Traveling Roadmantics: Voyageurs Park to Grand Forks North Dakota

Saturday, June 22, Day 62

This is a standard set of gear for the areas we are in. Almost no vehicle is without a canoe!

And at Voyageur, no one is without a boat trailer. Motorized boats are allowed here, whereas in the Boundary Waters they are not.

We wanted to go to the Voyageurs Visitors Center, but it didn't open until 9:30. The rangers were schlepping their gear in as we waited. Later hours because of Fiscal Cliff , you know!

We opted to take a walk to an area called the Beaver Pond. It was interesting in that this large meadow had been covered with water, but the beaver had moved on. The landscape had changed dramatically as a result of the beaver however.

I spotted this organism growing out of a dead tree stump. I am thinking its a type of mushroom. The texture was like a mushroom but it looked like a crepe paper flower.

It wasn't very far into International Falls, Minnesota, from the Boundary/Voyageurs Parks. And here, almost everyone had the same pickup truck and same boat set up. International Falls is on the border with Canada and there was a huge line to cross. Why do they have to go to Canada to fish. Or maybe it was Canadians going home after fishing here.

International Falls is always on the news as being the coldest city in the US. Lowest recorded temperature was -55 degrees.

Oh, did we mention rain? And long, straight, can-see-forever roads?

We are passing through the rest of Minnesota and just have to stop in Bemidji. Never heard of it? It is the home to a statue of Paul Bunyon and Babe, the Blue Ox! This is supposedly one of the most photographed sites in the country! Who decides these things?

Paul Bunyon purportedly floated logs down the Mississippi with a pitchfork to build the midwestern towns. Paul and Babe'e footprints are what carved out Minnesota's 10,000 lakes while they were lost in a blizzard. The statue stands at his birthplace and is 18 feet tall and weighs 2.5 tons.

One couple taking pictures told me their daughter always liked to come and see "Paul Onion and the Blue Mox."

It reminds me of the recent disappointment of my cousin's son when he thought they were going to see "The Dead Sea Squirrels."

Across the street in the visitors center are items "belonging" to Paul Bunyon, like titanic boxer shorts, an enormous flyswatter, toothbrush, dice, playing cards, a belt and a lighter. Cool!

Perhaps a more serious feature of Bemidji is that it is the headwaters of the Mississippi River. It also has the nickname of Brrrrmidji. There are many Indian Reservations around here; the Red Lake, White Earth and Leech Lake Reservations to name three.

And, most exciting of all -- it was the hometown of Jane Russell. That must be where the saying, "She sure has some big Bemedjis" comes from!

We are headed back through farm and cattle country. Black Angus seems to be the breed, no matter where we are.