Cellpic Sunday – 3 March 2019

Fargo, North Dakota.

The Red River on a beautiful autumn day makes me homesick for North Dakota. Snow and cold doesn’t. >grin< In North Dakota, it isn’t often there is a windless day that allows such a clear reflection in the water.

Cellpic Sunday – 4 November 2018

Fargo, North Dakota.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… er, ah, I mean, a short time ago in a parking lot nearby, I found this Nissan Rogue. The owner, just getting back to his Rogue from the local Best Buy store, paused for a photo with his transportation. My favorite part of the tack is the lightsaber on the rear window wiper. Too bad his vehicle wasn’t washed and prepped for its photo shoot and debut on these august pages. >grin<

Red River Zoo – A WOW Experience for the Community

Fargo, North Dakota.

Fargo opened a zoo in 1999, and 18 years later, Lynn and I finally decided to visit. Not that we have anything against zoos or this zoo in particular. It just wasn’t a priority for us. A chance mention made me realize that our grandson, Owen, who lives with our daughter has been there several times. It was about time for Owen to show us what we’ve been missing. The first unusual animal is the tigeralo (what else would you call it?) As part of an art exhibit some years ago, painted buffalo are found all around the city. I’d never seen this buffalo painted in tiger stripes. I thought it is very creative and fitting for the zoo, though there are no big cats of any kind on exhibit here.

Cellpic Sunday – 5 August 2018

Fargo, North Dakota.

I’ve been overloaded this week on aviation. The Blue Angels performed last weekend here. I did some glider towing for one of our pilots to take his glider checkride, our glider (with that pilot) spent this weekend at the Northern Neighbors Day Airshow at Minot Air Force Base, and I spent the last two days working with Air Force and Civil Air Patrol National staff as we concluded the North Dakota Wing’s Compliance Inspection (a close-up look at our state operations that happens every four years. (We came away from that inspection looking good with only a few bits of administrivia that need to be addressed in the next several weeks.)

Cellpic Sunday – 29 July 2018

Fargo, North Dakota.

This week the Blue Angels are in town for a visit. Earlier this week I noticed #7 sitting on the ramp at the Jet Center. This aircraft is the only two-passenger aircraft in their fleet. It’s used for media rides and other special purposes. I understand it arrives early in the week to be available for such events. As this is being written, I am preparing to help at the Civil Air Patrol booth. We have our FLIR-equipped Cessna 182 and our glider on display. Expect a photo story on this in an upcoming Travel Tuesday.

Weekly Photo Challenge – Tour Guide

 

Fargo, North Dakota.

This week, Krista Stevens asks us to share what we love about where we live. In her challenge post, she shares images of her home city of Winnipeg, Canada. She comments about not having many tourists come to her city. You can read her entire challenge post here. My wife, Lynn, and I live only about four hours south of Krista’s home town. Like Winnipeg, Fargo isn’t a tourist mecca, though there are plenty of interesting things to see and do in the city where I worked for over three decades. When I retired we had the chance to move, but elected to stay living in the community that we’ve called home since 1978. OK, so we got a bit tired of the cold and now spend our winters in the great Southwest, but we always return to our home each spring.

Fargo Air Museum – Where the Exhibits Take Flight

Fargo, North Dakota.

The Fargo Air Museum is a bit different from most of the air museums I’ve had a chance to visit. Unlike most museums, many of the airplanes on display here might find themselves in the air occasionally. Most of the aircraft are flyable. It might be a fully restored P-51 Mustang or a late model Cessna. Of course, not every aircraft on display is flyable. Some that were flyable had their “wings clipped” (made unflyable) by their previous owner and the donation made to the museum on the condition that the aircraft be used for display purposes only.