0_Wizard
I've never been to North Dakota, but I've always wanted to go. I like the midwestern United States. 
North Dakota () is a state in the midwestern and northern regions of the United States.
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North Dakota
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Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the American Midwest, Middle West, or simply the Midwest, is one of four geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States of America. It was officially named the North Central region by the Census Bureau until 1984. It is located between the Northeastern U.S. and the Western U.S., with Canada to its north and the Southern U.S. to its south. The Census Bureau's definition consists of 12 states in the north central United States: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
North Dakota
North Dakota () is a state in the midwestern and northern regions of the United States. It is the nineteenth largest in area, the fourth smallest by population, and the fourth most sparsely populated of the 50 states. North Dakota was admitted as the 39th state to the Union on November 2, 1889. Its capital is Bismarck, and its largest city is Fargo. North Dakota weathered the Great Recession of the early 21st century with a boom in natural resources, particularly a boom in oil extraction from the Bakken formation, which lies beneath the northwestern part of the state. The development drove strong job and population growth, and low unemployment.
Cuisine of the Midwestern United States
Midwestern cuisine is a regional cuisine of the American Midwest. It draws its culinary roots most significantly from the cuisines of Central, Northern and Eastern Europe, and Native North America, and is influenced by regionally and locally grown foodstuffs and cultural diversity. Everyday Midwestern home cooking generally showcases simple and hearty dishes that make use of the abundance of locally grown foods. Its culinary profiles may seem synonymous with "American food." Quoted in a 2007 interview with the "Daily Herald", Chef Stephen Langlois, a pioneer in the Midwestern local food movement, described it: "Think of Thanksgiving dinner.
Global storm activity of 2008
A storm (from Proto-Germanic "*sturmaz" "noise, tumult") is any disturbed state of an astronomical body's atmosphere, especially affecting its surface, and strongly implying severe weather. It may be marked by strong wind, thunder and lightning (a thunderstorm), heavy precipitation, such as ice (ice storm), or wind transporting some substance through the atmosphere (as in a dust storm, snowstorm, hailstorm, etc.). Storms are created when a centre of low pressure develops, with a system of high pressure surrounding it. This combination of opposing forces can create winds and result in the formation of storm clouds, such as the cumulonimbus.
Where in North Dakota Is Carmen Sandiego?
Where in North Dakota Is Carmen Sandiego? is a 1989 edutainment video game that forms part of the "Carmen Sandiego" series, and was developed by Broderbund and the North Dakota Database Committee for the Apple II. This "franchise extension" is the only game in the series based on a U.S. state, and was patterned after the previous games in the then-four year old series. Intended as a form of "pilot program" to test whether region-specific versions for the remaining 49 states were financially viable, the game was released in celebration of North Dakota's centennial celebration, and was aimed at schools to help teach children about the state's history and geography.
List of birds of North Dakota
This list of birds of North Dakota includes species documented in the U.S. state of North Dakota. The list is derived from eBird data supplemented by the North Dakota Bird Records Committee (NDBRC) review list. As of May 2017, the list contains 406 species. Of them, 155 and a subspecies are on the review list (see below), eight species have been introduced to North America, and two are extinct. This list is presented in the taxonomic sequence of the "Check-list of North American Birds", 7th edition through the 58th Supplement, published by the American Ornithological Society (AOS). Common and scientific names are also those of the "Check-list".
North Dakota Fighting Hawks football
The North Dakota Fighting Hawks represent the University of North Dakota, competing in the Big Sky Conference in the NCAA Division I's Football Championship Subdivision. From 1973 to 2008, they played in the NCAA's NCAA Division II, winning the National Championship in 2001. From 1955 to 1972, they competed in the NCAA's College Division where they participated in and won three bowl games. North Dakota fielded its first football team in 1894. In 1922, they were one of the 9 charter members of the North Central Conference, where they competed until 2008 when they upgraded all of their athletic programs to the Division I level and joined the Great West Conference.
1_Apprentice
I haven't either! We've lived in Illinois, and once did a river rafting trip in Idaho -- but that's it. I'd love to explore more, though.
0_Wizard
I didn't know this until recently but North Dakota is the 19th largest state in area, but has the 4th smallest population of the 50 states.
It is the nineteenth largest in area, the fourth smallest by population, and the fourth most sparsely populated of the 50 states.
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North Dakota
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North Dakota
North Dakota () is a state in the midwestern and northern regions of the United States. It is the nineteenth largest in area, the fourth smallest by population, and the fourth most sparsely populated of the 50 states. North Dakota was admitted as the 39th state to the Union on November 2, 1889. Its capital is Bismarck, and its largest city is Fargo. North Dakota weathered the Great Recession of the early 21st century with a boom in natural resources, particularly a boom in oil extraction from the Bakken formation, which lies beneath the northwestern part of the state. The development drove strong job and population growth, and low unemployment.
Montana
Montana is a state in the northwestern region of the United States. Montana has several nicknames, although none official, including "Big Sky Country" and "The Treasure State", and slogans that include "Land of the Shining Mountains" and more recently "The Last Best Place". Montana is the 4th largest in area, the 7th least populous, and the 3rd sparsely populated of the 50 U.S. states. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller island ranges are found throughout the state. In total, 77 named ranges are part of the Rocky Mountains. The eastern half of Montana is characterized by western prairie terrain and badlands.
South Dakota
South Dakota () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who compose a large portion of the population and historically dominated the territory. South Dakota is the 17th most expansive, but the 5th least populous and the 5th least densely populated of the 50 United States. As the southern part of the former Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889, simultaneously with North Dakota. Pierre is the state capital and Sioux Falls, with a population of about 174,000, is South Dakota's largest city.
Alaska
Alaska () is a U.S. state located in the northwest extremity of North America. The Canadian administrative divisions of British Columbia and Yukon border the state to the east, its most extreme western part is Attu Island, and it has a maritime border with Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. To the north are the Chukchi and Beaufort seas–the southern parts of the Arctic Ocean. The Pacific Ocean lies to the south and southwest. It is the largest state in the United States by area and the  seventh largest subnational division in the world. In addition, it is the 3rd least populous and the most sparsely populated of the 50 United States; nevertheless, it is by far the most populous territory located mostly north of the 60th parallel in North America, its population (the total estimated at 738,432 by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2015) more than quadrupling the combined populations of Northern Canada and Greenland.
United States congressional apportionment
United States congressional apportionment is the process by which seats in the United States House of Representatives are distributed among the 50 states according to the most recent constitutionally mandated decennial census. Each state is apportioned a number of seats which approximately corresponds to its share of the aggregate population of the 50 states. However, every state is constitutionally guaranteed at least one seat. The number of voting seats in the House of Representatives is currently set at 435, and has been since 1913, excluding a temporary increase to 437 after the admissions of Alaska and Hawaii into the Union.
Where in North Dakota Is Carmen Sandiego?
Where in North Dakota Is Carmen Sandiego? is a 1989 edutainment video game that forms part of the "Carmen Sandiego" series, and was developed by Broderbund and the North Dakota Database Committee for the Apple II. This "franchise extension" is the only game in the series based on a U.S. state, and was patterned after the previous games in the then-four year old series. Intended as a form of "pilot program" to test whether region-specific versions for the remaining 49 states were financially viable, the game was released in celebration of North Dakota's centennial celebration, and was aimed at schools to help teach children about the state's history and geography.
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the American Midwest, Middle West, or simply the Midwest, is one of four geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States of America. It was officially named the North Central region by the Census Bureau until 1984. It is located between the Northeastern U.S. and the Western U.S., with Canada to its north and the Southern U.S. to its south. The Census Bureau's definition consists of 12 states in the north central United States: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
1_Apprentice
I didn't know that either -- do you know anything about the type of natural "wonders" it might offer? I love spending time outdoors, as long as there's a nice hotel to return to ;-)
0_Wizard
It is actually situated near the middle of North America. A stone in Rugby, North Dakota, marks the "Geographic Center of the North American Continent"
North Dakota is situated near the middle of North America with a stone marker in Rugby, North Dakota marking the "Geographic Center of the North American Continent".
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North Dakota
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North Dakota
North Dakota () is a state in the midwestern and northern regions of the United States. It is the nineteenth largest in area, the fourth smallest by population, and the fourth most sparsely populated of the 50 states. North Dakota was admitted as the 39th state to the Union on November 2, 1889. Its capital is Bismarck, and its largest city is Fargo. North Dakota weathered the Great Recession of the early 21st century with a boom in natural resources, particularly a boom in oil extraction from the Bakken formation, which lies beneath the northwestern part of the state. The development drove strong job and population growth, and low unemployment.
North America
North America is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere; it is also considered by some to be a northern subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, and to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea. North America covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers (9,540,000 square miles), about 16.5% of the earth's land area and about 4.8% of its total surface. North America is the third largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa, and the fourth by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe.
CFB North Bay
Canadian Forces Base North Bay, also CFB North Bay, is an air force base located at the City of North Bay, Ontario about north of Toronto. The base is subordinate to 1 Canadian Air Division, Winnipeg, Manitoba, and is the centre for North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) operations in Canada, under the Canadian NORAD Region Headquarters, also in Winnipeg. It is also home to the 1 Air Force, Detachment 2 of the United States Air Force. 22 Wing/Canadian Forces Base North Bay is the most important military base in Canada with respect to the continental air defence of North America and the country's air sovereignty.
Missouri River
The Missouri River is the longest river in North America. Rising in the Rocky Mountains of western Montana, the Missouri flows east and south for before entering the Mississippi River north of St. Louis, Missouri. The river takes drainage from a sparsely populated, semi-arid watershed of more than half a million square miles (1,300,000 km), which includes parts of ten U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. When combined with the lower Mississippi River, it forms the world's fourth longest river system. For over 12,000 years, people have depended on the Missouri River and its tributaries as a source of sustenance and transportation.
Rugby, North Dakota
Rugby is a city in, and the county seat of, Pierce County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 2,876 at the 2010 census. making it the seventeenth largest city in North Dakota. Rugby was founded in 1886. Rugby is often billed as the geographic center of North America. Rugby was founded in 1886 at a junction on the Great Northern Railway, where a branch line to Bottineau met the main line. The railroad promoters initially platted the town as Rugby Junction, getting the name Rugby from the town of Rugby in Warwickshire, England. It was one of several sites along the Great Northern's transcontinental route between Devils Lake and Minot that were named after places in England (the others were Berwick, Leeds, Knox,  Norwich, Penn, Surrey, Churches Ferry, Tunbridge, and York).
Olympic-Wallowa Lineament
The Olympic-Wallowa lineament (OWL) – first reported by cartographer Erwin Raisz in 1945 on a relief map of the continental United States – is a physiographic feature of unknown origin in the state of Washington (northwestern U.S.) running approximately from the town of Port Angeles, on the Olympic Peninsula to the Wallowa Mountains of eastern Oregon. Raisz located the OWL particularly from Cape Flattery (the northwest corner of the Olympic Peninsula) and along the north shore of Lake Crescent, thence the Little River (south of Port Angeles), Liberty Bay (Poulsbo), Elliott Bay (setting the orientation of the streets in downtown Seattle), the north shore of Mercer Island, the Cedar River (Chester Morse Reservoir), Stampede Pass (Cascade crest), the south side of the Kittitas Valley (I-90), Manastash Ridge, the Wallula Gap (on the Columbia River where it approaches the Oregon state line), and then the South Fork of the Walla Walla River into the northeastern corner of Oregon.
Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth is a major port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Saint Louis County. Duluth has a population of 86,293 and is the second-largest city on Lake Superior's shores, after Thunder Bay, Ontario, in Canada; it has the largest metropolitan area on the lake. The Duluth MSA had a population of 279,771 in 2010, the second-largest in Minnesota. Situated on the north shore of Lake Superior at the westernmost point of the Great Lakes, Duluth is accessible to oceangoing vessels from the Atlantic Ocean away via the Great Lakes Waterway and the Saint Lawrence Seaway. Duluth forms a metropolitan area with neighboring Superior, Wisconsin, called the Twin Ports.
1_Apprentice
Ha! That's awesome! You have truly given me a bit of information I never knew! It reminds me of a small marker in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral that marks the center of Paris.
0_Wizard
Very similar! North Dakota is also known for its rural landscape with few people, and long winters that on colder days produce beautiful sun dogs. 
North Dakota is known for its sparsely populated rural landscape, for its long winters that on colder days produce beautiful sun dogs, and for being the childhood home of Lawrence Welk.
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North Dakota
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North Dakota
North Dakota () is a state in the midwestern and northern regions of the United States. It is the nineteenth largest in area, the fourth smallest by population, and the fourth most sparsely populated of the 50 states. North Dakota was admitted as the 39th state to the Union on November 2, 1889. Its capital is Bismarck, and its largest city is Fargo. North Dakota weathered the Great Recession of the early 21st century with a boom in natural resources, particularly a boom in oil extraction from the Bakken formation, which lies beneath the northwestern part of the state. The development drove strong job and population growth, and low unemployment.
Sun dog
A sun dog (or sundog) or mock sun, formally called a parhelion (plural parhelia) in meteorology, is an atmospheric optical phenomenon that consists of a bright spot to the left and/or right of the Sun. Two sun dogs often flank the Sun within a 22° halo. The sun dog is a member of the family of halos, caused by the refraction of sunlight by ice crystals in the atmosphere. Sun dogs typically appear as a pair of subtly colored patches of light, around 22° to the left and right of the Sun, and at the same altitude above the horizon as the Sun. They can be seen anywhere in the world during any season, but are not always obvious or bright.
Vädersolstavlan
The original painting, which was produced shortly after the event and traditionally attributed to Urban målare ("Urban [the] Painter"), is lost, and virtually nothing is known about it. However, a copy from 1636 by Jacob Heinrich Elbfas held in Storkyrkan in Stockholm is believed to be an accurate copy and was until recently erroneously thought to be the restored original. It was previously covered by layers of brownish varnish, and the image was hardly discernible until carefully restored and thoroughly documented in 1998–1999. The painting was produced during an important time in Swedish history.
Lowitz arc
A Lowitz arc is an optical phenomenon that occurs in the atmosphere; specifically, it is a rare type of ice crystal halo that forms a luminous arc which extends inwards from a sun dog (parhelion) and may continue above or below the sun. The phenomenon is named after (or Lovits) (1757 - 1804), a German-born Russian apothecary and experimental chemist. On the morning of June 18, 1790 in St. Petersburg, Russia, Lowitz witnessed a spectacular display of solar halos. Among his observations, he noted arcs descending from the sun dogs and extending below the sun:  Original (in French): "6. Ces deux derniers parhélies qui se trouvoient à quelque distance des intersections du grand cercle horizontal par les deux couronnes qui entourent le soleil, renvoyoient d'abord des deux cotés de parties d'arc très courtes colorées "xi" & "yk" dont la direction s'inclinoit au dessous du soleil jusqu'aux deux demi-arcs de cercle intérieurs "die" & "dke".
Atmospheric optics
Atmospheric optics deals with how the unique optical properties of Earth's atmosphere cause a wide range of spectacular optical phenomena. The blue color of the sky is a direct result of Rayleigh scattering, which redirects higher frequency (blue) sunlight back into the field of view of the observer. Because blue light is scattered more easily than red light, the Sun takes on a reddish hue when it is observed through a thick atmosphere, as during a sunrise or sunset. Additional particulate matter in the sky can scatter different colors at different angles, creating colorful, glowing skies at dusk and dawn.
LiLi Roquelin
LiLi Roquelin (born in Toulon, France) is a French-born American "adult contemporary music", post-trip hop and alternative rock singer, composer and songwriter from Astoria, Queens, New York City. Roquelin is most notable for her songs which won Best Music Video at several film festivals and received TV and Film Placements: "I Saw You", "Blues Alone", "Should you get mad", "Renew", "Keep This For You", "The Only One", "Thank You", "Like a Feather". Roquelin grew up in the south of France, learning music from her multi-instrumentalist father when she was four years old. She played several gigs as a teenager, both solo and in various bands.
The Long Winters
The Long Winters is an American indie rock band based in Seattle, Washington. Singer-songwriter John Roderick was born in Seattle, Washington, and grew up in Anchorage, Alaska. He later returned to Seattle, formed the Bun Family Players and The Western State Hurricanes. Following the collapse of the latter, he acted as touring keyboardist for Harvey Danger. In 2001, Harvey Danger singer/songwriter Sean Nelson suggested that he and Roderick record an album—half of the songs penned by John, and the other half by Sean. Death Cab for Cutie band member Chris Walla had recently opened up the Hall of Justice studio in Seattle and agreed to help them record.