Sandy Lake Recreation Area Minnesota

We have enjoyed our stay at Sandy Lake Recreation area. It is located 13 miles from McGregor, Minnesota and is part of the historic canoe route that linked Lake Superior and the Mississippi River. The native Americans had villages on the Lake about 10,000 years ago. A  major fur trading  post was on the western edge of the lake by the Northwest Fur Company in the1700s.

The original wood dam was built in 1895 and included a lock that allowed steam boats to travel through to the Mississippi River. The original wood structure was replaced with concrete in 1912 and the lock was last cycled in 1956. They grow wild rice on the lake too.

Lock on the dam and small museum

Today, the lock house has been converted into a small museum containing historical artifacts of the area. Educational programs are also offered seasonally and are open to the public free of charge.
The lake is very beautiful and has lots of duck, geese and occasional white swans.

Sandy Lake

 I ran into a snake on one of my walks it was a garter snake he turned around and looked at me. The water to the park has not been turned on so we filled our tank at the office and have been using it sparingly as we stayed for 7 days. We drove to Lake Superior from here it is about 75 miles. We have seen many deer in the park and in the fields. They don’t have any horns at this time of year so we don’t know if there were any bucks in the mix. We have gone to some of the small towns in the area to do the laundry and look around.
We have seen all kinds of lakes as they are everywhere.

Aitkins Lake

Flowage lake

 Fishing  season has not opened for some of the fish. It is still winter in Minnesota . We have had some cool days only in the 30s brrrrr.

We saw this big walleye fish in Rush City it was big.
 

Sandy river

Sandy river

 

 More to come.

Ginny

Lake Superior



Lake Superior


We drove to Lake Superior in Duluth Minnesota and Superior Wisconsin. We have gone to 4 of the 5 great lakes. It was a nice day.

 The lake is beautiful we pulled into the Gleensheen Mansion. There were people walking around with there tickets to go inside the mansion, 24 bucks. A bit much for a tour through a mansion. I just walked with them and got a few picture of the outside of the mansion.

Gleensheen Mansion

It was right on Lake Superior, Duluth side, It was real rustic. Built in 1905 completed in 1908. If built today would cost 30 million. There were two murders in the mansion. One was the owners youngest daughter. Murdered with a satin pillow put over her face. The other was her nurse maid. She was killed with a candle stick on the staircase the same day in 1977.

We went to the east lake walk. It was right on lake Superior and it was beautiful. The walk went along the banks of Lake Superior. We then went across the large bridge called the John A Blatnik, into Wisconsin.



bridge

  We went by the Fairlawn Mansion and museum. It was closed so we couldn’t tour it either. I found it is haunted by a ghost . They think the ghost is a servant girl.

Farlawn mansion

 We have seen quite a few deer in the fields and parks, no horns but don‘t think they have horns this time of the year. A mother and her fawn coming out of a parking lot right in front of us and got chased by a mother goose.

 We saw a wild turkey in a field and a porcupine walked across the road in front of us. The road we traveled around lake superior was very pretty. There were birch trees mixed with pine trees.

 We could see the lake at times a lot of private homes along the road and we would pull over whenever we could on pull outs to see the lake. We found a lot the businesses were not open until some time in May. It is winter for this end of the country. We stopped at Cornucopia harbor where boats go out fishing. Went into a antique store but didn’t see anything I needed. There was another store I would have gone into but it was closed.

 We went to the Madeline Island Ferry. It’s where you can go over to the Madeline Island but the things are closed for the winter there to. It will take people over to the island as people live there. We saw the lake and we could see the islands where people were living. We tried to see the Apostle Islands but must not have been in the right spot.

At the Ferry landing

 The shore line around Madeline Island looked beautiful like an ocean. Sandy beaches ,beautiful blue water and day use areas for picnics. We saw a boat out fishing too.


sandy beaches


Wisconsin and Minnesota have so many lakes and bodies of water. If you tried to stop at all of them you would never get where you are going. We made a big loop and a long day it was after nine when we got back. Beautiful trip, I hope I never forget all the beautiful things we have seen. I look at some of the pictures and they are not the same as looking through your eyes. Some of the trees still have some color from fall. This has been a trip to remember for sure.

Beautiful country


More to come .

Ginny

Eau Galle Lake Wisconsin

We stayed a few nights close to Red Wing. At Treasure Island Casino in Minnesota  in thier Rv park. You could use the pool in the hotel so I used it. They also had a hot tub and it was really nice. I met some young girls at the pool they were Dakota Native Americans. Would have stopped to see the red wing museum on our way out but they didn’t have a big parking lot.


Mississippi River

We Went across the Mississippi into Wisconsin it was beef country. Beautiful hillsides with beef on the hoof. Big farms with lots of grassy fields, red barns and silos.

 We stopped at a cheese factory and bought 2 kinds of cheese. Wisconsin is known for thier cheese it was real good.

 It is still cool in Wisconsin and we found out the campgrounds don’t open this early. We have friends in this state but they are on the other side of the state not going to make it across. Every time we find a campground it is not open. This is a corp. park Highland Ridge Campground on lake Eau Galle Reservoir in Wisconsin.

 We were the only campers in the park. The river flows in the lake too. It is beautiful. The trees still have some of the fall colors. I have hiked around the lake and enjoyed it so much.

We went to Baldwin to get a few supplys and came across a windmill park that was in the town it was real pretty.                                                 

We saw a turkey that came throught the park he was in a big hurry when he saw me. 



Eau Galle River

  More to come.
Ginny

Southern Minnesota



Sunset

 While driving around in Minnesota we noticed a lot of pig farms. They raise a lot of pigs in this area. I talked to a woman that said they fertilize a lot of the fields from the pigs waste.

There were a lot of tractors busy in the fields getting them ready for planting. They grow a lot of corn and have a bio ethanol factory here. Minnesota is called the land of 10,000 lakes. We have seen a lot of lakes.




Sisseton Lake

 We went to see The Jolly Green Giant HO HO HO. The Jolly Green Giant Statue symbol of the long standing association with the city of Blue Earth, was erected in 1979. 55 feet tall, made of fiberglass, wears a size 78 shoe, weights 8,000 pounds, cost $43,000.00. It honors the largest producer of corn and peas, known locally as Seneca Foods.


HO HO HO



We saw a Horse and Human Drinking Fountain
A drinking fountain for the use of both horses and humans was erected in Welcome, MN., a town of 686 people, in 1914 - horses drink from the street side and humans drink from the sidewalk side.      

We saw a sight called Heritage acres. It was not open but we did drive through and saw an old school built in 1892 with a bell in the top. There was a old granary, blacksmith, train depot, church, old cabin, house, steam engine and all kinds of old equipment.

The weather here got down in the 20’s a few nights and reminded us it is winter. There is a storm coming in tonight so Reba and I won’t get much sleep. Hope it goes around us. Until next time.

 

Opera house Fairmont

                                             court house Fairmont


Ginny

IOWA

Before we left Kansas we had to get new tires for the fifth wheel. I thank my lucky stars we didn’t have a blow out just a flat.

 When leaving Kansas we passed through the town Amelia Earhart was born (Atchison Kansas). We crossed a Big bridge across the Missouri river that was pretty scary.

scary bridge

 It’s a good thing they are building a new one. We didn’t spend to much time in Missouri. We drove through the top part into a few towns. Missouri was hit pretty hard by a tornado a while back and decided not to go through a big part. Some of the farm lands were very uneven. They were farming up and down the side of hills. We saw houses that were built right in the side of the hill. The roof on one side was level to the ground.

house built in the hillside

 One side had windows but the other didn‘t. I didn’t pay enough attention to see if they were all facing the same direction. I am sure that is to help from being taken away by a tornado. We have been traveling in tornado alley and I keep my fingers crossed the storm stay away.

We stayed at Lake of three fires in Iowa. It is a very large state park. I have walked all around the place. I saw many white tail deer but they were so fast I didn’t get my camera working before they were gone. I walked up pretty close to a goose on her nest so I backed up before she took after me.

 They have lots of red squirrels here but they run off before you have a chance to get there picture but I fooled one after he was in the tree.




Little Wall Lake Iowa

   We have been seeing so many things it is unbelievable. We drove to a lake called Little Wall Lake.

 It is a nice lake and a lot of people coming to fish. I took a picture of a man who caught a nice bass.

The man in the part with a bass he caught

We were going to get our license and try our luck but the park doesn’t have any garbage service. You pack your own trash out. Well we decided that might not be a good idea to pack out fish heads they might get smelly. We were about 5 miles from a friend of ours Kathy. We met in Alamo Texas. We surprised her and she told us she didn’t think she would ever see us again. We had her over for supper and we went to her house a couple days later for a BBQ. It was a nice visit and she has a nice house. We had a great visit.



Kathy and her Kitty

We had a large limousine come through the park it was unusual don‘t know who or what it was all about.




I saw a snake while on a walk and my heart skipped a beat or two but it was dead thank goodness. I looked it up I think it was a garter snake but a snake is a snake in my book. Back on the road.
　
Ginny