But first Minnesota. The Land of 10,000 Lakes and for sure Lakes are everywhere. Our first stop was at the St Croix State Park on the wild St Croix River which flows into the Mississippi in Minneapolis. It was very hot and we were besieged with mosquitos, deer flies, black flies, horse flies like nowhere else we had stayed. So we stayed indoors with the aircon on and ventured out for drives and to visit the local Indian Reservation at Hinckley which hosts a huge casino. It was Wendy's birthday and being in the middle of nowhere, the only restaurant was part of the casino. We had a nice Seafood Buffet there for $20 each. Indian Reservations in the US are not subject to the normal laws and they have exploited this to set up casinos on their tribal lands.
After St Croix we headed north to almost the Canadian Border at the Scenic State Park. There were a lot less insects here and we went for some lovely walks around the lakes.
This far North in Minnesota it is very wild. They call it the Edge of the Wilderness and there are very few towns. When we left for Lake Bemidji State Park there was a detour because of a closed road. The detour turned out to be 90 miles! So there are very few roads also!
Whilst the north of Minnesota is very undeveloped, heavily wooded with myriads of lakes, the centre of Minnesota is much more developed and not as heavily wooded but still has myriads of lakes. Lake Bemidji is the first Lake that the Mississippi River flows through as it twists its way across Minnesota through numerous lakes until at last it decides enough is enough and starts its southward journey to the sea. Bemidji is also famous for the Paul Bunyan story of the pioneer giant who used cartwheel for buttons and strode across the countryside with his pet Babe - the Blue Cow.
Minnesotans take to the lakes in their thousands. Fishing, swimming, boating, skiing abound in the central and lower parts of Minnesota. The lakes are glorious and often interconnected. Some of them are huge but most are small. A boating paradise in the summer. It's hard to believe that in the winter for 4 months this paradise is covered with thick snow and for many people a snowmobile is the only way to get around. There are as many snowmobile paths as there are roads.
Then it was time to move on to the last stop in Minnesota - Lake Itasca, the source of the Mississippi River. It leaves the Lake as a small stream flowing over some rocks. After dinner on the first day we were there, we went for a long walk from the campground to the headwaters of the river. That is where the trouble began.
There were kids playing on the stones across the river and as Wendy made her way slowly across, she moved to one side to let the kids pass and slipped. Her little finger went out at a horrible angle and she was in great pain, We drove to the nearest hospital 30m miles away and waited for two hours to be seen by a doctor.
The doctor said it was the fourth time this summer he had seen people who had slipped on the rocks because of kids playing on them. Luckily the finger was not broken but only dislocated and he grabbed it and with much pulling on his part and pain on Wendy's managed to put it back in place.
So our plans of boating, and cycling around the lovely paved bike paths are now put on hold as we await the swelling to go down on the hand. Mid week we leave the Land of 10,000 lakes and head West. A very long drive across the rolling prairies to North Dakota and the Missouri River.
