Minnesota - The Vacation (Day 3)

Cutter's Log - Stardate 1102.62.40
Current Song - I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide (ZZ Top)

Note: I've been back since April 7, and it is now April 26. Of the 19 days since I came back home, a lot has happened. Thus the delay. Plus, I didn't write while on the vacation (compared to last year) simply because there was too much to do.

There are pictures of the trip on my Facebook photo album.

Because of the numerous things I saw, I had to break the entry down into four days. The previous entries broke down days 1 and 2. This entry recalls Day 3, with the next entry being the final day of the vacaction.

Since I got to sleep fairly early, I woke up fairly early. I wanted to make it to Lake Itasca before sunfall, and this was the best way to do it. The hotel's breakfast (a small, but modest one) began at 5 a.m., so I ate some and then went on the road. I put a small amount of gas at a BP station in town. A coupon from a trip to Cub Foods advertised three cents a gallon off the price. That coupon would turn to four in the next trip, then five and up to seven.

I took I-35W back to where I left off the previous day, at Mill Ruins Park. This particular road has a feature where they charge you for using the far left lane, and it's set up like an I-Pass system. I thought about using it, because I have an I-Pass and it's useable in other states, but didn't do it. So I got to Mill Ruins Park and went west on West River Parkway.

West River Parkway eventually ended after a while, and I was back trying to go parallel along the river. I eventually had to get on I-94 before it exited onto another state highway that took me to Brooklyn Center. There was a park in the suburb that I parked for a while at, just to get a glimpse of the river. This was about 7 a.m.

From there, it was pretty much all county roads for a while. I saw a state park, Coon Rapids Dam, and parked there for a while to take a walk. It's pretty much just like the dam back home, with a walking bridge. The view was good enough, especially being morning, to get some good pictures in. It was at this point that I kind of figured out that the number of parks as I went up was going to be vast, and made the decision to keep following the river but stop at every other park along the way.

When I stopped at a wayside near Champlin, the thought came to me of how great it would be to have property along the Mississippi River. Then looking at it from this point made me wonder that these people don't think of it as big as I (an Illinois resident) would.

On west to Dayton. The Crow River empties into the Mississippi at this town, which had a boat launch that I parked for a while at. There was this large house at the confluence, larger than almost any house outside of Chicagoland that I had seen. I had to wonder which very important person lived there. I'm still wondering.

From Dayton to St. Cloud was more like viewing the Interstate than viewing the river. There wasn't much river to see along this road. Plus, there wasn't much of what I considered the image of Minnesota (evergreen trees, timber, etc.), and it looked somewhat similar to central Illinois. It wasn't until actually reaching St. Cloud that I saw the river again.

St. Cloud is home to St. Cloud State University, and I drove around the campus for a little while before crossing the river and stopping at a park. The park - once you get to the edge of the river, going down a steep and woody hill - provided a great view of the school's football stadium. At this point, the Mississippi is about the same size as the Pecatonica River. Between all of the stops I had made, it was about 11 a.m. when I was at St. Cloud. I made another change in vacation planning there, deciding that the river was small enough that no matter what side I was on, I was still going to see everything around it.

It was also at St. Cloud that my little experiment with ham sandwiches fell apart. Keeping sandwiches in a cooler for three days didn't turn out to be a good idea. The bread turned wet and soggy, and I don't have the taste buds for that. Out went the sandwiches, but I still feel I saved a bit of money on my food budget by doing this.

Now on the east side of the river, I continued upward and hit yet another state park. My brakes aren't the best, so at the sight of a brown road sign I have to slow down. Then when it says "state park" or "historical marker" I have to brake even more to make the turn. This particular sign led me to a park called "Bend in the River Regional Park". It wasn't much of a park, I thought, but maybe I didn't see all of it. I stopped at an old farm site that had been turned into a historical site. Small plaques told the stories of each of the buildings there.

Continuing north, there wasn't much river to see. But the road was signed "Great River Road" so I followed it anyway. One stop in Royalton was very interesting: Treasure City.

Treasure City (you have to see the picture of it from the outside) is a large store with a bunch of small items. Just how many small items? I had to walk side-to-side so I wouldn't break anything. Going through the store took about an hour. When I got in, I didn't know where to start. There were things everywhere! So I went right and took my time going through every little thing there. It's like a lady shopping at a department store. There was a figurine I wanted (called "Sports Nut" with a bunch of sports equpiment and a walnut with eyes next to them), and made my own little bookmark on it - put it off to the side of the shelf where I could come back later and pick it up after reviewing my gift budget.

Most of the south side of the store is figurines, nothing I would really want. This is where the ten-second rule of being frugal comes in: debate an item for ten seconds, and if you're still unsure that you want it, put it back. Among the items going through the debate was a traffic-light lamp. I always had a liking for a traffic light in my bedroom (since seeing one at Spencers years ago), but I already have a light.

Speaking of traffic signals, there was a board called "traffic sign bingo" that I considered for a while. When I was younger I had an infatuation with traffic signs. After going past a bunch of indian stuff, I reached a spinning display with a bunch of gag signs and bumper stickers. Of couse, I have to take a look at them because they are things that I like a lot. I picked one up advertising the place, and another that says "DO NOT WASH This car is undergoing a scientific dirt test" because I needed an excuse for the amount of dust accumulating on my car. Another item was a magnetic license plate with my name on it, kind of as proof I was really in Minnesota. I also picked up a gag card (the wallet kind) called "The Everything Free Card" which is sure to strike up some conversation. Yet another thing was a sleeve of three Backseat Driver's Licenses, which would be perfect for Danny since he doesn't have a real license yet. Going along with the money theme, I also picked up a coozy that says "I want less work, and more money, for not doing it."

All these items and not a shirt yet to punctuate my trip until I finally got to the north wall. Fortunately they had a Minnesota shirt that fits me. Then came more time looking at things I didn't need - but I didn't want to skip something that looked good. Among these was a Minnesota rubber coin holder keychain (because I lose loose change quite often) I finally got to the checkout counter and found my first sound of a Minnesota accent. But before I checked out I went through everything and did the ten-second thing again. I put back the Treasure City bumper sticker and the bingo game. The checkout counter had fake scratch-off tickets, which would be a good gag for my gas station friends (I eventually never used them, with more on that in a later blog entry).

Free cider, free four scoops of ice, and a bunch of outside pictures later, I was ready to go. Then I looked at the time, and it was 2:00 p.m. I needed to get to Lake Itasca, and get there fast. I had to sacrifice another part of the trip, and that was the river length from Little Falls to the Lake itself. Going through Grand Rapids and Bemidji would take a long time, and I thought I wasn't going to make it to the Lake before dusk. So it sucked to skip a part of the path, but realized that my main reason for going on this trip was to see the start of the Mississippi River. All that talk of not using a map came to an end when I plugged in Mapquest on my cell phone for the quickest way there.

Going northwest on US Route 10, the scenery still didn't look anything like the typical Minnesota. It isn't until you go north of US Route 10 do you start seeing forest green. Mapquest had me going on a bunch of country roads, and because of that I started looking for my "down-home restaurant." I found a couple, but both were closed at the moment. There's not much else to discuss from here to the Lake because there was no river to see.

US Route 71 eventually takes you to Lake Itasca, and I reached it at around 4 p.m. It was surrounded by tall and skinny trees along the drive. A sign after entering the park mentioned a pay station. Admission to a state park? There's nothing like this in Illinois. But I had to pay the $5 daily vehicle pass. There was a gift shop (I bought a book called "How to speak Minnesotian", which I felt awkward putting it on the counter in front of the Minnesotian clerk) and a museum at the welcome center that told the history of the park. Keep in mind I didn't even see the actual lake until I left the center.

There was an interesting segment at the museum that revolved around the actual beginning of the Mississippi River. I had no idea it was disputed. Three explorers had three different ideas, and after looking at a streams map even I had my own theory as to the end of the river. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft pointed out Lkae Itasca, Joseph Nicollet pointed out a creek that formed from the lake, and a man named Glazier noticed a creek from Itasca led to another lake. My theory? Go with Glazier's, and follow the stream from this lake (Lake Elk) to a small pond. The dispute ended with the naming of where the river meets the lake (the "headwaters") as the actual beginning (Schoolcraft's theory). I set out for both the headwaters and my determined ending.

It was six miles from the visitor's center, along a long and winding road filled with these tall trees. Kind of like a drunk guy paving the road. I passed the actual headwaters spot to go deeper into the park and to find "my" beginning. However, the road turned into a snowed road (there were no "road closed" signs to be seen), and there were a couple of trees down in the middle of the road due to the wind. The trees were cut wide enough for a car to pass. After a few minutes of fishtailing, I finally found a closed-off gate. So I wasn't able to get to "my" beginning. I wasn't all that disappointed. So I headed back to the actual headwaters.

Probably the best thing about this experience was that I was the ONLY car parked there. No one visits Minnesota state parks during the winter (April 6 is still considered winter). So I got to enjoy the headwaters experience all to myself. The river is only about seven feet wide when I crossed the footbridge to get to the headwaters. A wooden log greeted me where river met lake:

"Here 1475 ft above the ocean the mighty Mississippi begins to flow on its winding way 2552 miles to the Gulf of Mexico"

You could hear a pin drop.

I enjoyed the sight for a couple of hours before sunset started. I took a bunch of pictures there as well. The lake took up a lot of space, and you could hear the water pass through the rocks put in place for the dividing line. In the summer, one can jump across the rocks. Since the water was high, I didn't exactly do that, but I took off my shoes and socks and dipped my feet in.

As I mentioned once already in my logs, a vacation is an occurance when one wants to get away from a bunch of things. Here I was at Lake Itasca, literally way from it all. All to myself. Peace. Quiet. Nothing to distract me. Savoring the moment.

Eventually the experience had to end, and the feeling of the long ride back home started to seep in. The journey was about 750 miles one-way. As I walked away, I looked at a few more markers and made my way back to my car. You could hear a pin drop.

Leaving the park, I still didn't find my "restaurant" but found a place called Itasca Junction. That was more of a gas station/ExpressLane deal with a small eatery. So this was my dinner. I had a bacon cheeseburger (good) with chips and a pepsi. I was sitting alone, while a regular group of Minnesota people were gathered at a larger table next to me. I couldn't help myself to notice the dialect.

I guess in a kind of Minnesota way, they offered me to take my Pepsi and have it refilled for my drive "back home." After reading my book from the park's gift shop, I guess this is normal. I drove back to the Twin Cities the same way I came up, but gassed up once more at a Shell in Verndale. I bought some more lottery tickets there.

I arrived in Minneapolis at dusk, and tried out some night pictures in downtown. It was after a long walk in downtown that I found the Mary Tyler Moore statue (mentioned in 'Day 2'), which was a required picture opportunity. A very-light-up building struck my eye, which was the Wells Fargo building. Very vertical with long lines of light going up and down. I'm glad these pictures turned out.

After walking back to my car at Mill Ruins Park, it was close to 11:00 p.m. - by far the most packed day of the trip. I still had the length back home to go on. On the way back to the hotel, I had to debate myself as to how to handle the final day. Sleep little and leave early, or sleep in and skip things along the way. Only the night's sleep would made the decision a final one.

Day 4's adventure will come in the next blog entry.