Day Four - Minnesota Trip

On Day Four (postdated) we spent the most rewarding $5 ever, and we’re going to do it again!  A daily pass to the State Park system in MN is $5 and on Day 4 we went to two wonderful State Parks.  We left our rental around 8am and headed north to Itasca State Park.  Since State Parks allow dogs, they came with (in fact, they were with us the majority of the trip except yesterday). I had never heard of Itasca until I read about it in our travel book I am borrowing from the library.  Itasca State Park is home of the headwaters of the Mississippi River.  The park is a massive 32,690 acres (2^nd largest in MN).  We spent a while walking around and observing the humble beginnings of the Mississippi River.  There was a part that is about 8 feet across where you can walk down steps and walk right through the Mississippi River.  If it wasn’t so cold out, we would have done it, but we reached down and put our hands in the water and it was to cold to be walking through barefoot!  After leaving the headwaters, we took a 10-mile Wilderness drive. I’ve uploaded a video so you can take the drive with us.  It’s a minute of footage from the drive. (Find it below, turn volume down since the sound is WIND mostly.)  Along the way we stopped and took a one-mile walk out to a bay area of Lake Itasca.  The walk was serene and calming.  The leaves were bright to our eyes and crunching under our feet.  The air was cool and crisp.   After walking back and getting back in the car we finished the 10-mile Wilderness drive, stopping along the way to see the largest white pine in Minnesota. 

We spent a lot of time at Itasca State Park, so we had to get on our way to our next stop…Bemidji.  Now, the reason we ended up in Bemidji is because I wanted to go since I heard of it when we were in Red Wing a few months ago.  I thought Bemidji was a funny name and worth checking out J  We turned the GPS to “shortest distance” rather than “fastest route” and took a very scenic tour of the countryside on the way to Bemidji.  I think on day four we saw more bald eagles than ever before. We made our way into Bemidji, quick stopping for lunch, and then heading to Bemidji State Park.  Bemidji as a community didn’t seem very impressive; however we were just driving through.  We got to Bemidji State Park which lies on the north shore of Lake Bemidji.  We got a map of the park and the lady at the park office recommended that we take the “bog walk.”  I am so glad she did, it was a great hike.  We parked and headed out on what we thought was going to be hike one-mile each direction.  It seemed like we had been walking for sometime before reaching the bog, so we looked at the map again, realizing it was 2-miles in and 2-miles out.  The trail we were on was an interpretive trail, meaning that it was designed to be educational.  We learned about the history and geography of the area we were walking through.  Besides the scenery being magnificent, I believe the educational experience was even greater (at least for me).  We continued on our trip and reached the tamarack bog and finally Bog Lake.  The bog was wonderful and we saw many unique flora features, including the carnivorous Pitcher Plant (picture on right).  By the end of Day 4 I felt so impressed by the State Parks in Minnesota I wanted to see more.  I can’t believe that it was only $5 to help support this magnificent park system where we got fresh air, exercise, and a learning experience - all this and we got to have our dogs with us!  By Day 4 we’ve seen 3 Minnesota State Parks.  What a great day it was!  Upon getting home we were tired and so were the dogs.  The moment I hit the pillow and shut my eyes, I was out.

Also on Tuesday, my bestfriend Jen and her husband Don welcomed their baby daughter into the world!  I totally had a sneaking suspicion that she would have the baby while we are gone, and sure enough, that’s how it happened.  Congrats to Jen and Don!  We can’t wait to see them and baby when we get home!