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| Rain overnight and this morning but light rain and not the torrential rains of the past week....a quick hitch up with an eye on the mosquitoes and we are on the road again south to Wabasha bypassing the Twin Cites of Minneapolis and St Pauls....although heavy traffic as with any city in the world it was not as bad as we thought it would be.... |
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| US61 south and a pretty drive and mainly alongside of the great river... less residential and more countryside and farmsteads... |
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| We had a truck detour around Red Wing, well sign posted... Then our lunchtime sandwich spot at another excellent Minnesota rest area at Lake Pepin on The Mississippi River....Lake Pepin is a naturally occurring lake & the widest naturally occurring part of the Mississippi..... In the late 1800s and early 1900s more than 500 clammers worked the lake gathering mussels for their shells to be used for making buttons...Lake Pepin was unusually rich in mussels but by 1929 the mussel supply was almost exhausted due over farming for the 50 button factories along this stretch of the river...stocks are now being replenished... |
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| Rather a grey day as this pic of the Wisconsin Bluffs shows......we do get a thunder storm by 6pm but by then we are settled into our spot at The Big River Resort, Wabasha...it's the river that is big not the resort....but it is a really lovely campsite and a shame we are only here for 2 nights... YAY we have cable TV so a TV fest of Major Crimes and The Golden Girls...also very robust wifi hence catch up on blog and all things internet... |
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| Our home on wheels at the Lake Pepin scenic rest area.... |
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| Thursday 28th July...... First stop is at the National Eagle Centre, Wabasha....a non government funded facility that as well as caring for injured "raptors" is an educational centre...we attended the very informative 1 hour lecture....very very interesting, we still have a problem with any bird or animal in "captivity" but the alternative would be death.... This is female called Angel who was found with a broken wing a few years ago.... Luckily this was an indoor event as it's drizzly rain this morning.... |
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| We found this to be very interesting especially considering that back in the 1950's the bald eagle was on the extinction list due to excessive use of DDT.... One reference that amused us was that Benjamin Franklin was not happy about the bald eagle becoming the national symbol saying that it would be more appropriate to be the turkey !!! |
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| The rain has stopped for our walk around town... |
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| As mentioned before we love small town USA....and this one had a small bakery and coffee shop...ummm time for yummy coffee and cake.... |
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| Next stop is in Kellogg, 5 miles from Wabasha, at the Lark Toys Museum and Toy Shop.....fascinating museum and extensive collection of toys for sale.... |
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| But this is the highlight.... The Lark Toys Carousel... Hand carved from basswood in exquisite detail and competed in 1997..... |
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| Each animal is a rideable work of art....the carousel runs every 30 minutes for $2 a ride... |
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| Not part of the carousel but another exquisitely carved piece.... |
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| Oppps... |
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| We have really enjoyed our stay here and could easily have stayed a few extra days but need to be in Madison, WI for the weekend... Wabasha is one of the oldest cities on the upper Mississippi River and the oldest town in Minnesota... The grandfather of writer Mark Steven Johnson and inspiration for the films Grumpy & Grumpier Old Men was a Wabasha native.... Also Laura Ingalls Wilder was born just south of here with The Little House In The Big Woods being based on her own home... Tomorrow we move back across the Great River into Wisconsin... More soon from... The Very Happy Campers..... |
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