Hi all. Part of me hopes you’re still checking back and that your interest in our summer project hasn’t waned. Part of me hopes you haven’t checked in awhile because I’m a little (a lot) embarrassed at my failure as a consistent blogger.

This is Taryn. I’m back in Minneapolis because my job at the Minnesota Daily is starting again – because I shot my last wedding – because I crossed Kendra’s and my last trip off my to-do list and so it seemed like time. But I’m still working. Stress + summer temptations + weddings coming out our ears have put this book a little behind schedule. What it all adds up to is an inability to monitor my work successfully without setting deadlines. This is why I love newspapers: they have very firm, unavoidable deadlines.

So I’m giving myself a deadline. I’m going to be writing like crazy until the end of August and hopefully by the time my cousin Paige gets married over Labor Day weekend, I will have some concrete stuff to hand over to Kendra.

Here’s how it turned out (roughly):

We visited five different towns in as geographically varied locations as we could. We interviewed families, farmers, business owners, and community enthusiasts. Some of the people we talked to fit all of these at once. We also took a nice trip around the entire state to take pictures, eat cafe food and observe lives outside our own. There’s so much I could tell you about that trip…I will save it for another blog post.

Because I’m still blogging! I’m determined to tell you everything I thought about telling you as we went along but never got to for one reason or another. Please forgive the retroactive posts, but I promise they will still be vivid and thoughtful. Promise :)

Until next time, thanks for reading. I’m sorry to anyone who checked back regularly only to have their hearts crushed. Here’s what you have to look forward to:

1) Road trip tips/memories/observations. You haven’t lived til you’ve touched every border of your home state.

2) Snip-its from the 3/5 towns you haven’t heard much about yet.

3) The culture shock I experienced visiting Los Angeles, California for a week after spending my summer in small town North Dakota.

4) Pictures!

Okay. Now I should get to the actual writing…More soon!

Essence, North Dakota, road trip, travel About, North Dakota Project, Personal