Day trip to Grand Forks

I put on 389 miles today going round trip to Grand Forks, ND.  Why?  To see Ralph Engelstad Arena - "The Ralph", home of the University of North Dakota hockey team.  I've heard so much about it during my Frozen Four trips that I just had to go.  It was as amazing as the hype.  UND certainly got a wonderful gift from Ralph.  The grandeur surpasses any arena I've ever been in.  It isn't the largest arena compared to the pros (it is the largest for college hockey) but it is the most plush starting with all marble everything.  It's no wonder UND can attract talent to it's team.  Here are a few pictures and a link to their site to read some statistics: http://www.theralph.com/asp/default.asp?p=13

I drove around Grand Forks and UND some to check it out.  I liked what I saw.  I'll throw in a picture of the drive across eastern Dakotas.  Pretty much level farmland.

Southeast North Dakota

Two things got my curiosity up while driving.  First seeing a sign for the Continental Divide.  As I thought about it, there has to be a north-south one as much as east-west.  Sure enough, I found this website that discusses continental divides just in case you are in a learning frame of mind: http://www.nationalatlas.gov/articles/geology/a_continentalDiv.html

Wind turbine piece

The second thing was seeing many parts to the giant wind turbines going by on trucks. The length of those "arms" of the spinny things (is that technical enough?).  I found a number of sites on wind farms in the Dakotas and it seems to be a very big thing which I think is very cool.