lapacifidora | The Oncoming Storm

Breakfast may well be the most important meal of the day, but sadly the "Park Oasis Muffin" does not qualify as either important or a meal.

Then, we made a wrong turn and ended up in downtown Tomah, which isn't much to write home about - or blog about for that matter. Still, I suppose you could say it was quaint. (If 'quaint' in this case refers to a no-Starbucks town, not a one-Starbucks town. And if you get that reference, you're made of win. :)

However, once we got on the road and headed west, these wacky, wacky rock formations:

They certainly made me wonder if that area of Wisconsin had at one time been part of an inland sea. We also passed the National Guard Museum, which made me think of

lucifergirl .

Then we hit the outskirts of St. Paul, where, much to my surprise, imation's world headquarters are located. (I desperately wanted to stop and see if they had an outlet or seconds store, but we didn't have the time - and frankly, I don't have the money right now. :/ )

But we stopped at the Costco in Maplegrove for gas, and once again, it was much nicer looking than the ones I'm used to; take a look for yourself.

As you might've noticed, it had been raining off and on for the hour preceeding our arrival, but it was when we left that we headed into the heart of the storm.

It didn't look bad at the beginning:

Then I realized that I could see definite edges of the cloud bank overhead:

And then the heavens opened, and it was very, very loud. (I'm sure there are better words for it, but it's been an exceptionally long day.)

Then the skies cleared and we crossed the border into North Dakota and the storm was over.

However, despite the deluge, I found Minnesota charming as always. For instance, where else are you going to find an incredibly ugly Pepto-Bismol-pink mega-compound, visible from the freeway, with a giant sign on the surrounding wall advertising that it's for rent? And the people of the city of Freeport have a sense of humor, if the smiley face on their watertower is anything to go by. (And in Melrose, Minn., Stearns Vetrinary Outlet Store has one of the best - and weirdest - slogans I've ever seen: "We Do Cows!""

We finally reached Bismarck around 7 or 7:30 p.m., checked in and found a place to have dinner. Now, people who know me know I have what I refer to as the 'French Fry Scale,' my theory being that:

a) It's very difficult to screw up french fries (or similar potato dishes);

b) If a restaurant's fries are good, odds are other food items will be on par;

and c) The same can be applied to other cultures' food staples, such as pasta/noodles, rice, etc.

On that scale then, the Fiesta Villa Restaurant is nearly a 10. The restaurant is located in theold Northern Pacific depot (sort of like Pufferbelly), and the food was fantastic. I had a chicken taco salad (where the tortilla bowl was nearly 10 inches in diameter), and it was all I could do to finish it and yet, full as I was, I found the dessert menu very tempting.

But perhaps the strangest thing of all was that for as far as we've come so far, I passed exits for Tower City, Cleveland, Medina, and Pettibone.