Survivor: Fargo

Katie and I headed downtown yesterday and met Ann, a former clerk for my judge who now works in D.C. Ann had a great time in Fargo, lived to tell the tale, and very graciously agreed to share it with us.

Some highlights of the tale:

• Curling! A friend of the courthouse community takes the judges' clerks curling at the Fargo/Moorhead Curling Club every year. Curling!
  
  A club event said not to be missed is the Fargo Triathalon: Curling, bowling, and darts. It was most recently held this past Jan. 28. It sounds much more humane than the Fargo Marathon, which is the real, 26.2-mile deal, and was run in 30-degree weather its inaugural year last year. In May! It breaks my heart that I'll be unable to get out there for the race this year; it's the day before the Georgetown Law commencement.
  
  
• Addicted to the Sauce! Ann developed a yen for "Red Pepper Chip Sauce," (right) which she described, I think, as finely ground-up salsa with brown sugar added. It has kind of a spicy-sweet thing going, she says. It is manufactured in Grand Forks, N.D., and is available at several grocery stores in Fargo (and online! But they are set up to ship sandwiches, and only seem to ship overnight, and very expensively.)
  
  [Incidentally, here's something I haven't seen in a while: As of right now, if you Google "Red Pepper Chip Sauce," you get exactly one result! Though this mention on this page will probably fix that.]
  
  
• Crunchy blinking eyeballs! OK, so you don't really have to go out in minus-40 wind chill very often. But when you do, and when you've bundled up and covered just about everything but your eyeballs, and you step outside, your eyes begin to water a little. And that's OK, but when you blink, you can feel it crunch.

Speaking of curling, the Turin Winter Olympics have ignited a firestorm of interest in the sport in Fargo. From this week's Forum:

After the 2002 Olympic games in Salt Lake City, the club’s membership doubled from 150 to nearly 300, [Fargo/Moorhead Curling Club Vice President Al] Gulseth said.

The club is again on pace for another membership jump after open houses on Friday and Saturday drummed up new interest in league participation.

More than 70 people showed up at the curling club’s Fargo facility at 909 17th Ave. N. to learn more about the sport.
Another recent Forum article, "Where are the Olympians?" notes, "North Dakota, despite its wintry reputation, once again lacks a single athlete on the U.S. roster in the Winter Olympics. It’s a familiar position for the state, which has sent only two athletes to the Winter Games in the past half century, according to news archives and the best recollections of state sports officials."

The last North Dakotan to go was Don Barcome Jr., of Grand Forks, a member of the 2002 U.S. (yes, you guessed it!) curling team.