Twin Cities, Three Rivers, Two States

In just 2¹/₂ days

Camping northwest of Minneapolis (in Maple Grove), we spent a most of our 9 days (before and after our Whirlwind Trip to the Northeast) “just” getting organized, packing, unpacking & recouping from the trip! NOT to mention, a better part of a day getting new brakes installed on Lizzy! So, we did all our touring (St. Paul and the Mississippi, Minnesota & Saint Croix Rivers) in just 2¹/₂ days.

First, about those brakes

Mark discovered one brake was not working at all, at our last stop, and that a second brake was operating sub-optimally when we got here. Note: these brakes are expected to last 20-25K miles, and Lizzy has been towed over 37K miles. Not bad. Helped by the use of diesel brakes. Anyway. Good News…there is an Airstream place but a half hour from our campground and we were able to schedule Lizzy to get new brakes installed. We dropped her off at 9:00 am on Monday, unhitched, and took off for a ¹/₂ day of touring. New brakes installed by 3:00, back and hitched up by 4:00. BUT…the brakes didn’t actually work!!! It took a bit to figure it out, but apparently the (pretty new) technician who did the work, skipped the step where one actually adjusts the brakes. So, while we stayed hitched up in the parking lot, they (3 at times) adjusted them there. Bless his heart, Bailey will not forget that step again! Thanks, Tyler and Blake, for helping.

And about those 2¹/₂ days of Touring

Toured 1 new State Capitol:

• Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul (#37), where we had an informative tour and learned that Minnesota has more Senators than any other state. We saw LOTS of different, beautiful marble, a major design feature they like to show off.

Visits to 2 new National Park Sites, 1 Revisit:

• Mississippi National River & Recreation Area (#51-Revisited), which links together many state, local and federally managed parks along the upper Mississippi. We visited 2 which we hadn’t seen before, Historic Fort Snelling, at the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers in St. Paul, and the Coon Rapids Dam, farther north, and the farthest north on the Mississippi that is navigable, as it has no locks.
• Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway (#261), which protects over 200 miles of the St. Croix and Namekagon Rivers! Together they form the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway, that glides and rushes through a forested landscape.  We made it to the Visitor Center and then drove south along the St. Croix River from there for a bit, where it forms the boundary between Minnesota and Wisconsin. Beautiful drive.
• Ice Age National Scenic Trail (#262), which spans 1,200 miles, traverses some of Wisconsin’s finest geologic and glacial features, and passes through the ancestral lands of 15 Tribes. We hiked ~0.2 miles of the trail, to its Western Terminus, and visited the Ice Age Interpretive Center at Wisconsin Interstate Park. We’ll have to do more on a longer visit to Wisconsin.

Drove down the the Great River Road today, in Minnesota and Wisconsin

We even stopped to visit the Great River Road Visitor Center in Prescott, Wisconsin, at the confluence of the St. Croix River and the Mississippi River. It’s also the northernmost point of the Great River Road in Wisconsin.

And now we are camped on a farm in Minnesota for a couple of days.

For more pictures, see (in-work) Adventure Album:  Great River Road / Route 66

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