Bemidji, Minnesota 8/27/2010

While staying at Fox Lake Campground, we decided to drive into Bemidji, Minnesota to check out the town.

We stopped at Diamond Point Park located across the street from Bemidji State University.

Diamond Point Park is on Lake Bemidji
Lake Bemidji  was formed by a glacier and is 6420 acres. The max depth is 76 feet. Located less than 50 miles downstream from the source of the Mississippi River, it both receives and is drained by the Mississippi.

We drove down the street to Paul Bunyan Park.

While waiting for our turn to take some pictures, we wondered out to the lake.

After being out west, the water in Lake Bemidji, look brown. But the water clarity is 6 feet.

You can't come to Bemidji and not get your picture in front of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox..

The statues have been hailed by the Kodak Company as the "second most photographed statues in the United States", behind only Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. Now we can say we have be paragraphed at both! Aren't we special!

The first city on the Mississippi.

"In order to get some idea of the labor and materials which went into Paul's construction, Mr. Dickinson furnished the following statistics:
Concrete footings to water level: 5 1/2 tons
Weight of statue above footings: 2 1/2 tons
Height of statue:  18 feet
Built in the winter of 1937, 737 man-hours were used in the construction of Paul Bunyan". Quote from, Visit Bemidji The First City on the Mississippi.

On the way back to Fox Campground we saw an osprey nest on a utility pole.

8/28/2010

The next day we hook up and headed south east through Minnesota.

This looks like bales of grass instead of bales of hay. Any way, what ever it is, the medium and side ditches had bales harvested here.
We took Hwy 2 from Bemidji, MN to Hwy 371, and headed south. At Sauk Rapids, we turned southeast on Hwy. 10 toward Minneapolis. Just before Big Lake, on 10, we turned west on Hwy. 25 to Buffalo, MN, and spent the night at Wal-Mart. Good roads all the way. 

8/29/2010


The next morning we took Hwy. 55 to Minneapolis, and jumped on 494 around the city while the traffic was mild. South of the city we took 35W

Iowa just down the road.

 Alliant Energy has wind power in northern Iowa. Joe work his entire life for Alliant Energy. They  own the Crandic Railroad, the company Joe worked at.

The true picture of  Iowa, as I remember, outside of  Iowa city life.

I had called my friend Barb,a few days earlier, who lives in Charles City, Iowa. Our route back to Cedar Rapid, goes through her town. It had been over a year since I had seen her, so it was a must stop. We parked the Nest in a church parking lot, behind her new home, Her boyfriend Steve had got permission for us from the church. Barb was gracious, and had made dinner for the weary wondering gypsies. We had a wonderful evening catching up on each others lives. Thanks Steve and Barb, A bit late, but better late than than never!