My Home Away From Home
Some of us most likely have a "home away from home". A place where we go to escape the pressures and stresses of daily life and just feel at ease and relax. It could be the deer camp, the radio station, the RV campground nearby, or even your friend's basement. These types of places provide us mental rest from whatever is driving us nuts back home, and we can breathe easy knowing that we have some time to ourselves.
Back when I was in MN, my home away from home was Story Book Lodge. It was pretty much an exact copy of home - A place I loved to be on the waterfront with lots of trees and delicious smells and amazingly designed buildings. The only major difference between home and SBL was that SBL had a lot of people around, unless it was the weekend, when a lot of counselors went home, and only those sticking around for the next week of camp stayed put. It's always blissful and blessing to be there, and I'm going to write more about SBL at a later date.
Today, I'd like to talk about my home away from home here in Fargo. It's Bemidji, MN. Some of you probably read that and wonder "Why is Bemidji so special when it's so far away?" or "Why do you keep driving up there and heaping praise on it so much?" Well, that's because the city grew very quickly on me during my first few visits up there, even quicker than Fargo in some ways, especially with NDSU not turning out to have too great of a social scene for workaholic students like myself. For those of you incredibly confused as to why I love this place so much, let me tell you about it all in the below paragraphs.
I first stepped into Bemidji as a toddler way back in the early 2000's with my family. I remember it being a lot further away from home back then than it actually is, and we were only out there a couple times, but man were they fun. I can remember hitting up some type of carnival near Paul & Babe, and it was that day that I decided to ride the Scrambler with my mother. After some vomiting, I never rode the Scrambler again. It seemed to be a cool place back then, and I always enjoyed the trips out there.
After that, it was May 2016 when I next came to Bemidji. Having KBXE on one side of town and the hotel I was staying at on the other side, I got to do some exploring, and that was pretty cool. However, I didn't really stop at too many places. It wasn't until I started coming up regularly to broadcast later that year that I began to explore the city and it's businesses and people.
I checked out the waterfront, the local brewery, and even the movie theater, among others. Was I socializing? Eh not really. But everything seemed so amazing to me, even more amazing to me than in Fargo-Moorhead. So I kept on exploring, renting a bike one time and going around the southside of Lake Bemidji by the Sanford Center and out past the Juvenile Detention Center, checking out Tara, the local Asian food eatery. I even hit up Bemidji State University a couple times to either use their pool or see if I could meet any students. Let me just say that BSU has a beautiful campus and I'm sure that the students who choose to go there have an absolutely amazing time.
Bemidji is also one of the places where I get to enjoy broadcasting. You can read more about it in my previous blog post, and know that it's one of my favorite things to do.
Living in a town that's so flat, Bemidji, which has hills and lakes in addition to trees instead of just trees and a river plus a few ponds like Fargo, is always a welcome change of scenery. I've always been somewhat of an outdoorsy person, so being in Bemidji is a better fit for that trait in me, especially when it involves being around the lakes or the river. The statues and signs around town are really cool too and are almost picture perfect.
In November of 2017, Bemidji was named "Best Minnesota Town" by Minnesota Monthly Magazine, beating out several other communities. It was selected for the award because of initiaves such as planting trees and taking care of their students. They just recently held the party for winning this award, and while I unfortunately couldn't make it, I very much enjoyed seeing all my friends having a great time at it on social media. Maybe I'll make it next time.
So there you have it, a little bit of history as to why I like to be up here so much. I love Bemidji for the fact that it's a great escape from home, it's beautiful scenery, and it's people. As time goes on, I hope to still make it up there as often as possible and either dip my toes in Lake Bemidji or step out into the freezing cold air to quickly warm my vehicle on a frigid January morning after broadcasting the night prior. The Best Town in Minnesota truly is one of my favorite places to be.
What do you enjoy about Bemidji? Drop a comment below, for I would love to hear from you!
Back when I was in MN, my home away from home was Story Book Lodge. It was pretty much an exact copy of home - A place I loved to be on the waterfront with lots of trees and delicious smells and amazingly designed buildings. The only major difference between home and SBL was that SBL had a lot of people around, unless it was the weekend, when a lot of counselors went home, and only those sticking around for the next week of camp stayed put. It's always blissful and blessing to be there, and I'm going to write more about SBL at a later date.
Today, I'd like to talk about my home away from home here in Fargo. It's Bemidji, MN. Some of you probably read that and wonder "Why is Bemidji so special when it's so far away?" or "Why do you keep driving up there and heaping praise on it so much?" Well, that's because the city grew very quickly on me during my first few visits up there, even quicker than Fargo in some ways, especially with NDSU not turning out to have too great of a social scene for workaholic students like myself. For those of you incredibly confused as to why I love this place so much, let me tell you about it all in the below paragraphs.
I first stepped into Bemidji as a toddler way back in the early 2000's with my family. I remember it being a lot further away from home back then than it actually is, and we were only out there a couple times, but man were they fun. I can remember hitting up some type of carnival near Paul & Babe, and it was that day that I decided to ride the Scrambler with my mother. After some vomiting, I never rode the Scrambler again. It seemed to be a cool place back then, and I always enjoyed the trips out there.
After that, it was May 2016 when I next came to Bemidji. Having KBXE on one side of town and the hotel I was staying at on the other side, I got to do some exploring, and that was pretty cool. However, I didn't really stop at too many places. It wasn't until I started coming up regularly to broadcast later that year that I began to explore the city and it's businesses and people.
I checked out the waterfront, the local brewery, and even the movie theater, among others. Was I socializing? Eh not really. But everything seemed so amazing to me, even more amazing to me than in Fargo-Moorhead. So I kept on exploring, renting a bike one time and going around the southside of Lake Bemidji by the Sanford Center and out past the Juvenile Detention Center, checking out Tara, the local Asian food eatery. I even hit up Bemidji State University a couple times to either use their pool or see if I could meet any students. Let me just say that BSU has a beautiful campus and I'm sure that the students who choose to go there have an absolutely amazing time.
Bemidji is also one of the places where I get to enjoy broadcasting. You can read more about it in my previous blog post, and know that it's one of my favorite things to do.
Living in a town that's so flat, Bemidji, which has hills and lakes in addition to trees instead of just trees and a river plus a few ponds like Fargo, is always a welcome change of scenery. I've always been somewhat of an outdoorsy person, so being in Bemidji is a better fit for that trait in me, especially when it involves being around the lakes or the river. The statues and signs around town are really cool too and are almost picture perfect.
In November of 2017, Bemidji was named "Best Minnesota Town" by Minnesota Monthly Magazine, beating out several other communities. It was selected for the award because of initiaves such as planting trees and taking care of their students. They just recently held the party for winning this award, and while I unfortunately couldn't make it, I very much enjoyed seeing all my friends having a great time at it on social media. Maybe I'll make it next time.
So there you have it, a little bit of history as to why I like to be up here so much. I love Bemidji for the fact that it's a great escape from home, it's beautiful scenery, and it's people. As time goes on, I hope to still make it up there as often as possible and either dip my toes in Lake Bemidji or step out into the freezing cold air to quickly warm my vehicle on a frigid January morning after broadcasting the night prior. The Best Town in Minnesota truly is one of my favorite places to be.
What do you enjoy about Bemidji? Drop a comment below, for I would love to hear from you!
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