Hello Everyone! It’s been a week of changes here in Northern Minnesota. I must admit that it’s not been the best of weeks for me out here, probably mostly because the weather has been so gloomy (although it could be considerably worse too). The days have passed their equinox and there are now more dark hours than light. Nighttime temperatures have dropped near freezing, and I’ve had to adjust accordingly. My winter clothes have been retrieved from their spot under my bed and my winter sleeping bag is out as well. I have gotten all of the water out of my van’s pipes and hoses so it doesn’t freeze and burst. As I’ve made my way north and west along the Canadian border and then south and east to North Dakota the scenery has changed from forests and lakes to hay bales and grain silos. I’m starting to see western businesses like Arco and Tesoro pop up. I’ve definitely entered the plains region of the state which has been an interesting and quick transition. I saw a lot of beautiful scenery this week, but I didn’t take a lot of photos. Voyageurs National Park was a bit of a let-down and the towns I have passed through have not been very inspiring of photography. I guess it’s been a weird week. Not a bad one, but not quite what I had hoped from it either. We’ve had a couple of good days weather-wise, but I haven’t felt like I’ve been using the blue skies and sun to their fullest.
When I finished off last week, I had just arrived in Hibbing. Hibbing is a very blue collar town whose biggest claim to fame is that it’s where Bob Dylan grew up (he was born in Duluth). Dylan first performed with his friends at a Hibbing High School Talent Show, calling themselves The Cashmeres and playing Little Richard, much to the shock and surprise of the town. Dylan had his Bar Mitzvah at the Androy Hotel which has since been turned into apartments and I had the luck of staying there at my friend Elizabeth’s place which was very cool. We went to see an open-mic night at Mike’s Pub on Wednesday evening and saw some really amazing local talent and I was happy to see a musical tradition has passed down through the years.
On Thursday I went and visited all of the Dylan sites in town – his boyhood home, Hibbing High School (where they are just completing a monument to his winning of the Nobel Prize in literature) and some of the old stores and restaurants he enjoyed around town as a teenager. The biggest tribute to the great songwriter in Hibbing was in the basement of the public library, which had memorabilia, books about his life, concert posters and artifacts from the town’s Dylan Days festivals. Bob has asked that no museum be built until after he dies which I guess is fair enough, but Hibbing could really use a Dylan museum to attract more people to the town. That night we hung out at The Sportsman, another of the pubs on Howard Street, the town’s main drag. There were some wonderful salt-of-the-earth folks there that night, and I enjoyed their company and had a good laugh. One of the things I found disturbing, though, was how many of them were in chronic pain and self-medicating with alcohol (among other things). More than one said they had broken bones recently but couldn’t afford X-rays and they weren’t bones that could be set anyway. I really don’t know why people in this country are opposed to socialized medicine. In all of my travels around the world, in all of my conversations with the thousands of tourists I’ve taken on vacation over the years and through my own experiences with it while living in Japan, I’ve never seen anything but good come from socialized medicine. Every system around the world could be improved, but what you don’t find in those countries is people who can barely get out of bed in the morning because of the pain they’re in but can’t afford to go see a doctor. And as I’ve mentioned in this space before, you won’t see GoFundMe pages from people who are trying to afford their children’s cancer treatments. It’s one of the greatest tragedies I see in this country and that night it was so prevalent it was hard not to think about it. Good people though and we had a very good night.
The next morning I went to see Hibbing’s other claim to fame – the old Greyhound Bus museum. Started as a cheap way to transport miners to their jobs right there in Hibbing, Greyhound was the beginning of bus transportation in America. There is a museum there which is only open in the summer, but there are some cool old buses parked out back. While I was poking around and taking photos, a man pulled up in his car and told me he was one of the museum’s volunteers and proceeded to spend the next 45 minutes or so telling me about the old buses and about local history. It was amazing and I really appreciated him stopping. He told me that two of the families that made their fortunes in the local mines were the Boeings and the Pillsburys which I thought was pretty cool. They even had an old bus from Washington D.C. out there which had been used as a troop transport during World War II.
I headed up the road to Chisholm where I went to explore the Minnesota Discovery Center. Most of Minnesota’s museums have been closed since I got here, but this one is open year-round so I thought I would give it a shot. It’s clear that they spent a lot of money to create this museum, but it fell short of what it could have been. There was a good display on the Civilian Conservation Corps and on mining in the region and the Union’s attempts to organize in the local mines (usually unsuccessfully). The Native American section was small but thorough for its size and there was a good look at the immigrants who crossed an ocean and half a continent to get there. There were some neat outdoor areas including an old Minnesota homestead and a brief look at the Sami people of Northern Scandinavia. I really thought they could have dug a little deeper into their local history instead of the broad strokes they made and that it was a good museum with the potential and funding to be a great one. Right out in front of the museum was the Iron Man statue, one of the tallest freestanding statues in the country and dedicated to all of the miners who have spent time underground in the area over the years. It’s definitely quite a sight to see.
From there I was off and running towards Voyageurs National Park. Voyageurs is the second to last National Park in the continental United States I had not yet seen (the other being Wind Cave in South Dakota which was closed when I was there 2 years ago). I love our National Parks and was really excited to visit Voyageurs, even knowing that it is mostly accessible only by boat and that the public boats had stopped running for the year and there weren’t even any outfitters open to rent a canoe from. I pulled into the Ash River section of the park in the late afternoon and set off to hike Blind Ash Bay. It was only about three miles and it offered some decent views but it wasn’t a great hike. Of course it’s always nice to be alone on a trail in a quiet park, but I was hoping to get some photos and some good views of the lakes and both were few and far between. When I got back from my hike the daylight was starting to fade so I headed on to the Kabetogama Visitor Center where I spent the night in their quiet parking lot. Quiet, at least, until about 10pm when two ambulances, police and rangers all showed up at the boat dock. They were there for about an hour and I’m not sure what they were waiting for, but it sure had generated a lot of attention. When I asked a ranger the next day she told me they didn’t get many calls out there, so even something minor could have gotten that kind of response. Once they pulled out, the rest of the night was blissfully quiet.
Dawn in Voyageurs National Park
I got up before sunrise on Saturday morning to watch dawn turn to day over the lake. The fog was rolling off the water and it was really quiet and peaceful. I enjoyed the sunrise with a cup of coffee and then did a little fishing before I headed out. I went just a short way up the road and hiked the Echo Lake loop trail – another underwhelming but pleasant walk through the woods. From there I made my way on to the Rainy Lake Visitor Center, the only one open this time of year. I enjoyed chatting with the ranger but the park film and museum were again just kind of so-so. I went for a mile and a half walk out through the woods to Rainy Bay and rounded out the afternoon with some fishing in the lake. In the late afternoon I headed back towards International Falls and stopped to take a photo of the giant Voyageur guarding the town of Ranier. Ranier is an adorable town right on the lake and I enjoyed a beer on the dock of the tiny brewery there and then a delicious pan seared walleye with wild rice at the Rainy Lake Grill which was probably the highlight of my two days in the area.
Sunday morning I had a nice breakfast at the Chocolate Moose and then wandered around downtown International Falls for a while. There were some beautiful murals and some great old buildings to be seen. They also have a giant Smokey Bear statue and a smaller one to Bronko Nagurski, a legendary football player who grew up in International Falls. From there I was off and running on the Waters of the Dancing Sky Scenic Byway which runs along the Rainy River (which is also the border between the US and Canada along that stretch). I made a quick stop in Franz Jevne State Park and threw a line in the river for a little while. I didn’t catch anything, but I did manage to snap my line and lose my rig. From there I headed on to Baudette where I bought a beautiful new winter hat and took my photo with Wally the Walleye. If you want warm winter clothes, it’s best to buy them in places that get cold winters. A hoodie in Florida is not the same as a hoodie in Minnesota (my favorite super-warm hoodie I bought at a JC Penny in Bismarck, North Dakota many years ago). Then I spent the rest of the afternoon at Zippel Bay State Park on beautiful Lake of the Woods. Lake of the Woods is the 6th largest lake in the United States behind the Great Lakes and the Great Salt Lake and covers an area of 1,679 square miles. It also has 14,632 islands in it and 65,000 miles of coastline. I headed over to the swimming beach and had the whole place to myself for the afternoon. I didn’t end up going for a swim because I procrastinated too long but I did enjoy some fishing and sitting on the shore reading my book. In the late afternoon I made my way on to Warroad and saw a beautiful sunset and moonrise over the lake from there. I had a quick beer at Lake of the Woods Brewery and then some delicious curry at a little Laotian Restaurant called Vientiane. I spent the night at the Seven Clans casino where I had a bit of a lucky pull on the keno and won a cool $50.
I headed back around to the city park in the morning to watch the sunrise, grabbed a shower at the city campground and then headed south and west to Thief River Falls. As I drove I definitely felt the transition from the Northwoods to the Great Plains as fields replaced forests and every town had a grain silo. Trains stretched for miles across the open prairie and the wind was tremendous. I like farm country and this wasn’t an unpleasant or unwelcome change. Thief River Falls is a great name for a town, and it was a cute enough little place. There wasn’t much going on on a Monday, but I had a nice wander around town nonetheless. As the day progressed, the sky and the light were wonderful and I had a great time taking photos and enjoying my last 70 degree day for a while. The Seven Clans also had a casino there and I headed out pretty early and called it an early night.
Sunset in Thief River Falls
The weather definitely took a turn overnight and I woke up to overcast skies and windy, chilly weather. I headed west again and stopped for a while in the small town of Crookston, Minnesota which was once a fairly major railroad hub. I got out for a walk around downtown and found a wonderful little photo gallery to stop into. Alex Hall has been a professional photographer for over 20 years and moved to Crookston to be closer to his girlfriend and decided to open Sweetlight Photography in the heart of downtown. He takes wonderful photos and I was particularly impressed by his winter images which really conveyed the cold of Northern Minnesota at that time of year. We chatted for a while and he pointed me next door to Wonderful Life Café where I enjoyed a latte and some of their delicious monster cookies. I sat and read my book and enjoyed being inside looking out at the cold. From there I headed on to East Grand Forks, right on the Red River and across the bridge from Grand Forks, North Dakota. They have a Cabela’s there which is one of my favorite stores to just wander around (which I did for at least half an hour). I used their parking lot to winterize my van, blowing all the water out of my pipes so they don’t freeze and burst tomorrow night when the temperatures will drop below freezing. It really only takes about 20 minutes, but I’ve been putting it off until the last minute. Then I walked around town for a bit and crossed the bridge into Grand Forks. That side of the river has a Planet Fitness and a Walmart, so I definitely cheated on Minnesota a little bit while I was there. I spent the afternoon in the library trying to catch up on some things and then wandered around both sides of the river for a while. I was thrilled to get back to the gym after at least a month and tried to take it easy on myself but pushed a bit hard and definitely threw my knee out of whack a little bit. It made for a less than restful night. I wanted a bowl of pho, but they were closed when I got there so I ended up in a Mexican restaurant that had absolutely terrible food. It was definitely disappointing. I stopped in at the Blue Moose on the Minnesota side for a beer and then headed out to Walmart for the night and got a few things done in my van before I called it.
I hit the gym again this morning (though let my knee have the day off) and then boogied out of town. As I made my way south towards Moorhead, also on the Red River and the North Dakota border, I got to see some serious trucks hauling sugar beets. Apparently this is harvest time and people come from all over the country to help out. The trucks are flying up the road and the number of sugar beets on the shoulder tells me that they aren’t as tightly packed as they want you to believe. Thankfully I didn’t have to dodge any as I drove. Some of the small towns I passed through are offering free plots of land if people are willing to move in and settle there which I find quite interesting (though not enough to take them up on one). The clouds were stacked in beautiful layers and very different shades of grey with some blue or yellow poking through now and again. More trains, more hay bales and more grain silos, but the roads were flat and pretty good and I enjoyed the ride. When I arrived in Moorhead, I headed straight to their Stave Church which is down near the river. Having seen the stave church on Washington Island in Wisconsin, I definitely wanted to check this one out, but the clouds had tightened and the background was less than inspiring. The church was still beautiful and I hope to photograph it tomorrow before I take off.
My next stop was at the Sons of Norway Lodge which does “The Best Lunch in Town” on weekdays. They cook up and serve a very simple and inexpensive meal for whoever shows up and the proceeds go to support their organization which preserves their Norwegian heritage and culture. I just thought it was cool to see the place, but my lunch was very good and the people working there couldn’t have been more friendly. If I’m still around tomorrow, I’ll stop back because apparently Thursday is “Pie Day”. After lunch I met up for coffee with my old high school science teacher, Tom Frei. I haven’t seen him since I graduated 28 years ago and it was nice to catch up on all he’s been up to since then. I also found out that his brother was, at least at one time, the bartender at Martin’s Tavern in Georgetown in DC and I absolutely remember him although I had no idea who he was. It was a fun trip down memory lane, trying to remember all of the people we knew back then and what they’ve been up to since. I thought about Tom often when I was teaching and how the bad behavior I had exhibited towards him and others had definitely come back around. I sometimes pictured him and another teacher, Ed Dolan, in the back of my classroom getting a good chuckle at karma at work and it actually made me smile and helped me through the day.
Now I’m here in the library, trying to finish up this post for the week. This evening there’s a songwriters round at one of the taverns here in Moorhead that I’m really looking forward to. I’m going to hang around here tonight and tomorrow morning and then make my way out to Detroit Lakes tomorrow afternoon. It looks like a cool little town and the clouds are supposed to blow out overnight. From there I’m off to Lake Itasca to see the headwaters of the Mississippi River which I am really looking forward to. Then I’ll head on to Bemidji to see Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, Babe. The rest of this week will put me back on the Great River Road through Judy Garland’s hometown of Grand Rapids and on across the middle of the state. I’m not sure how far I will get by this time next week, so you’ll just have to check back and see. I’m really looking forward to this week and hopefully I’ll get my morale in order as I go. Winter travel is a whole different experience from summer travel, but I think now that I’ve made all of the transitions, I’m ready for what’s ahead. I really want to finish off my time in Minnesota strong and give it its due before I turn south for the holidays. I hope you’re all having a wonderful week out there, wherever you are, and I look forward to seeing you right back here, same time next week. Have a good week y’all.
-Mike