What I did on my summer vacation: Sometimes you need an invitation
August 29, 2014 | 06:06 AM
By JERRY HAGSTROM
In the busy world of Washington policymaking and politics, we sometimes forget that there is more to life. But this summer I received two invitations that took me out of the capital and provided the opportunity for some great rural experiences and wonderful food.
As summer unofficially comes to an end this Labor Day weekend, I share with you some tidbits from these travels in North Dakota and Scandinavia. I hope you enjoy them.
North Dakota roots on ‘Roadshow’
The first came from my National Journal colleague Isobel Ellis, who found out that an episode of the PBS television show “Antiques Roadshow” was going to be taped in Bismarck, N.D., where I was born and went to high school.
Isobel, who grew up on a horse farm in New Jersey and is very knowledgeable about furniture, sent away for tickets to bring items to the popular antiques appraisal show, and presented them with an offer to accompany me to Bismarck.
I explained to Isobel that North Dakota was settled so late that she would not find the same kind of priceless antiques brought to shows on the East Coast, but that didn't matter to her, so off we went to Bismarck for the event on May 31.
The old things in North Dakota may not be worth a lot, but that didn't dampen the enthusiasm. We had to wait in line for the evaluation of our items, and had a wonderful time talking with Gene and Pat Eggen, a couple from Minot.
Gene brought his father's buffalo mittens which he remembered his father wearing as late as the 1950s as he drove his children to school “through the snow in a sleigh.”
Gene told the appraiser that Gen. George Custer had worn them, but had no answer when the appraiser asked if he had a letter of authentication from Custer.
I brought the snuff box my grandfather carried with him from Sweden when he immigrated in 1905.
The appraiser confirmed that it was made of nickel covered with silverplate, and that the engraving used to put his name on the box is known as pinpricking. The value was only $50 to $75, but I didn't care. I didn't want to sell it and only wanted it authenticated.
Before we left, I took Isobel on two excursions.
The first was to to my family farm between Wilton and Regan, with a stop in the town of Wing.
The second was to Medora, on the far western edge of the state where Teddy Roosevelt ranched. It was also the place where French nobleman and entrepreneur the Marquis de Morès built a meat-packing plant in a failed attempt to slaughter and process meat on the Plains where the cattle were raised.
These were memorable days.
We visited the Chat-N-Chew Cafe in Wing, N.D., boasting home cooking, chuck wagon, catering and baked goods, and featuring (below) a number of memorable signs advising its customers. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)
Left: Richardton, N.D., is home to the Assumption Abbey, a Benedictine monastery. Right: A tiny Jewish cemetery near Regan, N.D., is a testament to the diversity of small towns during pioneer days. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)
The Rough Rider Hotel in Medora, N.D., is an island of sophistication that serves lemon ricotta pancakes for breakfast on the weekends. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)
My host, retired Swedish diplomat Lars Romert, at the train station in Sunne, Värmland, where my grandparents lived. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)
Travels to Scandinavia
My Swedish grandparents were the only members of their family to leave Sweden, and my American family has stayed in touch with our Swedish relatives.
Later in the summer I received an invitation to attend the 70th birthday party being held for my father’s first cousin’s daughter. I went and had a wonderful time getting to know younger generations of my Swedish relatives in Värmland, the western Swedish province from which my ancestors came.
I also traveled through Oslo and visited distant Norwegian relatives that my parents had found in the 1970s by undertaking research on my maternal grandmother's roots.
Two younger generations of Swedish relatives at the birthday party. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)
Tone Gjerde, right, my relative who works for Norwegian Broadcasting, and her family host me at lunch at their home near Oslo. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)
Oslo meals, from left: Dinner in the bar of the Hotel Continental; lunch at the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art; Marina Tofting, a former Washington-based Norwegian journalist, shows off the fish we had in a wonderful Oslo restaurant. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)
