"Only one life, 'twill soon be past
Only what's done for Christ will last."

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Journey to Nowhere on Two Highways

Willmar
Redwood Falls
Walnut Grove
Balaton
Marshall
Granite Falls
Willmar
Spicer
Paynesville
St. Cloud
Mora
Sandstone
Kerrick
Duquette
Nickerson
Superior WI
Duluth
Eveleth
Virginia
Orr
International Falls
Black Duck
Bemidji
Park Rapids
Wadena
Browerville
Long Prairie
Sauk Centre
Belgrade (We took a wrong turn in Belgrade and got "lost" for a minute)
Willmar

We saw Willmar three times as we traveled MOST of Highway 23 and MOST of US Highway 71 in this great state.

We made a huge X across the state. Cherie got 20 hours of driving time (the state requires 50) and 8 of it was night time driving. She drove in snow flurries, on icy roads, avoiding deer twice in the dark. She drove the iron range, the bogs of the northland, up to the Canadian border. She drove across the St. Louis River from Superior to Duluth and up the winding street to Hermantown.

We stopped to eat lunch on Monday at the Dairy KING in Redwood Falls, and Sandy's Place in International Falls on Tuesday.

Local places that were hopping busy and delicious!

We slept overnight in Superior WI, a nice Holiday Inn Express that overlooked the bay between Superior and Minnesota Point.

Surprises? Big towns, thriving towns, thriving farms, new houses!

Snow was covering the landscape for the entire journey. Most lakes were already frozen, the rivers still ran open.

We had intended to drive all the way to Pipestone and start our journey on Highway 23 there, but the time it would have taken wasn't enough for the our start in the day (you need to leave home at 7 am to do that!) . We'll have to get to Pipestone, Jeffers Petroglyphs and perhaps the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Walnut Grove on a jaunt next summer.

This trip was business, but what a beautiful place we have here in the center of the continent. Three watersheds, multiple biomes, varied geography, water (WATER!) and glacial ridges. So much beauty in a two day drive!

And the land is productive and sweet.


Such nice people, everywhere.

The walleye sandwich at Sandy's Place in International Falls is worth going back for.

Cherie was AMAZING. She held it together for BOTH strenuous days. She's all set to get her license here before long!

Corwyn was mad at me for abandoning her for two days. She's giving me the cold shoulder and showing preference for Margaret.

Those Corgis. Next time she can come along...

Will there ever be a next time? It took me 50 years to get up to International Falls. It's not exactly on the way to anything but Canada!

And Canada is nice...

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