The One Thing To Do in North Dakota Before the End of the Year

I have two boys in my house with an affinity for the sky and the big, broad wings that come with purring engines, too. One just entered the double digits, and the other is north of 50. But put them in a room dedicated to aircraft, and they are both instantly eight years old again. If I could take them on one last North Dakota adventure this year, I would choose the Fargo Air Museum.

 I came from a household of Barbies and bows, with no brothers, so I was never really exposed to all things engines until the gender reveal brandished my world with blue. But the gleam in their eyes over fighter jets, Cessnas, crop dusters, and everything in between had an intriguing way of making me feel like my girls' club was missing out. 

My daughter felt it, too, diving into books and movies about aviation, developing a fascination with Amelia Earhart and the movie Fly Away Home about a 13-year-old girl who learns to fly so she can lead a flock of Canadian geese south for the winter.

Learning that we had a four-way interest in air travel and aviation, I started looking for aviation destinations in the USA. Initially, I was quite frustrated, frequently finding the best air museums in the country were located on the coasts, a long way from our usual Midwest road trip routes. But I kept digging and eventually found an aviation community in Fargo, still a long way from home in Iowa, but at least within driving distance. 

And I like Fargo. It’s oddly remote and urban at the same time, and we always meet the most interesting people there. I find Fargo to be exceptionally full of juxtapositions: rugged and polished, outdoorsy yet cafe-chic, plus overwhelmingly warm personalities in an overwhelmingly cold environment. It makes sense that it’s also an aviation community in the middle of the country, nowhere near the ocean. It felt perfect, so off we went to North Dakota to visit the Fargo Air Museum at Hector International Airport.

Barely two seconds after our own engine grumbled to a halt, my son flung open his car door and ran straight for the giant, white missile perched in the parking lot of the museum. It was the first of over 30 aircraft on display at the museum, many of which featured interactive elements or exhibits. We were fascinated to learn that most of the planes were literally ready for takeoff, as the museum prides itself on functional restorations, and at least 90 percent of them can still fly. But that was just the start. We spent endless hours in the shadows of these iconic machines, learning STEM, history, and innovation, making it effective for all ages and levels of understanding.

The boys spent the bulk of their time in aircraft simulation and at the drone flying station, while my daughter and I ogled over flight suits, flags, dog tag memorials, and the aviation library. And all of us were universally awed by the war planes, artifacts, and intimate stories displayed alongside them. At the end of the day, we left the Fargo Air Museum with a complete education about the Midwest and U.S. aviation, plus a reconfirmed obsession with all things airplanes.

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