Monday, June 28, 2010

Day 29. Coon Rapids, MN



Yesterday, we went to REI and bought headwear with built in mosquito netting. MN mosquitoes don’t always live up to their reputation but we fear that AK skeeters will. I don’t mind applying bug spray to my arms and legs but spraying it on my face has no appeal whatsoever.

We hiked in Minnehaha Park in Minneapolis yesterday afternoon, along with nieces Mary Kay and Carina, and a friend of Carina’s. The pix were taken on the hike, Minnehaha Falls and the Mississippi. The park is huge, has several pavilions, bronze statues and the house of one John Stevens, known as the Father of Minneapolis. There was a Swedish Festival there yesterday so the place was packed. We didn’t participate in the Swedish stuff, notwithstanding the nearly overpowering urge to gorge ourselves on that great delicacy, lutefisk.
The Song of Hiawatha, by Henry Wordsworth Longfellow, was supposedly inspired by images of Minnehaha Falls, though Hank hadn't actually seen the falls when he wrote it. Another theory is that he was writing about the Hiawatha that was a mythical superhero of the Iroquois; yet another is that it was about the Ojibway, since they lived near Lake Superior - Gitche Gumee. Take your pick.

Pat (brother) and Julie will be joining us for dinner at the campground tonight. We’ll give them a tour of the EDGE, which takes all of 30 seconds. We plan to have a campfire, our first in this park. P&J are fondly known as The Bunnies, as in Energizer Bunnies. They’re extremely social and active, wears me out just watching them. Pat sings barbershop quartet and is rehearsing for a production of The Music Man.

This is our last day in MN. Tomorrow we beat feet, heading northwest through ND, first stop Jamestown, then on to Canada, eh.

Trish may go play in the water park today while I defrost the fridge. She says that’s my job cuz she does the laundry; fair enough. Both have to be done about once a week, exciting stuff, what?

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