Life in Valley City

[bj60]

I will be moving to Valley City area soon and would like to find a place to stay where I can keep my horse and 4-wheeler, I need a bigger house if possible. Do you know who I can talk to help find a house with acreage? Also, I have an RV if I can find a hook-up for it can stay in it til find a house to rent. I appreciate your in put. Since your family has lived in the area so long perhaps they know of someone wanting to rent a place near Valley City?

[jbdykstra]

Thanks to all for the replies and the positive impressions of Valley City and North Dakota. It was my intention to apply for a position I had seen advertised at the college, but the idea of moving to someplace so isolated and different just didn't sit well with the rest of the family, in spite of the fact that there would have been a lot of good reasons to consider it. I've always had the idea of giving North Dakota a try, and who knows? Maybe someday I will. Best of luck to all of you.

[3-Oaks]

Originally Posted by bj60

Hello, hope you don't mind me asking you about Valley City too? I am moving there soon on a job and want to find a house and acreage that I can bring my horse too. Can you tell me who I need to talk to find a house in the country? I would like a 3 bedroom at least if possible. We also have an RV if we can't find a house right away.Do you know where we can hook one up near Valley City?I appreciate the help!

Call the Chamber of Commerce & they could hook you up with a realtor.

There are 2 campgrounds with trailer hookups in town. One (city owned & operated) almost downtown & along the river with nice trees, etc. The other is up on the hill behind one of the motels (owned & operated by the motel). It is along the interstate (noisier) and has no trees, river, etc. Also would be an awfully long hike downtown to the stores, you'd have to drive.

For either campground....winter is not a good time....too cold... you could park & have elect, but there most likely would be no water. I can't say for sure there's no water, tho, because there is a family from Texas who has been at the City campground all summer and is still there. Vehicles come & go & there are lights on, etc, so we know they're there. The guy is working at the new windfarm that is just being finished up being built. Even us natives wonder how they're managing...we've had several weeks of record setting low temps....high of -15 today, was down to -30+ last night.

[3-Oaks]

Travel to Jamestown (1/2 hour west) or Fargo (50 min east) is no big deal, in fact I know probably a dozen people who commute to Fargo every day, as well as it's not uncomon just to run over to one or the other for supper.

As far as shopping, we don't have Walmart, but there is Pamida, a small version of K-mart/Walmart, etc.

There's a Family Dollar store ( not a true *Dollar* store, but very good prices on household staples, health & beauty supplies, curtains & home decor, and some clothing and groceries.

There are 2 good size grocery stores & if you can't find something, either will probably order it for you.

There's 2 nice hardware stores and I know ACE will gladly order anything in their big catalog if they already don't have it.

There's 3 lumberyards where, again, they do a lot of special orders-windows, doors, shingles, etc come from the nationally known brands. Regular lumber is better quality (less knots & straighter) than you'll find at Menards/Lowes/Home Depot and not much more expensive, plus they'll deliver everything right to your home. We often check out the 'Big Box' stores in Fargo & then come back here and order the same stuff...then we don't have to haul it or store it until we get to that part of the project!

There's 3 drug & gift stores, and another drug store in one of the grocery stores, and a couple clothing stores as well as Pamida has a lot of clothing. There's a shoe/boot shop & a shoe/boot/leather repair place that sells higher end work/hunting/etc boots.

If you are into 'the arts', there are plenty of plays & concerts & lectures to attend, or you could perform in one of the plays or concerts as there are both mens & women's choir groups and many local musicians, photographers & artists. In summer there is a weekly concert in the park where you can pack your supper and go sit on the grass (or bring your own chairs) and enjoy the music with your supper. Usually a different organization signs up each week to provide icecream cones, rootbeer floats, etc for dessert. The museum brings in several travelling exhibits from the Smithsonian of the State Historical Society each year and has a monthly lecture series.

There are several places to eat from fast food (Burger King, Taco Johns, DQ, Subway), to unique - Chinese Palace (excellent! and operated by a couple Chinese brothers) & Another Time (in a 1920's bungalow), to our 2 night clubs and the Eagles (don't have to join to eat there).


I just put together a list of things to do in our area for another project. I'll send that in a separate post.


As far as racism, I doubt you'll have any problems. There is a Hispanic family kitty-corner on the opposite corner of our block and a black couple lives down the street about 6 houses from us. There are a couple other black families (as well as several single young people at the college), a couple Native American families, and several families from India (who all have jobs at the computer software development place). A couple of the Doctors at the clinic/hospital are also from India as well as an Asian lady Doctor who is our internal medicine specialist, and the Chinese people who have the restaurant. There is another Dr from SE Asia who was here for many years & then retired here, too., as well as several families who have adopted kids of other races.

Good luck wherever you decide to go to, we would have loved having you.


Oh, and I know our church would welcome anyone w/a Guatemalan background as we are very active in an organization involved in a couple villages in the remote mountains. A group of 8-12 from church has been going down every year or so for the past several years and just this past August we had a group come up here. It was VERY educational! And to top it off, one of the ladies had a baby girl (a couple weeks early, the Dr said, but she thought she had another 6 weeks or so), so new Baby Amanda (named for a daughter of the family she was staying with!) has dual US & Guatemalan citizenship! We would have loved learning more about the country, people, and language(s).

[3-Oaks]

- - - Here's a list I made of things to do in Valley City and the surrounding area - - -




***Drive the National Scenic Byway, visit the Barnes Co Museum (by far the nicest 'small town' museum around) where they have travelling exhibits (from Smithsonian & other places) as well as the usual stuff



***Check our the neat & unusual shops...antiques, 2nd-hand, photo studios, pottery, etc



***Don't miss 'The Quilted Ceiling' (fabrics, kitchenwares, gifts, misc) where each of the 2' x 4' ceiling tiles is painted in a different quilt block pattern!



***Eat at Another Time - a small cafe in a 1920's house, Dutton's Parlor-an ice cream shop & coffee Bar, the Viking Room (Good soups!), or The Chinese Palace (best oriental food around...better than anything in Fargo or Bismarck!)



***Stop at the Rosebud Visitor's Center to see the 'Rosebud', a 1880's railroad superintendant's private car with it's original wood furniture, fold up bunk beds and heavy brass light fixtures, kitchen, dining room, and bathrooms (like the private rail cars on the 'Wild, Wild West' TV show & Movies!) There are also displays telling about our area and about the Sheyenn Valley National Scenic Byway. This is also where to go to ask questions about the town or to puck up maps & brochures pertaining to the area.



***In summer, walk or drive the bridge tour - we have 14 bridges in town and several are unusual or one-of-a kind bridges, and a couple are on the National Historic Register.



***The Winter Show, Ralley in the Valley, Soapbox Derby, Christmas in the Valley, Community Days, Sheyenne Shuffle Half Marathon, Artists Crawl, High School & College Homecoming parades, Rodeos & Horse shows nearly every weekend in summer, Craft Shows, Farmers Market 3 times a week, etc, etc, etc.



***Hike the North Country Trail, hunt, snow mobile, fish, waterski (Lake Ashtabula is 15 minutes away), downhill ski (at Fort Ransom 40 miles away)



***Go Geo-Caching - there's dozens of caches within 50 miles!



***Camp in town or at one of the campgrounds up at the Lake



***Stay at one of the unique lodging choices - The Presedent's House Guest Inn, Three Oaks Guest Inn, Lakeside Bed & Breakfast, or Sheyenne Riverbend Farm, and have a nice supper at City Lights Supper Club or at Sabir's.



I know there's more, but that's what I can think of off the top of my head.

[JACK SAWYER]

[quote=magiccity;2484786]Hi there,
Have you considered Minot? I helped a Hispanic family move into Minot this last October. In a couple of weeks they are planning on opening a Mexican food restaurant which we need badly. I invited him to one of my meetings and he was welcomed with open arms. I think that you'll find that you'll be accepted into any part of ND. The only thing that would separate you would be your attitude. If you think everyone will hate you, then they will. If you think that everyone will like you, then they will. After living in ND for 18 years, I found that North Dakotans are a very friendly, loving, accepting people. Sometimes you ! i have lived in new mexico for a couple years to and i know what he is talking about!any how if that is the same place i love the food!

[JACK SAWYER]

Speaking of food Stanley has a good home cooking place on main st! It sells out of food...hard to believe but true,i have been in there and they only have a few items left because its so good!