Hello Everyone! It’s been a beautiful week out here in central Minnesota. The skies have been clear and blue and the lakes have been flat and calm. I’ve seen some beautiful small towns this week and spent a day in Itasca State Park, my favorite stop in the state so far. I’ve also had some company this week as I’ve caught up with the families of some old friends of mine which has been really wonderful. The fall colors have been hanging on pretty well for me and this week brought me into tamarack country – those beautiful pine-like trees which turn a beautiful orange this time of year before they drop their needles for the winter. A lot of sites and museums I wanted to see have been closed for the season which continues to be disappointing – especially those at the state level. In my opinion, any site you deem important enough to designate a State Historic Site should be open year-round. Most of these places are staffed by local volunteers anyway and I can’t imagine they wouldn’t make enough money to keep the lights and heat on. It just seems strange to me that these sites are closed the vast majority of the year. I did get into a couple of great museums this week, though, including the wonderful history museums in Grand Rapids and St. Cloud. I’ve also noticed this week that most public restrooms I’ve encountered in the north of the state don’t have locks on the doors to the stalls which seems very strange to me. Not that anyone has barged in on me while I was using one, but I’ve never really seen that as a rule anywhere else. Regardless, it’s been another interesting week on the road, so let’s get into it.
When I left you last week, I was in Moorhead on the Red River and the North Dakota border. After I finished up my newsletter, I headed over to Murphy’s Pub for a songwriters’ round which I really enjoyed. The four people playing that night, all local to the Fargo-Moorhead area, did a great job and I loved seeing some live local music. I woke up nice and early on Thursday morning and headed back to the Stave Church Replica at the Hjemkomst Center near the river. The sun was just coming up and while it was definitely cold out there, it was really beautiful at that time of day. I took a lot of photos and then had some breakfast and headed into the museum. I spent some time checking out the incredible Hjemkomst Viking Ship which is quite a sight to behold. It is a scale replica of an old Viking ship which was built by high school guidance counselor Robert Asp in the 1970s. His plan was to sail the ship to his ancestral homeland of Norway, and while he died in 1980 before he could make that journey, his children took up this dream and made the trip over the course of a month in 1982. It’s a phenomenally inspiring story all around and I loved seeing the ship and the video about the voyage. I also got a tour of the interior of the Stave Church which was also very cool. There were other exhibits in the museum as well, including one about the Native Ojibwe and Dakota People in the area and a “healing through art” exhibit of military veteran artwork. It was a wonderful morning and definitely one of the must-see places stops on any trip to Minnesota. From there, I headed back to the Sons of Norway Lodge since it was Pie Day and had a local specialty of Tater Tot hotdish (a mix of veggies and cream of something soup topped with Tater Tots and baked) and a slice of coconut cream pie. I hit the gym to try and work that off a little bit and then got on the road to Detroit Lakes, a beautiful little historic town on its namesake lake. The town used to be called Detroit, but too many postal errors caused them to add the “Lakes” part in the 1920s to help rectify the problem. It was a beautiful afternoon and I enjoyed wandering the downtown area and then strolling along the lakefront until sunset. The sunset was really beautiful that afternoon, and the beautiful clouds were perfectly reflected in the lake. I hadn’t planned on eating out that night, but the smell of pizza wafting from Zorba’s on the Lake drew me in. Their pizza was quite good and I washed it down with some local beer before calling it a night.
I was up early again the next morning and on my way to Itasca State Park further into the central part of the state. This is where I really started to see the orange tamarack trees which have been so phenomenal this week. I passed by some beautiful mirror-like lakes and got out and took some awesome photos (if I do say so myself). I pulled into the historic Douglas Lodge around 11am and took a nice 3 mile hike down the Deer Park Trail and back up the Ozawindib Trail. I also detoured to the Aiton Heights Fire Tower which had amazing views out over the park from the top. The hike took me through some beautiful forest and past several phenomenal lakes and was one of the better hikes I’ve made in a while. The day was a perfect day to be there and I really enjoyed this hike despite my knee still giving me some trouble from last week. I finished my hike, had some lunch and then headed to the highlight of the park – the headwaters of the mighty Mississippi River which begins its 2,552 mile journey to the Gulf of Mexico right there in central Minnesota. There was a pretty big crowd at the headwaters, waiting to take their photo with the sign and to walk across the rocks where the lake empties into the river. It’s probably about 15’ wide at that point and while you can’t quite jump across it (well maybe you can, but I certainly couldn’t), it was only about 8 stepping stones across. Seeing the Mississippi at its humble beginning was like visiting an old friend as a child – you know what they’re going to grow into and you can marvel at how small they once were. In the nearby museum I learned that the lake and the park took their name from combining the Latin words Veritas (truth) and Caput (head) which was coined by Henry Schoolcraft when his Ojibwe friends led him to the source of the great river. Others before and after claimed different sources, but this one seemed to be the “true head” to Schoolcraft and is generally agreed upon today. There are small creeks that feed into Lake Itasca, but none is really big enough to be considered a river.
From there I headed off to Bemidji to catch up with the cousin of one of my old Trek America managers. Jack was with my old company for a lot of years and left soon after I started, but we’ve kept in touch via Facebook and he’s been incredibly supportive of this project. He also once held the unofficial record for an unassisted canoe trip from Lake Itasca, down the Mississippi River to its mouth at the Gulf of Mexico (I believe he said it took 49 days). He married an Australian woman and has been living down under for many years now, but he wanted me to catch up with his cousin Jim while I was in the area. When I contacted Jim, he invited me to stay with him and even offered to cook me dinner. Jim lives in a wonderful historic cabin right on Lake Bemidji, but his cousin has a place a few doors down which has heat and which he (rightly) felt would be a better choice on a cold night. Jim cooked a wonderful meal of locally sourced Minnesota wild rice and chicken and told me a dozen fascinating stories about himself, his cousin Jack, growing up in the area and the history of Bemidji and its surroundings. We chatted long into the night and I really enjoyed his company and his stories. Sitting by the fire in a beautiful log home set right on Lake Bemidji and listening to stories about local history is a memory I will treasure for a long time.
On Saturday morning, Jim cooked me a delicious breakfast while I gratefully did a load of laundry and then we set out towards Blackduck. He had told me the night before about the well-preserved Rabideau Civilian Conservation Corps Camp out there in Chippewa National Forest, one of only three CCC camps which remain in their original form in the country. The CCC was a New Deal era plan to put young, unemployed men to work building roads, trails and buildings among other things. We have so many state and national park structures which we owe to the hard work of CCC participants all around the country and I think it was a wonderful and very worthwhile organization. The CCC had over three million participants during its nine year run but quickly and quietly shut down after the outbreak of World War II. I learned about the CCC in my forestry classes in college and have always enjoyed seeing their work in all corners of the US. Visiting this camp was really exciting for me as I could walk around the buildings and imagine it as it once was when it was full of life. This was a very cool stop. From there we headed through Blackduck to see their giant black duck statues and then headed back to Bemidji to visit their giant Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues. These statues have been on Lake Bemidji for a long time and its one of those “must-have” photos from a trip to Minnesota. We also went to visit the new statue of Shaynowishking who is often called “Chief Bemidji”. This statue replaced an earlier, more cartoonish statue with a beautiful and dignified one, dedicated to this local legend who was one of the first permanent settlers in the area and always sought compromise over conflict. We made one last stop at Bemidji Woolen Mills which is owned by one of Jim’s friends and has been in business for over a century. They make some beautiful products which were a little out of my price range but were still nice to look at.
When I left Jim in Bemidji, I headed out of town and stopped at an old Ojibwe cemetery about 15 minutes down the road. Jim had directed me there and while it wasn’t hard to find, you definitely had to be looking for it or you’d drive right past. I’ve seen several of these cemeteries over the last few months, with wooden “spirit houses” built over the graves, but this one was very intact and I’d guess many of the graves are far more recent. Some of the spirit houses there are definitely only a year or two old. I always find cemeteries to be fascinating, and this was no exception. After a quiet and respectful visit, I made my way on to the tiny town of Walker on Leech Lake, one of the bigger lakes in that part of the state. Walker was already on my list of pretty small towns to visit and when my old tour guide buddy Mandy told me she grew up there and her parents would be happy to host me for a night it sealed the deal. They had cooked up a delicious pot of chili for me and we had a wonderful conversation for a few hours before they headed out to a birthday party, giving me the opportunity to read my guidebook and look ahead a few days. It was nice to read my book in a warm house and I really appreciated them letting me stay.
The next morning we had coffee and some delicious homemade granola with a breathtaking view of sunrise over the lake from their window, and then went for a nice walk in the woods around their house. They sent me off with a bag of food and I headed down into town to check it out a little closer and take some photos. It really is a nice little town and I stayed there longer than I had planned. I finally left in the early afternoon and made my way back to the Great River Road and then on to Grand Rapids. There isn’t much to downtown Grand Rapids, but it sits right on the river and there were some cool old buildings there – especially the old Central School building which now houses artists and shops. After two exciting nights with company, I was pretty tired so I called it an early night.
Monday I was up early and hit the gym before making my way back into town to visit the Historical Society Museum. The two gentlemen working there when I arrived were incredibly welcoming and I told them how much I appreciated their being open in October. They told me they tried to be open as much of the year as they could be. There were some wonderful displays on the Native American history of the area and on the logging and mining which also took place nearby. I really enjoyed a look at the early life of Judy Garland, Grand Rapids’ most famous native daughter. There was also a neat display on the photograph titled Grace which most of us have probably seen before, and which was produced by a local photographer at his kitchen table. There were some cool model trains, a look at the county’s military service and a display on the Civilian Conservation Corps. Just last week they had opened their new River Room which looked at some of the local history surrounding their stretch of the Mississippi River. One of the gentlemen working there was visually impaired and I appreciated that there were brail descriptions in the museum as well. When I left the museum, I stopped in at Judy Garland’s childhood home (which was closed) to take a few photos before heading on down the road. At one point the Great River Road turned to gravel which I thought was pretty cool. I enjoyed a stop in the town of Aitkin which had a little riverboat right at the entrance to town and a cool old art deco theatre on the main drag. Further along, I stopped to see Serpent Lake in Crosby before continuing on to Brainerd. I definitely had a different picture in my head of what Brainerd was going to be than what I found there. Brainerd has a long history of logging, railroads and shipping and is a gateway to some beautiful lake country just to the north. Unfortunately, I found the downtown area boxy and unattractive and the people less than warm. Even the librarian was salty. When I went for dinner, I had a delicious wild rice and chicken soup with a half a sandwich in a cool log cabin restaurant, but the bartender spent the whole time I was there complaining about customers and tips with the only other two people at the bar. Having spent a lot of years in the industry, I’ve heard (and had) that conversation hundreds of times, but never in the middle of a quiet dining room when everyone could hear me. While I agreed with their points, it was still off-putting and not what I wanted to hear with my dinner. The food left me with a good taste in my mouth, but the town left me with a bad one and you know I don’t say that about anywhere. I’m sure if I hung around for a few days I would find places and people to love, but I decided to spend my money and my time elsewhere.
Yesterday morning I did take a nice long swing around Gull Lake just north of Bemidji and it was a beautiful area with some cool old resorts and I could definitely see the appeal. If I returned I would spend my time out there and avoid downtown altogether (as it seemed most people do). From Bemidji I headed off down the Great River Road again to Little Falls which had a compact but pleasant downtown area. The big draw is the Charles Lindbergh State Historic Park just a couple of miles outside of town and right on the banks of the Mississippi River. The house there was owned by Charles Sr. who was a five term Minnesota Congressman in the U.S. House of Representatives. His son, Charles Jr, would go on to make the first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean but spent his boyhood summers there in Little Falls, building rafts to float down the mighty Mississippi (they were in Washington D.C. the rest of the year due to his father’s job in congress). It was cool to see, but the museum was sadly closed for the season. From there I headed just down the road to Royalton to check out Treasure City, a kitchy gift shop selling everything from alligator heads to dream catchers to whoopee cushions. It was a fun little stop and from there I was off to St. Cloud. I spent a little bit of time strolling around the downtown area before tucking into their spacious and modern library to get some work done. I popped into the lovely MC’s Dugout basement bar for a beer and really enjoyed the atmosphere.
This morning was rainy and dreary so I stayed in bed a little longer than usual. After hitting the gym I headed out to the wonderful Stearns History Museum on the other side of town. The museum had a wonderful look at the native habitats of the region and then a nice display on the World War II homefront and what people in the area did to support the war effort. They had a locally produced Pan Automobile of which only about 750 were made and I learned that Nerf products have their origin in Minnesota. Since St. Cloud was once called Granite City (“busy, gritty, Granite City” to be exact), there was also an interesting look at granite quarrying which I knew little about. It looks like hard work, but better than mining underground in my opinion. The last exhibits were on the local Japanese intensive language schools which operated in the area during and immediately after World War II. These schools quickly taught 2nd generation Japanese-Americans about the language and culture of their ancestral homeland and then sent them off to serve as interpreters and translators. Their goal, the exhibit stated, was to win the peace not the war. It didn’t pull any punches about the fact that many of these young interpreters had family members who were being held in internment camps out west. All in all it was an excellent museum and I was so happy to find it open at the end of October. The rain hadn’t let up by the time I left, so I decided to stop in for some delicious Japanese Nabe soup which really hit the spot. Now I’m back here in the library finishing up this post as the rain continues to beat against the window. There’s an open-mic night in town tonight which I’m really looking forward to.
Tomorrow I’m headed on to the Twin Cities for the weekend. I’ll turn 46 on Friday and Halloween will no-doubt be celebrated all weekend. It seems like a good place to be for those reasons and having friends in the city and a place to stay helps too. I will probably take off north again early next week as I plan to return to The Cities after looping around the rest of the state. At that point I’ll be nearing the end of my time in Minnesota so I can stay as long or as little as I want to and not worry about the coming winter. From there I will be heading up the St. Croix River a little ways before turning west and crossing clear across the state to the there-South Dakota border. I imagine by this time next week, I’ll just be making that westward turn. By the time I write this post next week, it’ll be November which is hard to imagine but it’s true. I hope those of you who are still in the midst of fall are enjoying it and getting out to see the beautiful fall colors. I’m definitely looking forward to a few days in the city and then continuing on my Minnesota journey. I hope you’ll come back next week and see what I got into. Have a great week out there, y’all and I’ll see you right back here, same time, next week. Thanks for reading and Happy Halloween.
-Mike