Fargo Moorhead Area
Best Hangout Spots
I've always loved to create and observe art, but I am by no means an expert at all. With my immense knowledge base of art behind me, I decided to lead a group of a few friends to the art museum. We were met at the door with a brief greeting and a nice woman offered each of us a pamphlet with descriptions of each exhibit. Right as I was ready for her to ask us for money, she said "enjoy." The museum was completely free. With this in mind, it was much easier to simply enjoy the art. There were many exhibits, but the first one we walked to was a Salvador Dali feature area. The room was filled with local surrealistic paintings that mimicked the talent of Dali himself. Among more than 100 other pieces, Salvador Dali's, "Illustration from The Divine Comedy, Inferno, Dante Purified, 1960, Wood engraving on wove after a watercolor." Seeing this vast collection definitely made the trip worth it, but there was an interactive piece in the exhibit over that really caught my attention. The exhibit had a large wire frame of a non-objective shape found in the center of the room. Underneath the piece, there was a variety of colored fiber optic cables that were waiting to be woven into the sculpture. The whole point was that thousands of artists could band together and add their own spin to the piece. Obviously my friends and I took a few minutes and added a few different wires. Honestly, I'm a little upset that I don't go to this art museum more often. From interactive pieces to unbelievable local creations, this art museum is a great place to burn an hour or two. The only bad part I can think of weighing in on the rating would be that it was a little bit cold. Granted, so was the rest of the town too. It was a more laid back form of entertainment, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. For me, I am more of an adrenaline junkie, so even with intriguing art pieces, The Plains Art Museum land themselves around a 7/10. With nothing else to do, this is a great way to burn some time; however, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone looking to raise their heart rate.
0 Comments
At first, I thought Atomic Coffee was the only coffee shop worthwhile in the downtown Fargo area, but after an AP calculus study session, I've come to realize maybe something special is in this coffee shop. There are some really comfortable booths, along with an ample amount of tables scattered around. The best part, in my opinion, was easily the atmosphere. There is a giant neon sign that fills the room with red ambient light. On each wall, there is different pieces of art to let your eyes wander to. Finally, the giant glass pane windows gives you a view straight down Broadway. The ambience is great, but Babb's takes it to another level. All of the menu items are Washington themed and they give their best effort to mimic a Seattle coffee bar. Matching these Seattle shops comes at a standard, and Babb's truly meets that mark. The actual coffee is great. The barista informed me it was all free trade, and imported from all across the world. Their hot and cold coffee menu encompasses anything a coffee snob could ask for. Even more than this, Babb's offers a variety of different baked goods. I ordered a house made everything bagel and cream cheese. There isn't anything I could think to complain about. So here comes the rating. With nothing to complain about, it's tough not to give Babb's a perfect score; yet, something feels missing. Maybe it's because it was a cold winter day, or maybe it was because I was stressed out from Calculus, but something felt wrong. I'll continue the tradition of not awarding any stores a perfect store and give Babb's a 9/10. It was a great experience, it just left me wanting more.
I'll come clean, I'm a little bit addicted to music. I own 3 bluetooth speakers, more than 5 pairs of headphones and definitely have more than 2,000 different songs downloaded on my phone at all times. From 80's classics, to 2020 trash rap, I listen to it all. All this music snobbiness has manifested itself into a measly vinyl collection. In Fargo / Moorhead there are a few different vinyl stores, but Vinyl Giant in downtown Fargo takes the cake for me. It's amazing how many different records they have. Rows upon rows of perfectly sorted albums. The vast and expansive collected tends to take long periods of time to go through. Each visit could consist of 30-45 minutes spent just sifting through the isles. As the store is fairly focused on music, one can only expect the cashier to be playing his own jams as well. There is never a silent second in the store. Honestly, there has never been a record that I have wanted that Vinyl Giant hasn't already had or had the ability to order for me. The 1975, black album exclusive addition was nearly impossible to track down online, but a quick trip to Vinyl Giant and I was walking home with exactly what I wanted. Overall, the store has a lot of great things going for it. From board games, sound systems and records, this store is perfect for personal entertainment. On the other side, no store is without its flaws. Vinyl Giant sadly has no place to sit down and relax. After 15 minutes of sifting, I often find myself looking for a break, but the store is absolutely full to the brim of music and music supplies. Simply adding a few small tables with some chairs would make this place an awesome location to go and chill out; alas, the lack thereof makes this store simply that, a store. It's not a good location to go and chill out, so I'm forced to give Vinyl Giant a measly 5 out of 10. It's great for the first half hour, but not much more time than that is worth spending.
As anyone who grew up in the Fargo Moorhead area knows, sledding is a winter go to. Anyone from young children to adults get out their winter sleds and hit the Dike West Park in Fargo, North Dakota. Since we just got the first large snow storm of the season last week, my friends and I ran for the hills. The city of Fargo began construction on the dike in 1959, and has been building on the infinitely stretching hill since then. After spending over $2 billion on the massive mound, it's only fair that the citizens of Fargo get to slide down on plastic discs of death. At the Dike West Park, they offer a warming house equips with sled rentals and hot chocolate seemingly on tap. The sleds are the highest quality in the state for a reasonable price. The sledding hill is steep enough to get some serious speed going down, but that comes at a price of a deathly climb up the hill. The park staff place hay bales in rows going up the hill to make it physically possible to climb. Without the hay, it really is impossible to climb the packed down snow. In fourth grade, I actually hosted a birthday party at the Dike. We had 12 kids fully accommodated for in the upper level of the warming house. From that upper level, parents can watch their children from a large window. This allows for a parent to not freeze their toes off while waiting for their kids to finish sledding. As the Dike was fully able to provide my party with sleds, a place to eat cake and other foods, along with water fountains and bathrooms, I would say it's a great place to host a party. Overall, I would give the Dike West Park a solid nine out of ten. Taking into account their eager spirit to provide sleds, hot chocolate and warmth, the hay bales on the hill to make it possible to climb, and the quality of the sledding hill, it's no wonder why the Dike West is such a prime sledding location for families in Fargo / Moorhead looking to have a little bit of fun in the frozen tundra of the Northern Midwest.
MB Johnson park was a park I grew up around. As young as nine years old I can remember biking from my house to Johnson park just to spend the day there. With the plethora of trails and scenic views, Johnson is a great place to spend a day. From these younger times with my family, I carried this tradition over to a few of my friends during the summer months. The first time that I can remember that my friends and I went to Johnson was in seventh grade. All four of us, while riding our newly bought mountain bikes with gears that we had no idea how to use, decided to try out some of the trails. All of the bike trails are labelled by difficulty. Knowing this information now is really informative and beneficial; however, back in seventh grade, I didn't know what these labels meant. This lack of knowledge led the four of us to accidentally go down the most difficult trail with large hills and sharp turns. Inevitably, a few of us fell off our bikes and had to call it a day. Although there was a lot of pain in this moment, we had all instantly realized how much fun could be had here. Johnson park sports numerous attractive features. The one that drew my family and friends in was of course the bike trails. Besides the bike trails, Johnson also has functional bathrooms and working water fountains. It has a large picnic area with a huge roof and many tables underneath. There is even a large playground set for younger children to play on. Just last year, the city of Moorhead built a large paved walking loop around the meadow in the middle of the park. Many people also bring their dogs here to run freely and play with toys, so there's always a good dog or two that you can pet to cheer you up. As Johnson has been around for a while, many people have built small structures out of sticks in the woods. There are a lot of small teepees constructed in the woods, and there are even some rickety bridges built out of fallen trees to cross creeks. The Red River separates Johnson park from North Dakota. Although at its strongest the Red River is very dangerous and powerful, there are many small streams and tributaries webbed throughout Johnson that are very fun to swim in. My friends and I on numerous occasions during smoldering hot summer days would head to Johnson for a fun swim in the river accompanied with a few frozen treats from the gas station down the road. Overall, I would honestly give MB Johnson park a ten out of ten. It's free, aerobic, scenic, and flat out fun. A location where both family and friends can have an equal amount of fun is always a well rounded place to visit. If you've never been to Johnson park yourself, I highly recommend it.
Teaberry has been around for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I only knew it as "the smoothie place." Many years later, I can still visit this staple of my childhood. The sole reason I keep coming back is undoubtedly the boba teas and the fruit smoothies. On the basis of drinks alone, Teaberry absolutely kills it. They offer fairly cheap prices for drinks that seem to outclass any other coffee shop. Although their focus is on tea, one of their most popular drinks is a fruit smoothie. For about five dollars, you can mix and match any 3 fruits or flavors from a list of about 30 different options. My go to is a mixture of chocolate, avocado, and strawberry. Before you judge me, the avocado doesn't change the flavor of the smoothie, it only makes it creamy. Besides their smoothies, Teaberry has a huge selection of teas. They serve both hot and cold tea with an optional addition of bobas, jellies, or pearls. This wide variety of drink options makes Teaberry a hot spot for late nights. The foundation of drinks draws the crowd in, but the atmosphere keeps them there. Teaberry has some of the most unique seating I have ever seen. They feature Japanese chabudai looking out to the streets of downtown fargo. There's always some light alternative pop music playing which was greatly appreciated by me. Teaberry is open till 11pm almost every day of the week, so it's a great spot to go late at night when you are running out of ideas for what to do. The best part about Teaberry entirely, is the board games. If you just walk up to the front counter, in the glass case below your eyes will be a plethora of board games. From chutes and ladders, to battleship, there's games for every sized group of people and games to fit everyone's tastes too. Far too often do I plan a group to go to Teaberry and be productive only to have our productivity demolished by sorry or cards against humanity. The only bad thing going for it would be it's lack of a productive vibe. It's too cozy and fun to focus on something as boring as AP calculus. Overall, I would give Teaberry a solid 8/10. The only way they could increase this number would be to add more regular tables in the middle of the store to make it more coffee shop esc. This would in turn, make it easier to do work there too. Even without being productive, Teaberry is a super fun spot to go to on a night with a lack of plans.
With the arrival of October also comes the arrival of "spooky season." This so called spooky season is really just the season of Halloween and the build up to the 31st. During this time horror movies skyrocket in popularity, coffee shops sell more chai tea, and costume shops start popping up everywhere. Playing into the spirit in the air, naturally, my friends and I planned a trip to "The Haunted Corn Maze" in south Moorhead. To give the corn maze their best chance, we decided to go at eleven at night. This time gave the best test because toward the end of the night, most of the actors had been scaring all night had their gig down. When we showed up we were greeted by the maze's owner. She was a very nice woman and told us about how the corn maze was cut and kept nice. She also warned us about the mud. We would soon come to learn, that warning was one hundred percent validated. The woman gave us all a discount as well as accepted some expired coupons from last year that got two of us in for free. Once we were in, the screams, chainsaws, and loud bangs set the scene. Within the first ten feet, we were met with a choice, left or right. To the left, a winding path cut in the corn. To the right, a mysterious structure build shoddily out of plywood. We chose the right. The simple construction of these small wooden sheds made the corn maze feel a little bit more rustic, and in turn, more scary. After a few more feet, we hit a patch of mud. The first of many. Although we could make it through without sinking deep into the ground, the ground was slick. We were trying to go fast because we were scared, but our feet had zero tracktion. In the process of covering our shoes in mud, we had a lot of good laughs. Overall I would give this Fargo / Moorhead hangout a solid 8/10. There were a few times where the actors had gotten tired and didn't try at all, and my shoes are still covered in mud to this day. The redeeming factors were the genuine terror and quality of the maze. I would absolutely recommend this location for a spooky season themed hang out.
At first glance, this is just a typical movie theater; yet, for anyone who lives within the Fargo / Moorhead area, it's far from the usual. Around seven years ago, Marcus theaters renovated a small movie theater in North Dakota. Century 10 went from a run down, overpriced, garbage patch, to a luxury, comfortable, worthwhile experience. When a blockbuster movie hits the film market, the first thing my friends and I do is reserve seats at Century 10, specifically on Tuesdays. Every Tuesday, Century 10 offers a five dollar movie night. This discount is over 50% off, allowing cinephiles to see a blockbuster movie without busting the bank. They offer five dollar movies on Thursdays as well but exclusively to students. The only real downside to this theater is the age old battle of snack prices. One could buy a regular old Diet Coke for a dollar at the local gas station. At the theater, you could be paying four to five times that price. It is a Marcus theater policy that no outside food or beverage is allowed into the theater; yet that doesn't stop everyone. In today's culture it's impossible to go to a movie without a blanket. You won't need one because it's cold, but you'll need one to sneak in your snacks from the walgreens across the street. The one thing all kids my age love about Marcus Theaters, it the clip from Greg Marcus himself before each movie. As a teen, it's a given that Greg Marcus makes it onto some form of social media to show each of your friends that you're going to the newest movies. All in all, Marcus Theaters, Century 10 provides a fairly nice experience. Considering the snack smuggling as well as the red leather seats, I would give Century 10 a decent seven out of ten. There's definitely room for improvement, but they are definitely the best theater to go to in Fargo / Moorhead.
|
Stories by Grant GervaisAll opinions genuine and original. |