We crossed the Mississippi

By 10:30 AM we crossed the Mississippi River near Grand Rapids, Minnesota.  The river was narrow and still, but a major landmark that divides the country and puts us in the Western half of the continental United States.  The Mississippi River:




We awakened early again this morning and set out for Fargo, North Dakota.  Alan caught the sunrise over Lake Superior while packing the car:




We followed a severe thunderstorm and rain along the southwest coast of the Lake.  It turned dark as night just as the rain started.




North Dakota is an important destination for us as it is one of two states in the continental United States that we have not traveled.  Vermont is the other state--not to be stricken from the list this trip.  

Minnesota will get short shrift as we have plans for longer visits at Devils Tower and Yellowstone in Wyoming.   We got acquainted with Minnesota earlier this trip by listening to Al Franken read his book, "Al Franken:  Giant of the Senate."  The book gets deserved high marks as it is entertaining and informative.  Franken is smart and candid with clear statements explaining what makes him a Democrat and how politics works in some ways.  

We need to consult our travel guide, "1,000 Places in the USA and Canada to See Before You Die" for highlights in North Dakota.  Except for the Teddy Roosevelt National Park, not much jumps out at us on the Road Atlas.  Maybe one reason why we have never been there before.

Easy, well maintained roads in Minnesota make easy driving and listening--now to the dystopian novel, "The Handmaid's Tale."  Miles to go before we sleep....

Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 22, 2017 at 6:39 PM

    Sounds like one day in ND will be enough! Love your travel blog! Makes me want to travel!

    ReplyDelete
  2. CarolSeptember 23, 2017 at 9:04 AM

    Thx. There is a lot of stuff out here to see. Just entered South Dakota. Weather has gotten much colder.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Time To Go Home

Image
In Richardson, Texas, at Cheryl and Jackson's house, we are waiting for the mobile sun roof repair shop.  This has become a two-day process and quite an ordeal.  We have unpacked the entire car to give the repairman access to the interior so he can drop the roof to install the new sun roof.    The exposed hole waiting for the repairman: The unpacked contents, ready to be re-packed in a bit and then unpacked in two-days when we get home. Alan and I have had a fabulous time trekking across the continent. We visited some oldies but goodies where we have been before and some places where we have never been before but were on our bucket list.  We also just came upon places that felt right at the time and were fun, interesting adventures.   We are finally ready to head home, about a week sooner than expected.  I want to see "The Miracle Worker" at The Prizery which finishes this weekend.  But some other reasons why home is the right place to be are conf...
Read more

Mammoths and Longhorns

Image
Before leaving Waco, we visited the Mammoth National Monument.  In 1978 two teenage boys found a bone sticking out of the ground in a ravine near where two rivers met.  They took the bone to the Baylor University Archeology lab where it was identified as from a Columbian Mammoth.  Nineteen mammoths were originally found in the ravine and more since in surrounding areas.  The first 19 were mother and offspring in what is called a nursing herd.  It is thought that the herd got stuck in mud and caught in a flood.  The bones are being excavated although many were removed from the area to be saved, sorted and catalogued because the area re-flooded while folks were working.  Since the park was designated as a National Monument a couple of years ago, the number of visitors has increased from10,000 per year to 10,000 per month.  The patience this type of work requires is extraordinary. On our way to see Alan's sister and brother-in-law in the Dallas area,...
Read more

We cannot spend 5 nights in every state

Image
Alan tells me that we cannot spend 5 nights in every state or we will never make it home by election day which is my deadline.  He is now working backwards to figure out what we can do and what we cut out of the trip to stay on track.  The two absolutes are 1) to see Luke, our youngest, in Seattle for a few days and meet his fiance's parents who have a lake house there; and 2) stay a couple days with Cheryl, Alan's sister and her husband, including a visit to their vineyard North of Dallas.  The rest can be changed.   But Wisconsin was well worth the 5 days.  Well, maybe not the overnight in Beloit's Wal-Mart parking lot.  But the rest of the visit was awesome.  Door County was our favorite.  The Apostle Islands Lakeshore is very nice as well, but second on my list.  We took a 3 1/2 hour cruise of the islands (saw 21/22 islands). We saw 5 bald eagles and some lake birds, but not much else.  Caves carved out by the water were cool, but no...
Read more