MN Trip Stats (8/08):
Counties visited:
46
Best county:
Cook Co.
Town visited most:
Taylors Falls
Places slept in:
Brooklyn Center (2x), Eden Prairie, Chisago City, St. Croix Bluffs Co Park (tent). Finland SF
(tent), St. Croix SP (tent), Northfield, Myre-Big Island SP (tent)
Most impressive town:
Taylors Falls
Least impressive town:
Eden Prairie
Biggest town:
Minneapolis
Most scenic area:
North Shore
Most scenic spot:
Interstate SP or Great River Bluff SP.
Highest Elevation:
near Eagle Mt. in the woods north of Lake Superior (2300')
Three Words: wild,
shopping, busy
State animal: turkey
vulture
Road Trips: a
large handful of trips to Minneapolis, i.e. Superior Circle (8/04), Upper Mississippi
Trip, Northwoods Loop (2003), Northwest Wisconsin (6/05), Ring of Fire
(8/07), High Plains (8/08)
Neighboring States/
Prov.: ON, MB, SD, WI,
ND, IA
Major passes:
There have been a few, including the 2002 trip to drop Micah off at
Carleton College. Entering near LaCrosse, exited state the next day at Taylors Falls.
Another pass was made in 2004 during a road trip north along the
Mississippi, entering the state at LaCrescent and exiting at Hudson. The biggest pass was
during the Lake Superior Circle Tour in 2004 when I entered state at
Hudson and drove vertically across the state along I-35 and then MN-64 to the Pigeon River
international checkpoint. Two trips in the summer of 2005 saw sweeps
through the southeastern part. And another trip that summer brought me
through the state east to west from LaCrosse to Pipestone.
Areas throughly
explored: Southern Twin Cities. Chisago County. Mississippi
Valley south of the Twin Cities.
Future Plans: The
source of the Mississippi should be located on a trip to Bimidji. Canoeing the BWCA might
be quite an enjoyable experience.
Heroes: Politicians
seem to make handy heroes in Minnesota. The governor has his own talk radio show and
the people are not ashamed of former governor Jesse "The Body" Ventura.
They even sold Jesse dolls at one time. In Minneapolis you are reminded you are in the
home of former veep Hubert Humphrey as the intricate Interstates of the
city stand as monuments to his influence. Fictional heroes also abound, including Paul
Bunyan (a large statue is set up in Bemidji) and Snoopy. Charles
Schulz, the creator of "Peanuts" was born in St. Paul. (There are statues of
Snoopy all over town.) In the center of the Mall of America you can find a theme park that
revolves around the comic strip. |
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First Contact:
Nowhere is Great Lakes, midwestern culture, for its good and its bad, more pronounced than in Minnesota. I first met Minnesota and its below-zero weather in
2001 on a birthday road trip to Minneapolis. On that trip I passed
the border by crossing the St. Croix River at Hudson along
I-94 and ended the day at the Mall of America, which was not so big
a deal to me as Gurnee Mills in Illinois. This was during a
time when I was visiting all the major cities around Chicago in the
hope that I might find another nearby hideout place like St. Louis
had become. The air was so cold... I learned to actually love
Minnesota on a future trip while driving along the Mississippi
bluffs in the southeast. |
Washington
Co. (2001)
Stillwater. St. Croix
Bluffs CP. Wm. O'Brien SP. Afton. Lakeland. Bayport. Marine-on-St. Croix.
Ramsey Co. (2001)
St Paul.
Hennepin Co. (2001)
Minneapolis. Brooklyn
Center. Bloomington. Richfield. Eden Prairie.
Winona Co. (2002)
Dakota. Lamoille. Winona.
Minnesota City. Rollingstone. Goodview. Homer. Great River Bluffs SP.
Olmsted Co. (2002)
Rochester. Marion.
Goodhue Co. (2002)
Cannon Falls. Red Wing.
Frontenac.
Rice Co. (2002)
Northfield. Stanton.
Scott Co. (2002)
Passed through the southeast
corner along I-35.
Dakota Co. (2002)
Betendorf. One fo
the Quad Cities. Passed over the I-80 bridge during an abnormal and catastrophic
flooding.
Anoka Co. (2002)
Passed through
Chisago Co. (2002)
Chisago City, Taylors
Falls. Interstate SP.
Houston Co. (2003)
La Crescent.
Wabasha Co. (2003)
Wabasha. Lake City. Read's
Landing. Dorer SF.
Pine Co. (2004)
St Croix SF. St Croix SP.
Mille Lac Res. Cloverdale. Sandstone NWR. Hinckley.
Carlton Co. (2004)
Passed through
St. Louis Co. (2004)
Duluth. French River.
Lake Co. (2004)
Knife River. Two Harbors,
Castle Danger. Gooseberry Falls SP. Split Rock SP. Beaver Bay. Silver Bay. Tettegouche SP.
Finland SF. Little Marais.
Cook Co. (2004)
Temperance River SP.
Lutsen. Grand Marais. Gunflint Trail. Kodonce River SP. Grand Portage. |
The
Split Rock
lighthouse keeps guard over the North Shore. (2004)
Peering out over
Lake Superior just south of Grand Marais.(2004)
Ice fishing on a
Mississippi bayou in Red Wing. (2005)
I have never seen more
turkey vultures than during my several trips to Minnesota.
(2005)
The
Taylors Falls
riverboat awaits passengers as seen from the rocky bluffs at Interstate SP.
(2005)
Photos (c) 2005-08 by J. Bezold. All rights reserved. |
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