Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for minnesota
A Gem of a Church in Minnesota
By Linda Tancs
The practice of using vertical posts, or staves, to construct massive wooden buildings is what sets stave churches apart from the others. Stave churches were built in and around Scandinavia from the waning years of the Viking Age (the 11th and 12th centuries) to the early 16th century. One of the oldest- remaining stave churches in Norway is Hopperstad in Vik, built in 1130. You’ll find a full-scale replica of it in Moorhead, Minnesota, located along the boundary with Fargo, North Dakota. A symbol of Norwegian heritage so prevalent in the Red River Valley, the Moorhead Stave Church offers guided tours from April to December.
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Peace and Quiet
By Linda Tancs
If you’d like some peace and quiet, then head to Minneapolis, Minnesota. That’s where you’ll find the world-famous Orfield Anechoic Chamber of Orfield Laboratories. Internationally recognized as “The Quietest Place on Earth,” the room offers a keen sensory experience unlike any other. The lab offers multiple options for tours, each with different lengths of time in the anechoic chamber.
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Eagle Watch in Minnesota
By Linda Tancs
The Upper Mississippi River Valley is home to hundreds of bald eagles. It’s the perfect place for an interpretive center, which is what you’ll find along the banks in Wabasha, Minnesota. Home to non-releasable bald and golden eagles, the National Eagle Center gives visitors a close-up experience to the nation’s symbol of freedom along with lectures on their care. You can experience their migratory patterns through field trips and habitat tours as well, or check out their high-resolution webcam stream at any time.
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Minnesota’s Meeting Place
By Linda Tancs
“Tettegouche” is a French-Canadian term meaning “meeting place.” It’s an apt name for Minnesota’s Tettegouche State Park. Located on the North Shore of Lake Superior, it’s a place where several waterfalls meet along the Baptism River. One of them, High Falls, is the highest waterfall (at 60 feet) entirely inside the state’s borders. Hiking trails along the river provide views of many of the cascades. As a preserved example of the North Shore Highlands Biocultural Region, the park’s features also include rugged, semi-mountainous terrain, one mile of Lake Superior shoreline, six inland lakes and an undisturbed northern hardwood forest.
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Following the Mississippi
By Linda Tancs
You may have wondered whether you can drive along the course of the Mississippi River. Yes, there’s a road for that. The Great River Road National Scenic Byway follows the course of the Mississippi River for 3,000 miles from northern Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, passing through 10 states. Its designation as a National Scenic Byway is in recognition of the route’s outstanding assets in the areas of culture, history, nature, recreation and scenic beauty. The different roads and highways comprising the byway are marked by a green pilot’s wheel logo to keep you on track. Watch for river-related attractions and interpretative centers. You can take in the whole route in 36 hours of straight driving, but why not stretch it out for four to 10 days and enjoy the ride.
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A Cool Celebration in St. Paul
By Linda Tancs
Winter Carnival in the city of St. Paul, Minnesota, has been staged since 1886. Marking its 135th anniversary this year, its two signature events are the ice carving competition and the snow sculpture contest. Due to COVID limitations, they’ll be combined this year into a drive-through ice and snow sculpture park at the State Fairgrounds. Don’t miss the opportunity to visit the oldest winter festival in the country, predating the Tournament of Roses Festival by two years. This year’s event runs from January 28 to February 7.
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To limit the spread of COVID-19, attractions may be closed or have partial closures. Please keep those affected by the virus in your thoughts and be sure to follow the safety practices advocated by the Centers for Disease Control. Stay safe, and be well.
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Surrounded in Minnesota
By Linda Tancs
Thanks to a geographic impossibility aided by imperfect cartography in the 1700s, the tiny Minnesota hamlet of Northwest Angle became an American town surrounded by Canada. Known by locals as the Angle, it’s separated from the rest of Minnesota by Lake of the Woods, which would boast the longest coastline of any Canadian lake were it located entirely in Canada. A fishing mecca, some resorts offer boat and ice transport services that operate within Minnesota; otherwise, you can get there via car through a border crossing. Since 1925, a joint U.S.–Canada boundary commission has maintained the boundary, which represents the northernmost part of the contiguous United States. Sorry, Maine!
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An Empire Builder in Minnesota
By Linda Tancs
James J. Hill was a railroad magnate, builder of the Great Northern Railway. His Minnesota home, near the Cathedral of Saint Paul, is a National Historic Landmark. Completed in 1891, the mansion was the largest and most expensive home in Minnesota and a leader of its age, with central heating, gas and electric lighting, plumbing, ventilation, security and communication. The massive Richardsonian Romanesque style mansion boasts a whopping 36,500 square feet on five floors, including 13 bathrooms, 22 fireplaces, 16 cut-glass chandeliers, a two-story skylit art gallery and a three-story pipe organ created by renowned Boston organ-maker, George Hutchings. Guided tours begin every half hour and last 75 minutes.
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Flour and Water in Minneapolis
By Linda Tancs
Beginning in 1880 and for 50 years thereafter, Minneapolis, Minnesota, was known as “Mill City,” owing to its status as the flour milling capital of the world. Mill City Museum opened in 2003, built in the ruins of the Washburn “A” Mill next to Mill Ruins Park on the banks of the Mississippi River. The flour tower tour is the highlight, taking you through all of the floors of the mill on a historical storytelling tour. The views from the top of the river and the city can’t be beat.
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Big Susie of the Lake
By Linda Tancs
Jutting out of Lake Superior (the world’s largest freshwater lake by surface area and the third largest by volume) are 13 small, rocky islands known as the Susie Islands. The largest of those islands (at 145 acres) is nicknamed Big Susie, located just off Minnesota’s north shore near Grand Portage. Glaciers of the Great Ice Age scoured the sedimentary rocks of this archipelago many times over the last 2 million years, but the Susie Islands only emerged about 5,000 years ago. The plants that thrive there (many of them Arctic and sub-Arctic species) disappeared from the rest of Minnesota after the glaciers receded. The area’s sheer cliffs and rocks don’t support much other plant life besides a variety of lichens and mosses. Due to the delicacy of the native plant community, public access to Big Susie is rarely granted, but a good view of the island can be found along Highway 61 between Rose Mountain and the U.S./Canadian customs station. Long managed and held by The Nature Conservancy, ownership of Big Susie is reverting to the Grand Portage Band of the Ojibway Tribe, who own the other 12 islands.
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