With the start of the school year, Kyle and I both independently freaked out that our children are getting older and will soon become grownups and leave their old parents with a basement full of lonely Thomas the Train engines and knee hockey nets.  As such, we decided the most logical thing to do was to use the long weekend to force said children to spend quality time with us.  Some of that quality time included watching a movie (Happy Gilmore; favorite quote on this millionth re-watch was from the television announcer: “Quite a large and economically diverse crowd here at the Michelob Invitational.”), getting Coldstone (Thirteen branched out from his usual order and got marshmallow ice cream, which we all tried and voted the best of the four), and spending the day in Fort Totten.

If you are from North Dakota you probably just said to yourself, “You took your children to Fort Totten?” because Fort Totten is best known as the home of Spirit Lake Casino, which is not really for kids.  Fort Totten is also next door to Devils Lake, a large lake community which is much more for kids.  We did stop at a gas station in Devils Lake so Nine could use the restroom.

Anyways, while Fort Totten is best known for Spirit Lake Casino, it is also home to the Fort Totten State Historic Site – and if there’s one thing the Kosiors love, it’s a good historic site.

The Fort Totten Historic Site was first built as a military post (1867; in fact, it is considered one of the best-preserved frontier military posts in the U.S.) and later converted into an Indian Industrial School (1890).  It was also at one point a tuberculosis preventorium, although that part of its history is not represented anywhere around the Site because I’m guessing a “preventorium” isn’t much different than what I, and you, and the rest of the American populace are doing to preventorium ourselves from getting TB, which is to stay away from people with tuberculosis. 

The Site consists of 15 buildings in which visitors can learn about the day-to-day lives of the soldiers and children who resided there.  Nine’s favorite building was the classroom building because it was, in his words, “Creeeeepy.”  Thirteen’s favorite building wasn’t a building but the White Horse Hill National Game Preserve in St. Michael, N.D., which is where we spent a couple of hours after the Fort.  My favorite building wasn’t a building, either, but instead a teepee in the Interpretive Center with information on the Native tribes and traditions.  For example: “Native Americans had a deep respect for the lake; some believed a sea serpent inhabited it that would devour warriors and swimming buffalo.  The Dakota named is Mni Wakan, or ‘Spirit Water.’  When Europeans arrived to the area, they interpreted the words as ‘Devils Lake.’”  A bit nuanced in the ol’ translation.

Now to Kyle’s favorite building.  The structure at the back of the Site was once the officer’s quarters, and then the teacher’s quarters, and is today the Totten Trail Inn.  The Totten Trail Inn is the only building with a docent of sorts (I say “of sorts” because she’s one of two live-in innkeepers), and when she offered us a tour when we wandered in (or INN), we obviously said YES – if there’s a second thing the Kosiors love, it’s a good historic tour.

The Totten Trail Inn has ten rooms, each decorated on an era-appropriate theme by the family who donated the money to preserve it.  The Knudson Room, for example, showcases a variety of Norwegian art and artifacts.  Another room is centered around Abraham Lincoln.  There are no televisions in the bedrooms, and so guests who want to watch TV can do so in the game room.  There is a library, a large living parlor, and a shared eat-in kitchen (only coffee and water are provided; guests are welcome to use the kitchen as they’d like).  The rooms are available for $100 and $125 on Airbnb.

Those are the facts.  Here is an inexhaustive list of the intangible benefits we uncovered in the 30 minutes we were in the Inn:

THE GHOST

The Innkeeper was kind and informative and was wearing normal-person clothes, as opposed to the raggedy Victorian dress, belted keys, monocle, shoulder crow, and air of mystery one would expect from an historic Inn.  This did not stop Nine from trying to find something creeeeepy about the place. 

“You got any ghosts here?”  He asked her.

“You tell me,” she said, stepping into the Haley/Olson Room.  “Do you feel anything?”

Nine stepped in.  “No, I don’t!”  He exclaimed in the same type of expression as someone would if they had instead said, “Yes, I do!”

“A long time ago, one of the guests was a woman who was conducting some kind of research in the area,” the Innkeeper said.  “After her research had concluded, she woke up in the morning to find her bags packed, and she swore a ghost must have done it.”

“Sounds like a very helpful ghost,” I said.

“Yes,” Nine said, disappointed.

“My room is right next door and I’ve never seen or felt a ghost in any room in this Inn,” she said, further plunging the Knife of Boringness into Nine’s imagination.

CROSBY

Every inch of wall space at the Inn is covered in art, photographs, and artifacts.  Most of it is as anticipated; a few are outside the norm – for instance, it was a common(?) practice in the Victorian era to weave a wreath of a deceased loved one’s hair, and so there is a hair wreath in the living room above the piano.  The Innkeeper pointed out a number of these items of interest on the tour.  Midway down one of the halls, she covered Nine’s eyes.

“I’m from Crosby,” she said.  “And we have so many nice things about Crosby, but the only photograph in the Inn from Crosby is this.”  She pointed to a small black and white photograph of a person being hanged.

“Maybe you could just replace that one,” Kyle said, but she had already moved onto the next artifact.

BABIES WELCOME

Speaking of recommendations from Kyle, the Innkeeper pointed out her favorite room with its pretty decorations, large on-suite bathroom (some of the bathrooms are in the halls, although not shared), and ample closet.

“No one ever rents this room, though,” she laments.  “Probably because no one needs a crib.”  She pointed to a large crib in the corner – which…and without being overdramatic or judgmental…if anything in that building was haunted, that giant baby crib was 1000% it.

“Why don’t you take the baby crib out?”  Kyle said.

“It was decorated with the room,” she said.

“They should decorate it out of here,” Thirteen whispered to Kyle.

GUESTS

The Innkeeper commented that we would be the last tour group to go through the Inn that day, as she expected the evening’s guests to arrive any time.

“They are going to ZZ Top at the Casino,” she said.

“No kidding,” Kyle said.  “Do you get a lot of concertgoers?”

“Yes,” she said.  “We get a lot of guests for all sorts of reasons.  Last week, we had a couple from Germany visiting the area.  The week before that, we had a woman who wanted to experience the Fort.  She brought her own steak and potatoes and pulled some peppers and squash out of the garden [there’s a community garden in the center of the courtyard] and cooked that up for dinner.”

“No kidding,” I said, because Kyle was no longer listening and was instead staring at me with the type of look that said, “We are totally going to stay here.”

“We are totally going to stay here,” Kyle said as we moved on to the next building.  “We need to get a group of people together so we can take up all the rooms.”

“What about the kids?”  I asked.

“I’m not staying there,” Nine said.  “It’s creeeeepy.”

“Think of it as a family bonding experience,” Kyle said.

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The photo above was taken in the Totten Trail Inn. I put a few more photos of the Inn and the Fort up on Facebook and Instagram if you’re interested.

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I wasn’t on North Dakota Today this week because of the holiday.  Last week, we talked about Shauna and Nick Wimer, my Nice “People” of the Week, as well as a much-loved New England art teacher whose family could use a helping hand (and she tragically passed away the day of my segment, so the need is even greater).  Check it out. (Valley News Live)

Thirty-five years after woolly mammoth bones were discovered under a home garage, an archaeological crew is coming to look for more. (Nebraska Examiner)

Nine-time Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky spent the day in her home-away-from-home, Williston. (Williston Herald)

Have an extra coats hanging around?  The Jamestown Rotary Club needs ’em. (Jamestown Sun)

A NASA test spacecraft has landed at the University of North Dakota. (Grand Forks Herald)

Head on out to Bismarck this weekend for the UTTC International Powwow. (Facebook)

Or, if you’re in Grand Forks, Throttle Addiction is raising money for the Northlands Rescue Mission Backpack Program. (Facebook)

Kyle and his friends, Corey and Kelly, have a podcast called North Dakota After Dark where they talk about youth hockey in North Dakota.  The latest episode is up and was a live show and I was one of the guests.  Check it out. Bonus: you can watch it on YouTube. (North Dakota After Dark)

One of my readers, Faye, sent me a stack of nice news that she found in her own travels around the Internet.  Here they are (thanks, Faye!):

Bismarck’s Agatha Gietzen is the first North Dakotan to compete in the Ms. Wheelchair America competition. (KX Net)

The Grand Forks Public Library is allowing people with missing or damaged books to “write off” $20 in fees by bringing in food. (Grand Forks Herald)

The headline says it all: “Against all odds: Minot teen with cerebral palsy, autism, and hearing loss set to graduate early and chase big dreams.” (KX Net)

This episode of Prairie Public’s “Main Street” highlights Fargo’s Fred Edwards and the Opera House in Maddock. (Prairie Public)

Looking for something to do this weekend?  Saturday is the Dickinson “Out of the Darkness Walk” to raise awareness of suicide prevention. (Dickinson Press)

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