Minnesota

We spent two nights at Minneopa State Park near Mankato Mn.  Our first days drive was pretty uneventful. 

of course we are the only campers!

We arrived after 2:00 pm, set up then took a hike.

there is suppose to be two waterfalls: but as you can see they are pretty dried up

 

beautiful park with lots of boulders

while we are out walking we always look for foods just in case we get stuck out in nature!

cedar trees with Juniper berries  (used to make Gin)

 

and of course lots of Black Walnuts…  but if we want to eat them we have to fight off the red squirrels!

Mushrooms are big..                                          the Sumac is ready to harvest for some tea

     

not sure if these berries are edible

we did see a deer, rabbit, lots of rabbits and gopher mounds  so if we had to have meat….

 

we found an old wind mill used to grind grains:

after our 2 hour hike in the park we headed into Mankato to see some sights. 

nothing was really opened but there was a few sculptures including the Dakata 38 where there was a mass execution

this has all the names on one side and a poem about forgiveness on the other side

a great lunch then off to New Ulm

Our first stop was at

along with Prince, Bob Dylan, Monroe Crossing and Judy Garland we found Eric’s old neighbor

Bob’s grandpa was featured too! 

we thought we found an old co-worker but now we think it was his dad…

 

Next was the Schell brewery, no tour today

 

there was a lot of fun stuff to look at including the Glockenspiel

 

 

time for dinner:

The weather was pretty misty and foggy but we still enjoyed our time in Minnesota.

We are off to the Lewis and Clark State Park in Iowa!