended up at one of our favorite spots in Colorado to enjoy time in our previous home state with family and friends.
It was a great end to a fabulous time in the northern states.
