Apart from the likeable small city of Grand Forks, at the state’s eastern border, much of North Dakota’s landscape lives up to those nondescript clichés from childhood family trips: It hems and rolls and yawns forever. Montana may be Big Sky Country, but North Dakota sure seems to be High Sky Country, the land where, if you tire of watching dancing golden wheat mirages, you can exercise your finger channel-surfing on the radio. It’s a long, flat, and (dare we say it?) dull drive across the state, with little but plains or pseudo-prairie, and even the most epic side trip offers minimal relief. The state has done what it can to help out bored travelers by eliminating roadside mowing for most of the trip across, opting for native prairie and a potential refuge for wildlife—and road kill.
That said, the 300 miles across the state do hold a few points of interest, including Fort Union, an evocative outpost of the early frontier; popular Devil’s Lake recreational areas; and the geographical center of North America, marked by a stone monument in the town of Rugby.
