7 Best Towns In North Dakota For A Two-Day Recharge

In rugged North Dakota, which helps define the US-Canada border, the Great Plains join the American Midwest. Entering the United States in 1889, the place known as the Peace Garden State has attracted all kinds of settlers, adventurers, and leisure-seekers. These include a young Theodore Roosevelt, the future 26th US president, who himself came here to recharge and do a little cowboying after a family tragedy. Outside the state's larger towns, like Fargo or Bismarck, the state capital, smaller North Dakota destinations hold out natural and man-made points of interest for every kind of visitor.

Bottineau

North-central Bottineau lies just below the Canadian border. Its French name ties back to the former presence of French fur traders — including the town's namesake, Pierre Bottineau. The town sits a short drive from the International Peace Garden, a park managed jointly by Canada and the United States. The site has numerous attractions, like a Peace Chapel, a 9/11 memorial, and a large conservatory of dry-climate plants.

Bottineau's other draw is a kid-friendly figure: Tommy Turtle, which is a 30-foot statue of a turtle riding a snowmobile. The structure is supposed to symbolize the Turtle Mountains nearby. Bottineau is home to Dakota College, with about 1,100 students, and its in-town dining options reflect college-kid tastes, like the local favorite Denny's Pizza. For another kid-friendly outing, head to Pride Dairy, which offers ice cream in diverse flavors. Accommodation options vary in town; try the Cobblestone Inn and Suites for a mid-range solution.

Dickinson

Dickinson, in the state's southwest, brings in visitors mostly for its Enchanted Highway. The road features 32 miles of sculptures, often forged from scrap metal, conjuring a public-art experience that draws strong and varied reactions. One sculpture, showing a flock of geese in flight, is considered the world's largest scrap-metal sculpture, per the Guinness Book of World Records. The Dickinson Museum Center and Badlands Dinosaur Museum will thrill kids and paleontology students of all ages.

Dickinson's visitors enjoy a stop at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, a major summer draw. And west of town, the Patterson Lake Recreational Area has campgrounds, fishing, and more in a beautiful Western landscape. Golfers prefer the Heart River Golf Course, with its 18 holes and a par-72 layout. For a place to stay, the Badlands Inn and Suites is an affordable two-star listing in the center of town.

Mandan

Centrally located Mandan lies just over the Missouri River from Bismarck. Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park beckons the history buff with displays at its Visitor Center Museum that tell of North Dakota life from earlier times. Established in 1907, Fort Abraham is North Dakota's first park, and has educated visitors for more than a century and counting.

Mandan's local officials call the town the "spirit of the West." For a touch of those Western themes, come to town in July, when its Mandan Rodeo Days begin, which is a western-themed series with horse riding, art shows, fireworks, and a road race. Running for almost a century and a half, the Rodeo Days events draw crowds and visitors from everywhere. The North Country Inn and Suites is a two-star Mandan motel with consistently high reviews.

Minot

In north-central North Dakota, the town of Minot (which locals pronounce like "Why not?") offers visitors an outsized history. The town is heavy on Scandinavian heritage, especially from Norway, given its original town founders who hailed from there. The Gol Stave Church Museum looks like a 13th-century Norwegian house of Christian worship, and has dragon-like ornamental accents that push into the air. Gol Stave sits inside the town's Scandinavian Heritage Park, with other architectural examples from across the Scandinavian and Northern European regions. Minot's Norsk Hostfest, organized each fall, emphasizes Norwegian culture especially.

Kids love the Roosevelt Park Zoo, which has rare animals. Minot also hosts North Dakota's annual state fair each summer. Minot's hotels concentrate around Highway 52, south of town; try the Dakota Inn for affordable, local flavor.

New Salem

West of Bismarck, the town of New Salem has an unusually fun tourist attraction. The spectre of "Salem Sue" — in fact, a fiberglass statue of a cow — soars from the plains below. Town officials say that Salem Sue is the planet's largest likeness of a Holstein species within the cow family. The statue stands at a proud 38 feet tall and 50 feet long, and celebrated 50 years of watching over New Salem last year.

New Salem offers other, more conventional attractions. The New Salem Historical Society runs a museum and visitors' grounds, with old-timey farm tools and other items long-gone North Dakotans once used. For a coffee break and a return to the town's cow theme, a cafe called Udderly Caffeinated offers java, snacks, and local North Dakota handicrafts. For sleeping, the Metropolitan Hotel offers pleasant, no-nonsense value in the center of New Salem.

Rugby

In north-central North Dakota, Rugby says it is the geographical center of North America. A 15-foot stone obelisk in town marks the exact spot where the continent's four cardinal directions are believed to join together. Visitors also look for the Northern Lights Tower and Interpretive Center, which is all about the aurora borealis, meaning the lights in the northern skies that produce mysterious purples, greens, blues, and celestial visions.

Also in Rugby, the Victorian Dress Museum displays period costumes and women's fashion from the late 19th century. More modern (and literal) tastes await on the Rugby Wine Walk, an annual gathering held each fall, when local wine vendors invite locals and visitors to try their vintages. Accommodations include the Northern Lights Inn Rugby, which sits a short way from the Rugby Golf Club, for those who want to hit the fairway in fair-weather months.

Williston

North of the Missouri River, the northwestern town of Williston provides a larger menu of things to see and do. Known for its oil and gas activities, Williston also allows for outdoor sports of various kinds, including golf and clay-pigeon shooting at the Painted Woods Sports Range, a local favorite.

Williston holds its own in culture, also. A recent public art project covered traffic signal cabinets with creative paintings, adding color to the downtown core. Fans of Western movies, like the 2015 revenge thriller The Revenant, can follow the legacy of the real-life mountain man Hugh Glass, who is, at one point, a hunter active at Fort Union nearby. These days, the Fort Union Trading Post, run by the National Park Service, describes the days when the massive fort used to support a trade volume of some 25,000 buffalo robes and other goods. For a stay in classy digs, try the Grand Williston Hotel and Conference Center, which features an indoor pool and slide.

Clearly, North Dakota's diverse options provide lots of choice for a two-day recharge. Away from larger towns like Bismarck or Fargo, natural options abound, like a gentle stroll through Bottineau's International Peace Garden or the northern lights of Rugby. Fans of cultural and natural history will find much to ponder among the dinosaur bones in Dickinson or the Scandinavian architectural gems in Minot. Even public art, like New Salem's Salem Sue, Bottineau's Tommy Turtle, or Williston's repurposed traffic signal cabinets, all give the visitor something to take in. Whatever a traveler's tastes, a weekend in North Dakota is sure to rejuvenate and inspire.