Williston North Dakota – What’s It Really Like?

I grew up in what people refer to now as the "Boomtown" - Williston, North Dakota.  My family homesteaded some land about 45 minutes away, and I am a Williston High School graduate.  I left the area when I was 18 years-old and moved to Bozeman Montana, but my family is still there on the farm - and many of my friends have moved home to take advantage of the new wealth that comes along with the oil.

What's it really like there?  That's the question I get all the time.  My answer?  It's crazy.  I have watched from afar as the place I always loved, completely changed.  I go back a few times a year, and have a hard time grasping how different it is each and every trip.

If you can supply it, they will buy it.  Food, ice, building materials, laborers, whatever!  When I go home, I pack everything I want for the trip (especially my yummy coffee creamer, which you're not going to find at the grocery store!).  You have to learn to drive on roads that used to be desolate, that now are packed with truck traffic.  Think you're going to go home and meet your friends at the bar?  Well, that can happen - but the last time I did, there were 3 fights in the bar that required to police coming all 3 times before midnight.  Bottom line - everything's different.  The documentary is a great description.

All this being said - I still love North Dakota.  I miss home all the time.