ND State Capitol and Cultural Center

I spent the first hour of the morning perusing the North Dakota Cultural Historic Heritage something something Center. I immediately met an elderly lady volunteer who was of Norwegian descent and who'd been to Norway. We talked a little bit, and I commented on the exorbitant motel prices. She confirmed that housing had suddenly become an issue in this otherwise empty state, due to the rapid increase in oil exploration.

She also said, with something I can only describe as poorly hidden glee that North Dakota had been one of two states to end 2011 "in the black", because of the oil revenue (the other was Wyoming). I mentioned that I'd seen an article just that morning about California's public pension fund and how that state was struggling. Her attitude now progressed into schadenfreude as we nodded and agreed that California was indeed in dire straits. Run into the ditch by liberals and trade unions was what remained unsaid.

All pics here.

State Capitol. I've seen nicer.


Sa... Ca... Ga... the injun woman who followed Lewis & Clarke.


The injuns had a vast and well traveled network for trade long before the Europeans came.


Real dinosaur bits. It was found on a property near the Montana border by a high school pupil back in '99. He's currently finishing up his PhD in paleontology...


The population of North Dakota as of the 1910 census. Norwegians are by far the largest ethnic group.


I'd say a good 50% of the pics and objects in the museum's immigrant section were Norwegian.