Not long after departing, we entered Minnesota,
Factoid: Minnesota means land of blue water in the native Indian language.
They claim to have 10,000 lakes. Frankly, your dubious Captain believes that this is a gross exaggeration! More on this later.
At any rate we were able to find a spot to park in a suburb called Savage, MN. (No savages were observed, but they say it's been a slow season around these parts).
Not much to report here except to say that we enjoyed a great meal in the suburb of Edina, MN.
We did the "must visit" tour of the Mall of America. There are 520 retail stores there. There is a hotel there. There is a roller coaster inside there. There are scores of places to eat there. There is a life sized Huey helicopter made entirely of LEGO blocks hanging from the four story ceiling. (We could only stay so long, so I may have missed something like a Casino or snowmobile dealership...)
...the LEGO Huey...
We noticed that both Minneapolis and St Paul were very clean cities.
...Minneapolis...
Your curious Captain felt the need to understand the origins of the names of the cities...
Minneapolis is the combination of the Dakota Tribal word for water and the Greek word for city. (In other words, b o r i n g !!!)
Now St Paul on the other hand, has a wonderful, nay glorious, name pedigree, to wit:
...the original name of the settlement was Pig's Eye, named for the illustrious Pierre 'Pig's Eye' Parrant. Ole Pig's Eye was a French fur trapper...a man of some means who established a popular tavern there on the mighty Mississippi. Later a Catholic Bishop felt that his new cathedral ( St Paul's) should lend its name to the city. The newer name stuck and for this reason, the Capital City of Minnesota is not Pig's Eye as it well should be...
...I knew it!! You thought I was making this stuff up. Well, now you know Ole Pig's Eye was the real deal...
While Leslie was in Florida, your friendly Captain met a few fellow RVers at the campground. Conversation soon centered on our Great American Road Trip (GART). Upon hearing of where we had been and our upcoming destinations, one fellow traveler ( we shall call him "The Devil") strongly suggested...no insisted...that we visit Brainerd, MN. The Devil (TD) was a Minnesota native and spoke with unchallenged authority of the unparalleled beauty of this Brainerd region. He too had been impressed with northern Michigan, but was certain that I would agree that northern Minnesota was even more stunning.
Before leaving the campfire that evening, I assured TD that we would take his suggestion. He smiled. (I could have sworn that there was a slight smell of sulphur in the air).
...artist rendering of the man who suggested we visit Brainerd, MN...
So, I plotted a course with Gertrude P Steinmetz (GPS) which would take us first to Hudson, Wisconsin, then onward on a northwesterly course to the storied Brainerd.
With the nice experiences of Minneapolis and St Paul fresh in our minds, we departed Savage, MN and within an hour crossed the Mississippi to enter the beautiful state of Wisconsin.
...entering Wisconsin...state motto: "Say Cheese"
...I believe that a better motto would be "Land of Odd Laws". For example: No joke. Wisconsin statute 98.17 has been in place since 1895 and it still stands today. It’s still illegal for restaurants to serve margarine – unless the customer specifically orders it. The “yellow stick from Satan himself,” as Governor Warren Knowles called it – is also a big no no in prisons, hospitals, schools or other state institutions – unless absolutely necessary for health reasons.
Due to our excitement at the prospect of visiting Brainerd, MN, we cut our Wisconsin visit shorter than we had planned, recrossed the Mississippi and headed toward the storied Valhalla called Brainerd.
We drove, and drove, and then drove some more. The scenery was excruciatingly boring and at times unsightly. Get this...most of the very numerous billboards looked like this one...
...really...there are scores of these along the roads heading north...little did we realize that these were public service billboards listing the reasons to go to Brainerd!!!
Innocents that we are, we steadfastly progressed to Brainerd. Here is Brainerd...
...the castle looking edifice is the water tower... We looked about, and feeling that we had somehow missed the 'essence' of Brainerd, we asked a passerby what were the must see tourist areas. Helpfully, the native gave us very precise directions to here...
...for those unfamiliar with mid western children's stories, the above creature is known as Babe the BLUE OX. He was often accompanied in his travels by a giant lumberjack named Paul Bunyun (no relation to the differently-spelled foot disorder)
...Now at this point, after traveling at least seven jillion miles out of the way, we realize that at least one of the following has occurred:
A. The unsolicited contribution to our travel itinerary offered by The Devil was in fact an evil plan to keep us in Minnesota beyond our patience level...
B. The Devil really thinks that viewing an unnaturally large blue quadruped is worth hours and hours of driving in a vehicle which gets 5.5 miles per gallon...
C. Campers in Minnesota don't get out much...
...At any rate our normally imperturbable Commodore has now begun to chant, "I want to leave Minnesota...NOW!"
...the Westies (who had REFUSED to leave the coach in Brainerd) were fed en route so that no time was wasted in getting to South Dakota...
...head Westie, Rocky, enjoying his dinner as we make haste on a southwesterly course...
...These are the times that try men's souls...and the times that 600 horsepower can be quite useful. No horses were left in reserve as your noble Captain beat a hasty retreat toward the South Dakota border.
Hours later we were rewarded with this beautiful sight...
...and so finally, we entered...
... we are in South Dakota...Sioux Indian name for "land of stone-faced presidents".
Since we arrived late, we chose a nice Wal-Mart parking lot to stay for the evening in Sioux Falls. It was nice, not level, but nice. Leslie picked up provisions at the Wal-Mart grocery section.
Hopefully, Dear Reader, you have learned from our experiences here that one should never, I mean never, adopt traveling suggestions from strangers around a campfire (especially one with a faint sulphur odor).
Tune in next as we explore South Dakota...state motto: "Closer than North Dakota".
You weren't kidding!!! I totally understand hightailing it out of MN! I did the same! VERY entertaining! I'll enjoy reading more of your travels! Be sure to check out lovedbylillie.com. Happy Trails!
ReplyDeleteRead all of LOVED BY LILLIE. You are a truly amazing woman. Please try to stay in touch...
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