Fargo City Bus Tour: You Probably Won't Find it on Yelp

Yes, I have in fact verified you will not find a review of the Fargo, North Dakota city bus on Yelp. I guess it's not really your typical tourist destination. Which is why my Fargo City Bus Tour 2013 kind of defines what I mean with the term "wandering".

I had flown back to Fargo attend a good friend's wedding. I regularly fly Allegiant Air for these trips because it is the only airline with direct flights into ND from Arizona. The drawback is flights go in Friday and don't go out until Monday night. This meant I was stuck in town after my friends had all taken off to return to the cities they now call home. Here's a simple equation to describe the predicament I found myself in:

Hotel Checkout = 11:00 AM,

Flight Leaving = 7:50 PM, 

Flight Leaving - Hotel Checkout = A Whole Lot of Time to Kill

I assume most people would probably pack it in for the weekend, head to the airport, and wait for the flight. As a proud North Dakota State Alumni, I had spend 5 years of my life in Fargo, but I honestly had no clue what to do with my free time in the city. Truthfully along with a formal education, my college years had given me a vast knowledge of the cities college-age bars, pubs, and clubs. Something about being an adult with a career told me that getting drunk on a Monday afternoon, by myself, and then boarding a plane wasn't a great idea. 

The only choice I saw was to wanderer. I walked out of the Howard Johnson - Downtown (I know, I'm a balla, haha) with the one bag I had packed for the trip and started walking. Within a few blocks I hit the city's bus depot. What better way to get to know the city, then by using the public transportation I never used while I lived there.

A dreary, rainy, cold Monday afternoon on a bus in Fargo made me feel like I was in a really depressing movie. That really seems like something that would kick off Sundance. But I got to see the city in a way I never had before which is way better than sitting at a boring airport. At the end of the line, I realized the bus doesn't get any closer than about 2 miles from the airport. I started walking toward the airport.

(Two days earlier, but the weather was the same)

Almost instantly the rain and wind picked up, but I can be a little stubborn when I set my mind to something. Rather than calling a cab I was determined to make the walk to the airport. I can only imagine what drivers were thinking as they saw me walking down a completely empty stretch of road toward the airport, soaking wet. 

By the time I got there my clothes were drenched! I went to the bathroom to discover the only things I had that weren't wet were the dress pants I wore to the wedding, the NDSU t-shirt I bought, and my flip-flops. I spent the next 30 minutes or so trying to dry my sweatshirt under the hand dryer in the bathroom. Even with the sweatshirt on, the dirty look from the TSA agent was a pretty strong reminder this was not standard apparel in Fargo in mid-October. 

Despite wearing dirty clothes and a wet sweatshirt and generally feeling miserable, the person I felt the worst for was the unlucky woman sitting next to me on the plane. For having to put up with my stench- which I assume was a combo of a dirty clothes hamper and a wet dog - she truly was a victim of my wandering ways.