Greetings from Minnesota. It may not seem so from this blog entry, but we're actually getting closer to home and nearing the end of our trip (and the end of filling your inboxes (spam or otherwise) with these updates).
On Sunday, August 20, we left Bismarck, North Dakota and took the long ride to International Falls, Minnesota. Along the way, we stopped at Itasca State Park to visit the Mississippi Headwaters. The Mississippi River begins as a stream out of Lake Itasca before going 2,500 miles to the Gulf of Mexico. The picture on the left is me on the first bridge across the river.
We made it to International Falls on Sunday evening. Most of you, like me, only know International Falls from occasionally seeing it on the weather report with the coldest temperature in the continental U.S. FYI, since Jan. 1, 2023, there have been 33 days with the temperature below zero (F) with the lowest being 36 below zero on Feb. 3 and the last being on April 7!! Now you know why we came here during the summer, but even the summer didn't totally help us.
We came here to serve as the jumping off point for a visit to Voyageurs National Park which is at the far north of Minnesota on the Canadian border. Prior to going to Voyageurs, we took a 45 minute detour into Canada to Fort Frances which sits across the Rainy River from International Falls.
On Monday, August 21 we went into Voyageurs to take a boat trip on Rainy Lake. Voyageurs is 40% water, so the best way to see it is on a boat. Unfortunately, the day of our boat trip was cloudy, in the low 60's and raining lightly.
We still enjoyed the trip seeing a number of bald eagles as well as loons (the bird kind). The lake is full of small islands (see picture on the left) and we got off on one island that once had a gold mine on it.
On Tuesday, August 22, we left International Falls bound for Duluth, MN. My brilliant plan was to cut across northern Minnesota to get to Highway 61 to drive along the coast of Lake Superior (side note - a favorite joke I heard from Norm McDonald is "I can't stand stuck-up bodies of water, so get over yourself Lake Superior.")
On the way to Lake Superior, we went through the town of Orr, Minnesota - if you don't believe me, check out the picture on the right or look for it on Google Maps on the banks of Pelican Lake - population 211. I only included this Bluegill picture - I didn't want to bore you with the pictures of Orr General Store, Orr City Hall, Orr Hardware and Lumber, and, of course, Orr Liquor Store (I'm not making any of this up).
While the stop in Orr cheered us up, the weather was depressing - low 60's, windy and light rain and fog. We drove across northern Minnesota which felt more deserted than driving across North Dakota.
My great plan of driving down Highway 61 along the lake and stopping at lighthouses, waterfalls and scenic vistas was dashed by the weather - we were cold, wet and one of us was grumpy (you can guess who that was). The picture of Melinda on the right (always smiling) may give you an idea of what we encountered. Of course, we have nothing to complain about - this is the first rain that has impacted our travels since May 3 when it rained at the Nationals game when the temperature was in the 40's. Anyway, we slogged our way down to Duluth, anticipating heading to the Twin Cities, warmer weather and baseball!
We left Duluth (still cloudy and cool) on Wednesday, August 24 after driving around the Duluth waterfront and taking a quick drive through Superior, Wisconsin (just across the bay). When we arrived in Eden Prairie, Minnesota (suburb of the Twin Cities), it was 35 degrees warmer in the mid 90's. We came to Eden Prairie to stay with my sister Stacy who has lived in this area most of her adult life. Alert readers may remember that we stayed with Stacy and her husband Rick in Phoenix back in July - they now try to spend their winters in Arizona and summers in Minnesota - smart. It also gave us a chance to see our 17 month old great-niece Ellie (Stacy and Rick's first grandchild) - see picture on the right. She's lots of fun and starting to talk.
We went to the Twins game on Thursday, August 24 with my nephew Nick and his wife Andrea (see picture on the left), aka parents of Ellie while Grandma Stacy stayed with Ellie. It turned out that this date was Nick and Andrea's 5th wedding anniversary, so we were honored that they chose to spend it with us at a baseball game. It was great to spend time with them, and I especially enjoyed talking with Nick about who should or should not be in the baseball Hall of Fame.
As for the baseball game, Target Field is a really nice park - it isn't necessarily ranked as one of the top stadiums, but we found it very open and easy to navigate with lots of good food options and a nice view of downtown Minneapolis (see picture at right). The weather cooled down to 84 at game time, and we ended up with a beautiful evening. To top it off, the Twins won 7-5 over the Rangers in a game that featured 8 total homers including 5 by the Twins topped off by Ryan Jeffer's two-run homer in the bottom of the 8th to win the game. The crowd of over 23,000 went home happy as the Twins extended their lead over my sorry Guardians to 6 games.
Now, it's off to Milwaukee to see the Brew Crew.
Comments
Post a Comment