Life in the Palace (Prince Harry #5)

Chapter Fifteen

The second full day was rainy, so another day at the beach and pool wasn't going to be happening. However, Meredith's father was already down at the lake at the crack of dawn, hunting his big fish. When Meredith told him of her plans, he shooed her off, preferring to stay at the lake.

Meredith and Harry already ate breakfast by the time they left, thought they did have a fair share of snacks. There were enough things to do around where they were to entertain anybody, but Meredith wanted to give the chance to have him explore several U.S. states. Maybe when they made it back to the Twin Cities, they were going to take a trip down to Iowa. Harry had already been to the "fun" states of the U.S., but he had missed the "flyover" states often.

It was about a two hour drive to Fargo, North Dakota. Meredith drive. Her music played. Harry wasn't able to name the songs. It was some backgrounds driving along the twisted highways in the middle of the woods. She gracefully passed the semi-trucks that had a hard time maintaining speed in the middle of nowhere. They passed the trees and slowed down for small towns that had a bar and a church. There were weird things hiding in the woods, and occasionally, Meredith and Harry pulled off the road to explore.

They reached a larger town-- well, larger compared to the small towns that were close to villages-- by a big lake. The wind rolled off of it, nearly blowing the car off course. Tourists packed the streets already off this town, even though it was early summer. Northern towns in Minnesota were quickly filled during the summer by tourists.

"Many Minnesotans go 'up north' for summer," Meredith explained as they followed along the roads to enter onto the four-lane highway. That was much better. "It's cabin country."

"I did realize that many people in Minnesota always say they're going up to their cabins during the weekends," Harry said.

"It's like..." Meredith thought about it, "when Granny goes up Windsor for the weekend. It's a vacay."

Harry slid his eyes over to her, giving her a smile. "Sure."

She snorted and then laughed.

"What's in Fargo anyway?" Harry asked.

"The opportunity to visit another U.S. state. Do you want to go to South Dakota next?"

Harry considered it. "Do you want to go?"

"I've been there once. Let's just focus on today." On the freeway, they were moving quickly now. "You've seen the movie 'Fargo,' right?"

He had to think about it, but then he nodded. "Have you?"

"I'm from Minnesota. It's one of the things you have to do, like know five Prince songs, have gone to the Mall of America, tried hot dish and a Juicy Lucy. Nowadays, you got Lizzo too."

"Didn't the movie come out before you were born?" Harry asked.

"You're going to age yourself if you think about it too hard," Meredith replied.

"Didn't the movie take place mostly in Minnesota?" he asked.

"That's why it's a Minnesotan classic."

Harry scratched his head. "Then why is it in Fargo?"

"Where the movie began and I think it ends there too. I know they have one of the fake wood chippers that were used in the movie."

They arrived in Fargo, North Dakota, and it was different than what Harry thought it was going to be. Harry had been to a few places where many thought not much existed. These places were made fun off. Harry himself had some of those thoughts the first time he came to Minnesota. It was not one of those states that he heard much about. North Dakota was even further down the list.

"There are higher buildings than I thought there was going to be," Harry acknowledged.

"Make it out of Fargo and you'll find the flat land."

Harry laughed.

It was around noon, and she was ready for lunch. Harry didn't disagree. His stomach was rumbling too. They went to one of the local restaurants that happened to be open in the middle of the day during the middle of the week.  The restaurant had long tables to share with other people. Harry had his baseball cap pulled down, and Meredith had her glasses on and hair in a bun. The restaurant was German food based with very American twists, seeing that Meredith ate spaetzel with cheese to make it look like mac and cheese. 

When the food came, Meredith was ready to devour it all. Harry got his fork in to steal some before it was all gone. When they were done eating, both were ready for a nap. However, the day was far from over.

Doing the touristy thing, Meredith and Harry went to Fargo's information center, where one of the two wood chippers from "Fargo" used was. They checked in at the front with the visitor's book.

Harry whispered, "Do we sign our actual names?"

Meredith took the pen out of Harry's hand and wrote their names in: "Meredith and Harry." When the book asked where they were from, Meredith wrote, "London, England, UK."

Harry whispered, "Do you think we should just put our address down? Everyone knows it already."

"Should I cross out our names and put 'Duke and Duchess of Windsor?'" she asked.

"If you would like," he offered.

Inside, there was only one worker who was helping another family that happened to be from Missouri. They were on a tour of most of the northern states. They had gone through Wisconsin and Minnesota and were now making their way through North Dakota and onto South Dakota. Meredith hadn't done many road trips as a child and neither had Harry. Though, Harry did have many trips to Klosters for skiing or Balmoral Castle. Those probably weren't like normal people.

"Come on." Meredith took his hand and pulled him over to the wood chipper. "It's not real." There were velvet ropes around it, but there was a photo station with a fake leg sticking out. 

"Would you like a picture?" asked the worker, popping over.

Immediately, Harry put his head down.

"Yes, thank you." Meredith smiled and handed over her phone.  "Crowd around." Meredith position Harry as they both pretended to push down on the leg as if they were part of the movie "Fargo." The worker snapped a few pictures and then handed the phone back. "Thank you very much." The worker wandered off to see the next group that came in. Meredith looked through the pictures. "I think we look nice."

Harry wasn't sure how he felt about the photos. "They're very touristy."

"It's the way of doing travel. Plus," Meredith's eyes flickered to the worker, "they didn't even realize it was us. Too bad we can't hashtag it." Upon entering the monarchy, Meredith had lost most of personal social media accounts. The few that she had left couldn't be traced to her because she didn't have any personal information on there.

"Don't push the luck." 

They went back out to the car. Harry was in charge of driving back, but Meredith chose the music. She put on some Lizzo just so that at least Harry knew the song. Lizzo was not originally from Minnesota, but she was very much claimed by Minnesota. It was a two-hour drive back. Meredith turned Lizzo up, and they basically yelled the lyrics all the way back to the cabin.