A satisfying trip to Carrington

I haven't left the familiar confines of Bray township very often this winter. Since it was the time when many people take a vacation to get away from the cold and snow, I thought I would too. Last week, my nephew, Jamie, and I escaped this brutal winter for the warmer climate of Carrington, North Dakota.

Carrington doesn't present a vision of sandy beaches and floppy hats to protect your skin from the sun. This is fine because neither one appeals to me. Carrington has seen more snow than we have and the wind has done some very creative things with it.

We took Highway 200 which had several spots that could be described as a tube. Drifts were so large that a snowblower was brought in to cut through which left sheer walls to either side of traffic.

Jamie and I left about 5:30 that morning, then got a coffee in Crookston and were in Carrington in time for a late breakfast.

We met Dave at the new High Plains Equipment store. Dave spent the last three years deeply invested in this project. It is now mostly finished and it is also mostly huge. The peak of the building is 35 feet. The mechanics were servicing several Case/New Holland combines and tractors that day and this collection gave the shop some scale.

The shop was productive that morning, but it was also quiet and clean. Dave gave us a tour and we later visited in his office. There is a friendly, kind of loud, sweet lady who works in an office adjacent to Dave's. This person is my niece, Sara, she was a nice part of our visit too,

If you are a special guest of Dave, you get a tour of the Corne and Connie van Bedaf dairy. I have never seen so many contented cows in one place. Nobody even moos when we visit! Most of that milk goes to a processing facility; however, a portion goes to the "Cows and Co. Creamery."

This is the place where Duchess Gelato is created by Casey and Maartje Murphy. Maartje is the daughter of the van Bedaf's. She wanted the gelato she remembered growing up in the Netherlands. She turned that want into a creamery that makes both the gelato and cheese.

Dave treated Jamie and me to Duchessa Gelato to take home from the Cows and Co. Gift Shop. I got one sweet yogurt cherry and one salted butter caramel. Maartje took a break from the creamery and gave us some of the cherry gelato. It is so thick and creamy, almost overwhelmingly delicious.

Maartje said their secret really isn't a secret, it's value. Many companies blow a lot of air into their gelato to create greater volume. This process makes a batch of gelato fill more containers, however it loses the creaminess. The spoons we used to eat the gelato were tiny but the treat was so rich that it took a little effort to spoon it out.

Back at the shop, Dave continued his generosity by giving Jamie and I each a "High Plains Equipment" cap. Jamie quizzed Dave on his encyclopedic knowledge of field sprayers, said goodbye to Dave and Sara then we headed home.

Dave is an excellent big brother, he and I have written letters to each other since the 70s and my trips to see him started somewhere in the mid 90s. Both are traditions I enjoy. A column about the trip is tradition, too. I noticed in my "Facebook memories" that the same cast and crew took the same trip, on the same day, seven years ago. Some things are just timeless.