Day Three - Minnesota Trip

Day 3 (post dated) - Monday we went to Little Falls, MN. It was about 30 minute drive South of where we are staying. Little Falls is the home of Charles Lindberg. We didn’t explore much about that; we were busier doing other things. First we say an outdoor mural painted on the side of an old building. Then we headed to a local antique shop. We found a couple of cool things there and everything over $10 was 20% off. After the antique shop we went to Maple Grove Park. It is a park next to the falls, which is actually an operating dam. Since I was expecting natural falls, it was a bit  disappointing, but beautiful fall foliage nonetheless. We then traveled just south of Little Falls to an area off the beaten path. The place was called Blanchard Dam. Supposedly you can find incredible rare and expensive rocks there so we went looking. We didn’t find any of the rare rocks, but it was beautiful! Both damns are on the Mississippi river. We have encountered the Mississippi river many times along the trip. It is quite winding up here in North central Minnesota. After this we grabbed a bit to eat at a place called Royal diner (wouldn’t recommend it) and then headed over to the Pine Grove Zoo. By now the weather had improved a bit. It was raining all morning and now the rain had stopped and the sun was coming out. At the zoo, we were the only people there! It was great! All the animals were active and we got to see some animals in action or up close more than most zoos. Although the zoo was small, I think it was one of the best times I’ve had at a zoo. We spent a good amount of time by two bears that were playing and very photogenic! 

After the zoo we went back home, picked up the dogs, and went to our first State Park on the tour. Crow Wing State Park. We went back to an area where they had a historical trail. It was a learning experience I didn’t expect. Where we were standing was once an Indian village and then became a major hub in historic Minnesota. The town was called Crow Wing.  The place we were was where the Crow Wing River met up with the Mississippi River. There was a combination of Pine forest, hardwood forest and prairie in this small area. We walked around for a while and then checked out different areas of the park including the Chippewa lookout. Wow! We are definitely here during the right time of the year. The views are spectacular!