How’s this possible in a place where North Dakotans joke that they have just two seasons: winter, and the short time in between to fix the roads?

A big oil boom in northwestern North Dakota, near the Canadian border, helps explain the growing population. The discovery of millions of barrels of oil has brought jobs and prosperity to towns like Williston, whose population is up 16 percent since 2000.

You literally never know what’s around the next bend on North Dakota’s “Enchanted Highway.” The art installations provide a welcome diversion in the drab western part of the state.

And to the east, the state’s largest city, Fargo, is thriving, too, thanks to a technology explosion at a regional Microsoft office and elsewhere, as well as a lively arts and nightclub scene that has kept a lot of young North Dakotans from departing for warmer climes.

There’s even more art out west for all to see, a collection of the world's largest metal sculptures along North Dakota’s “Enchanted Highway.” In some ways, the whole state is enchanted by its surprising prosperity these days.

Nobody would have guessed that, even a decade ago.