Tower City Cafe

If you've ever tried driving 200 miles down a lonely stretch of highway by yourself with a walnut cream pie in the back seat, you know from experience it can be a pestering distraction.

Look at it. Sitting all by its lonesome in the back seat.  I should've buckled it in for safety. I'll just bring it up to the front seat. You know, in case I hit a major curve on this straight-as-an-arrow Interstate 94.  We wouldn't want walnut cream pie sliding all around, now, would we...

Oh, lemme just take a peek.  Just to make sure it's still ok in there.

It's whispering to me.  "eat me..."

I took a quick trip to Fargo today to attend a writing conference, with about 20 fellow freelancers and bloggers from around North Dakota. I met some amazing people, like Dawn, a farmer's wife with a feature article in the latest Cowboys and Indians magazine about the North Dakota Badlands; Jessie, a pretty-as-a-peach country girl with a blog about the country life; and guest speaker Tanner, who had some brilliant advice on multimedia storytelling, something I hope to do more of in the near future.

But as much fun as the conference was, part of me, just a teeny tiny part of me, was really just excited to drive to Fargo as an excuse to stop in Tower City for pie.

Next time you find yourself driving on I-94 on the west side of Fargo, take Exit 307 to Tower City.  Swing into the clean, shiny gas station and walk slowly and steadily to the cafe inside, specifically the manna that is The Rotating Pie Display.

Make your selection carefully - the super-sweet sour cream raisin is the house specialty, but I'm on Team Apple when it comes to TCP (Tower City Pie) - and savor the fact that the pie is homemade every morning by friendly, talented small town lady bakers.

I have a goal to sample every kind of pie made by Tower City Cafe.  There are about 20, so I have my work cut out for me, but have a pretty good start, crossing sour cream raisin, banana cream, chocolate, blueberry, and apple off my list thus far.

This time, I picked up Walnut Cream.  I didn't even know such a pie flavor existed, but once I got it in my car, that darn pie kept whispering. "just a little nibble..." But I forgot to pack silverware!  "Where there's a will, there's a way..."  But I'm driving! "It'll just take a second..."

Ok, just a quick swipe with my index finger...

Yum.  O.

Oh, what the hell.