Saturday morning, we left Madison and headed north to the Wisonsin Dells, the ultimate aimless tourist spot. Waterparks, haunted houses, motels, waterskiing shows, and lots of people… Like every good tourist mecca, the Dells have a Mystery or Wonder Spot, and we made that our first stop. Half the reason I enjoy going to these places around the country is to read and hear the explanatory gibberish that the tours tell you to convince you that something is actually going on, besides the fact that the house is built on an angle. A “bed of igneous rock” below the Dells’ spot was given as the reason “things fall at an angle” when dropped, instead of the fact that the house is built on the side of a hill, and things falling straight down, as all things tend to do, will look like they’re falling at an angle if the floor is at an angle. Scientific arguments aside, it was fun to watch the tour guide tell us what weird things were going on, in classic tour guide non-expressive monotone (“equal force, equal distance, why doesn’t the pendulum return to the starting position…”), and fun to watch the seemingly gravity-defying experiments with chairs and ladders. We decided to pass on Top Secret, the upside-down White House by the side of Highway 12; apparently, that was the right decision.
Aimee continued her mini-golf dominance with an impressive round on the “Pirate’s Lookout” course at Pirate’s Cove in the Dells, and we decided to head out before the heat or the traffic got too bad. We hit the Ground Round in Tomah – I won’t miss the non-Road Food road food when the trip is done – and then proceeded to Minneapolis, where we found our way to Craig and Alecia’s house. We stayed with them a few years ago, the week they moved in, and this time, we got to meet their adorable 15 month-old son, and have a delicious dinner at Pop! down the street. We hung out and watched the Twins game, swapped TiVo advice, reminisced about people from high school, and hit the sack early.
After some yummy huevos pericos at Maria’s Restaurant, we said our goodbyes and began the drive up I-94 to Fargo, North Dakota. Like our trek to Iowa, this trip north was a few hours out of our way, but it seemed like it would be awhile before we were back this way, and it would bring my “to do” list down to just Hawaii. We made the trip in just over three hours, and headed onto the North Dakota State University campus for the 2:05 Fargo/Moorhead RedHawks game versus the Winnipeg Goldeyes at Newman Outdoor Field. 
We got great seats for under ten bucks each, and enjoyed some good ballpark food and the synchronized cheers of the local enthusiasts behind us. Seven runs were scored in the first inning alone, and we left mid-way through the game to head out of town.
We stopped at the West Acres Mall on the way, and enjoyed the Roger Maris Museum next to the Marshall Fields, filled with trophies, uniforms, bats, and balls from the Fargo native’s illustrious career.
From the mall, we headed south on I-29, a straight shot to Rapid City. We checked into the Holiday Inn, along with a bus full of Your Man Tours customers about to set off for the Canadian Rockies. Tomorrow, we’ll celebrate Aimee’s birthday all the way across South Dakota, with some fun stops and nice sights.
