From the skyline of NYC to the prairie lands of Fargo, ND and back again, this is my travel guide on driving half way across the United States.

Road Trip Day IV: Fargo to Chicago

WHERE WE STOPPED ALONG THE WAY

At this point in our road trip we had become a party of five and so breakfast requires a greater variety of options to keep everyone happy. We made three stops around Fargo before hitting the road to Chicago.

• Sandy’s Donuts baked fresh daily, we were looking forward to trying Fargo’s favorite doughnut shop, Sandy’s donuts. We picked up the classics, maple bars, glazed, and sugar as well as a couple of novelty donuts for the kids. The donuts were light and fluffy. The maple bars were made with a maple frosting that tasted delicious.

• Bernbaum’s Bagels you can take the New Yorker out of the city but…I love a good bagel and so do my sons. BernBaum’s bagels received good reviews and was near where we would grab our morning coffee so we decided to grab breakfast bagels for everyone. We had lox and egg and eggs and cheddar bagels. They were tasty and I like the accompaniments like pickles with our order. The bagel itself was a little thinner than the New York bagels but it was satisfying.

• Atomic Coffee was the most important stop on our way out. By 7:30 a.m. we could already feel the July heat begin to envelope us so we ordered a couple of cold brews with oat milk and they were great. Atomic coffee has a cool, kind of grungy, coffee house vibe with a great selection of espresso drinks and tea.

Well fed and caffeinated we continued on our journey eastward. At a couple of points we needed more iced coffees for us and some cold beverages (and more bathroom breaks) for the littles. In Minnesota nad Wisconsin we made a couple of stops at Caribou Coffee which I had had while traveling through the midwest before. It’s a very decent cup of coffee, not worth going out of your way for but a reliable good choice when you need a cup of joe and that’s what’s around. We also stocked up on fireworks and of course Wisconsin cheeses from Humbird Cheese. Jalapeno cheddar cheese curds made a great snack for the car paired with pickled green beans and snap peas.

We entered Chicago just before sunset. Our first order of business was to grab some take out dinner to bring to our hotel suite so we could spend the evening unwinding without interruption. Of course for the boys we had to get classic Chicago hot dogs with a side of fries and for all of us, I needed one more pizza fix.

• Spacca Napoli Pizza I had had this pizza before when I was running around Chicago with a good buddy of mine a few years ago. Classic Neapolitan style pizza this is a great crust with just a little char and a nice sauce. The classic margherita pizza was everyone’s favorite.

We enjoyed our room which had a great view of the city and the lake dotted with sail boats. We rested up and decided we would delay our drive and spend a few hours the next morning showing the boys the Windy City. More on that next time.