ENTERTAINMENT

Your driveway quietly absorbs everything the year throws at it. Freezing temperatures crack it open. Summer heat softens and warps the surface. Autumn leaves sit there for weeks, collecting moisture that seeps into every pore. I have maintained driveways across three different properties over the past eleven years, and the single most valuable thing I learned is this: small seasonal efforts prevent enormous repair bills. Ignore your driveway for two seasons and you are looking at $3,000–$8,000 in resurfacing costs. Stay on top of it and you add ten years to its life for under $200 a year in supplies…

I drove 1,200 miles across North Dakota last August. Not because I had to. Because I was tired of reading travel articles written by people who flew into Fargo, ate at a chain restaurant, and declared the state “underrated.” North Dakota is not underrated. It is accurately rated by most people who have never been there, and wildly misunderstood by the few who have. It is flat, yes. It is cold, yes. It is also one of the most geologically surprising, historically dense, and genuinely welcoming places I have traveled in the Lower 48. This guide is what I wish…