Kenmare is an adorable little town with around 1000 residents, four restaurants, a Town Square, and one four-way stop sign intersection. The High School graduating class this year had 12 students (FYI, mine had 918). It is located in the northwest corner of North Dakota along the Des Lacs National Wildlife Refuge. It can get down to -55 in the winter and gets "really hot" (according to the locals) in the summer, but is gorgeous in the springtime.
[Kenmare in the middle of the map. Only 23 miles from Saskatchewan]
I like this town. I really do. It is a small town with a small town mentality. This is something that took a little getting use to. One thing I found out is that stores close and open pretty much when they want to. Sure there is a schedule posted on the door, but if the owners kid has a soccer game then they will just shut down so they can go to the game. The locals are all really nice and helpful. I've had to ask for directions a few times and the locals are always more then happy to help me out. I even had one of my headlights go out on my XTerra and I had multiple locals wave me down so that they could let me know. They even told me where to go so I could buy another one so that I didn't get a ticket. So nice!
The town is also very traditional. There is a loud siren in town that goes off everyday at noon, 6:00 PM, and 9:30 PM. Apparently this was used to alert the farmers out in the fields of the time. When you hear the first siren it's time to come in for lunch. The second siren is to let you know that it's dinner time. And the third siren lets you know that it's time to come home for the night. You can imagine how loud it is because it was supposed to be for the guys out in the fields all around town. When I first got here it scared me and I didn't know what was going on. Tornado?!?! But after someone explained it to me I was fine with it and now I kinda like it. And I have heard the tornado siren. They ran a test the other day. It sounds very different from the normal sirens so there won't be any confusion.
Anyways, we are still living in the RV park. It's been nice to not have to move the RV around since we got here. That thing is a beast! In the winter the RV park only has 5 available spots (I think it has to do with the amount of "winterized" water pipes available), but during the spring and summer the rest of the spots open up so there are around 35 total. Since the other spots opened there have been a lot of new people showing up. Most of them have super fancy RVs and Fifth Wheels. AND Josh's Chief has moved into the park and lives just across from us. So far, things have been great. Our neighbors are really nice and people in the park are very courteous.
[My X Terra, Josh's work truck, the RV, and the rest of the park behind us]
The winter spots are the best because we don't have anyone in front of us or behind us. The spots are more spread out so we are not too close to our neighbors. And we are only 20 feet from the Pizza Hub! Best Pizza (and cheesecake) in town :-)
[Josh next to the RV]
Today was gorgeous (it has been raining almost every day since we got back) so Josh and I decided to go for a walk around the Town Square (yes, it is actually a square).
The Square consists of a park with benches and an old Danish Mill.
Around the Square are a bunch of buildings with various businesses: Drug Store, Post Office, Bank, Hair Salon, etc.
After walking around the Square, we went for a scenic drive around the Des Lacs National Wildlife Refuge. It is gorgeous out there!
[One of the lakes with Kenmare in the background]
[At the end of our drive we found Josh's pipeline]
It really is beautiful here right now. Sure it is flat with some hills, but it is so green and the lakes are super blue! I hope it continues to be this beautiful in the summer!
After our nature drive we went to a BBQ at Suzi and Clay's place (Josh's mom and her boyfriend). Clay is a southern boy who really knows how to BBQ! He made us a delicious prime rib today that was melt-in-your-mouth amazing! I think I can really get use to this kind of southern cooking :-)
On the drive home we saw a full double rainbow! I was so excited! But then I got scared because there were some really strange looking clouds heading our way (Tornado?!?!) and we saw lightning! Eek! Of course, I couldn't get a good picture of it and I didn't want to stop and take a picture because of the weather, BUT trust me, it was vibrant and gorgeous!
I think Spring is finally here!
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