Since we had some time to kill before our 3 August appointment to get the camper fixed back at Minot, we headed off to Minnesota. Curt was in charge of picking the campgrounds, and I have to admit he did a great job. Our destination was a camping “resort”at Cass Lake, but required an overnight stay since we don’t drive more than 4 hours a day. We started out after a good breakfast and headed to the Pipestone National Monument.
It was about a 1 ½ hours up the road. Pipestone National Monument preserves the pipestone quarries that the American Indians used to make pipes and other items from the Sioux Quartzite. Today, the only certain certified Indians can mine the quarries. We were excited to find out that we could actually take Daisy on the trail out to the quarries. It was pretty hot, but the walk was about 1 mile round trip and the ½ way point led to the Winnewissa Falls, which was a cool respite.
After about an hour of checking out the Monument, we were on the road again and headed for our overnight stop: Garfield, Minnesota and the Oak Park Kampground. It was a pretty site for a quick overnight, lake view and a nature walk for Daisy. After dinner Curt and I headed out to take Daisy for her nightly walk. Halfway into the walk we were ready for a quick retreat as we were being eaten alive by mosquitos. By the time we returned to the camper, we had blood smeared on all exposed areas–it was terrible. And I didn’t realize what effect it had on Daisy until a few days later when she popped up with bumps everywhere.
The next day we were on the road to our next stop: Cass Lake. It was a quick 3 hour drive to the Stony Park Resort. This is one of the best sites we’ve had as far as views go. We have a gorgeous view of the lake through 2 cabins that are right across the driveway. Curt did a great job of backing up, as we learned to call each other so there is no yelling. I calmly tell him what he needs to do and he followed my directions perfectly—there is always a first time!!
The afternoon was quiet and relaxing, watching the kids play in the lake and then followed it with an absolute awesome sunset over the lake.
Because even though this is a place to relax, we still want to explore as much of the area as possible; we took off for a ride to a small town close by called Bemidji.
Bemidji is a lake town that has a few touristy things to do. Our first stop, just like many other times is to the Visitor’s Center where the lady was excited to tell us all about the sculpture walk and then told us we had to go to Itasca State Park. Funny, that is the second person that mentioned that park—we had to go. So before heading to Bemidji, we walked around the town to find the sculptures. We first got our picture taken with Paul Bunyan and Blue. Also in the visitor’s center we saw Paul Bunyan’s toothbrush, baby shoes and toenail clippings (gross!!).
After having an ice cream cone, we got back in the car and headed out to Itasca State Park, Minnesota’s oldest stat park. It was established in 1891 to conserve its giant pines from the logging industry. We visited the oldest Pine in the park and also walked across the Mississippi River!! That’s right, Lake Itasca is the beginning of the Mississippi—called the headwaters of the Mississippi. I walked across the rocks from one side to the other of the “river”; Curt walked across on a log. We took the Wilderness tour around the park—no wildlife, but lots of pretty views of the lake.
We headed back to the camper for a home-cooked meal and another lovely sunset. I hate to say it, but the weather has been fantastic. Cool in the 60’s at night, and warming up to the 80’s during the day.
ON our last full day at the lake, we decided to head to a Blue Berry Festival at Lake George, about 25 minutes away. The Bemidji Visitor Center lady told us about it. But maybe it didn’t start til Saturday, because we could not find it. Instead, we decided to take a round about drive hitting a bunch of roadside tourist attractions:
Stop 1: Emmaville – “The Biggest Little Town in the World”. When we asked the lady in the General Store how they got that claim, she said it’s always been that way as long as she has been here. Did you check out the population—it is 4 people.
Stop 2: Dorset – “The Restaurant Capital of the World”. They say (according to an article on the internet) that because they have 4 restaurants in the town that has a population of 22—this equates to 1 restaurant for about every 5 people. We weren’t hungry yet, so didn’t sample the local cuisine. But we did tour the city and found some very quaint little stores–unfortunately, no picture of their claim to fame.
Stop 3: Nevis – “Home of the World’s Largest Tiger Muskie”. Nevis was having a musical festival this weekend, so we walked around to the different arts and crafts vendors—nothing caught our fancy so we were off again.
Stop 4: Akeley – “Birthplace of Paul Bunyan”. Not much more to say about this. Paul Bunyan is everywhere up here in Minnesota, but we went where he was born!!
Stop 5: Walker – Okay now we were hungry so we went in search of a restaurant on the water and we found a beautiful one. Waited about 15 minutes for an outside table, but it was well worth it. Check out the gorgeous view and of course we had cocktails—yummy raspberry lemonade along with lunch/dinner.
Fun day checking out the back roads of Minnesota, but now time to head back to rescue Daisy from her Air Conditioned jail. She loves lying in the sun! Poor baby though, she has gotten bug bites all over her she looks like she has the chicken pox—thanks to those Minnesota mosquitos!!!
