It's All About Rugby Today

So as to set expectations accordingly right from the get go, this post is not about the sport of Rugby, nor is it about Rugby, England.  It's about Rugby, North Dakota, my home town and where I'm probably sitting and visiting with my dad right now. 

Rugby was a great place to grow up.  People are friendly, there's no violent crime, you get snow days in the winter, your vehicle comes with a block heater you plug in so your engine doesn't freeze, you get to experience temperatures well below freezing even without the windchill (hence the blockheater) which will toughen you up, and you also get to experience 100% humidity and 90+ degrees in the summer, during which you will long for the aforementioned cold weather.  Oh, and mosquitos.  Lots and lots of them just waiting for you to show up for dinner.  Really, you can have it all in Rugby *grin*. 

In all seriousness, it really is a great little town.  Probably the best and the worst feature for me is that everyone pretty much knows everyone else.  That's great in many respects because people are always willing to help each other out, but to say that nothing you do will ever be kept a secret would be an understatement.  Rugby is quite the hotbed of gossip.  News travels fast in Rugby.  Sometimes this can work to your advantage and sometimes not so much.

My DH also grew up in a small town and he said it wasn't like that where he grew up.  Our newspaper actually had gossip columns for Rugby and all of the surrounding small towns.  I'm not sure they still do it these days, but if not, that is a pretty recent change.  You could read about who visited with whom, funerals and weddings that people attended, who came home from college for the weekend, who came home from Arizona to stay with her dad for a couple of weeks, etc.  You get the idea.

Rugby does have a claim to fame.  I bet you didn't know that Rugby, North Dakota is the Geographical Center of North America.  Well, it is, and we have a monument to prove it.  I thought the dog was a nice touch in this picture.  Not sure whose he is as I pulled this picture off of the internet.

We also have a great museum.  It doesn't look like much on the outside, but it's loaded with great stuff on the inside.  We had many a field trip there for school.

There is apparently also a Victorian Dress Museum, which may or may not have been there when I was growing up.  It sounds kind of familiar, but I just don't remember for sure.  I've been gone for over 20 years at this point and things do change, even in small town North Dakota LOL.

Rugby is also home to the Pierce County Fairgrounds.  The fairgrounds is a hotbed of activity all summer.  I was fortunate enough to grow up a half a block from the fairgrounds, so we could go down there whenever we wanted and we could watch the 4th of July fireworks shows from our backyard.  It was great. 

If you want more information on any of these landmarks, and I'm sure you do *grin*, you can find it here.  I hope you enjoyed the mini tour of Rugby.  There is much more on the website that I didn't cover.

In addition, not too far from Rugby are the International Peace Gardens, a 2,339 acre botanical garden on the border of the United States and Canada.  If you are ever in the area, it's worth checking out.  There are concerts and other activities in addition to being able to just walk around the garden.  My dad, his GF and I planned to take a day trip up there the first week I was home.  If we made the trip, we will have already been there by the time you are reading this.  If I got any good pictures I'll share them when I am back home.  In the meantime, here's a nice one from the website.