Things You Can See in Fargo that You Won't See in Rockville

I've been collecting photos for this post for awhile. (Don't fear – we don't still have snow on the ground here; it was 97 degrees here yesterday.)

Now, this is not a definitive list; it's just things I've noticed. And it's not to say they are unique to the Fargo area, exactly – some may be spotted elsewhere in the Midwest. And it doesn't include things I've written about before, such as sunsets, sun dogs, below-zero temperatures, sugar beets, all-you-can-drink milk, mashed-potato wrestling or the famous fire-hydrant sign with nothing but a fire hydrant on it. But they are cool.  Here goes:

Car plug: OK, this is something I think everyone expected us to see up here, and we did:

This is an electric plug for an oil-pan heater. Outlets are found at some parking lots, but not, as in some places, at every parking spot along every street. I ended up parking inside at the courthouse this year, and we had the garage at home, so we didn't have a need for one. You don't really need them for trips to the grocery store.

Highway gate:

These are swing-out gates at some interstate on-ramps that the police use to close them down. This only happened one time this winter, I think. But out East, there's no mechanism at all for keeping people off interstates; the weather's never enough, and if there's an accident, we just park a police car there.

Roger Maris tributes: Maris is still a hero here in his home town for the record 61 home runs he hit in 1961, breaking Babe Ruth's storied record. He has a museum at the mall (right), and a very impressive homage at the giant Scheel's sporting goods store:

It seems a little silly – Maris' mark has been bested by Barry Bonds, Mark McGuire, and Sammy Sosa – but on the other hand, if Major League Baseball ever decides to wipe its steroids-infected records from the books, Maris may once again be the single-season home-run king.

Snow dumping:

I just thought this was funny – I'd never thought of snow as being something you could litter with. This sign is in Island Park, next to the Y.

Travel agencies:

People flee this town in droves during the winter, and there are travel agencies all over. This one seems to be unusually full-service:

Street Signs. The have some absurdly high-numbered streets around here:

But the funny thing is, it's not in town that they have them – it tends to be out in the middle of absolutely nowhere:

I've seen streets numbered into the 200s. Now that is planning ahead for future growth!