On Wednesday, our day outing started with a visit to the birthplace of Judy Garland.  Judy Garland, for those of you that don't remember, was the star of many musical movies starting at the age of 13.  Of course, the one that most of us remember most is the Wizard of Oz.  The house that she was born in is located next to a museum dedicated to her life and career.  The house had been moved from it's original site some years ago due to the area going commercial.  As we walked through the museum we were serenaded to the beautiful sounds of Judy Garland singing.  Her voice was so great that it gave goose bumps just listening to her.  We really enjoyed the couple of hours that we spent visiting with Judy Garland and walking through her birth home.

Did you know that the Mississippi River actually starts in Minnesota?  Well, it does.  I didn't know that it started in Minnesota, just that it started up north somewhere.  We decided to go see the headwaters of the Mississippi River on Lake Itasca.  On our drive to Lake Itasca State Park we drove by a lot of the 10,000 lakes in Minnesota.  I believe that there is more area covered by water than land around Grand Rapids.  If you remember from the weather news a couple of weeks ago there was a late snow fall here.  The area received up to 16 inches of snow and stayed very cold.  The host at the campground even mentioned that the normal fishing season start was delayed due to the snow and ice still on the lakes.  I imagined the ice being only a few inches think, but no, it was thick enough to drive an ATV on.  As we drove by one of these many lakes we actually saw some ice remaining along the shore line.  It was not just a thin layer, but large hunks of thick ice.  The temperature was about 80 degrees.  That ice had to be thick and cold.

After about an hour of driving we came upon the little town of Walker, MN.  Walker is located on Leech Lake, apparently one of the best fishing lakes in the area.  The downtown shops, bars, and restaurants were all open.  We decided to stop and take a break and walk the main street.  We really enjoyed our stop at an ice cream shop.  Had some very good hand dipped ice cream.  Most of the shops were dedicated to clothing and furniture.  The clothing shops cater primarily to the outdoorsman, hunters, hikers, fisherman, and campers.  The furniture shops mostly had furniture that would look great in a log cabin, which there are plenty of located along the lake shores.

I did not know how far we had traveled until I realized that my little car needed to be refueled.  I was really shocked that it cost me $40.00 to fill up with 10 gallons of gas.  $3.89 a gallon.  I did feel lucky for only paying $3.99 when we got back to Grand Rapids it was selling for $4.19 a gallon.

The Lake Itasca State Park was worth the drive time to get there.  The area around Lake Itasca was one of the earliest settled parts of Minnesota.  Along with the lake to see, there is an old log store and home that belonged to one of the earliest settlers.  We saw Indian mounds that date back as long as 3000 years, and of course the headwaters of the Might Mississippi River. 

Enough of my rambling, let me show you some pictures of the headwaters of the Mississippi River.  Don't pay attention to the date stamp on the pictures, I forgot to reset after putting in new batteries.

There was, and apparently still, a lot of different opinions as to where the real start of the Mississippi River begins.  The headwaters come off of the end of Lake Itasca, which is fed by many small rivers that some believe are the true beginning of the Mississippi. 

Starts at an elevation of only 1475 feet above sea level and winds for 2552 miles.  That is not much of a drop for that long of a distance.

These kids are walking on rocks that are at the headwaters of the Mississippi.

Sharon is standing on the shore next to the headwaters.  That is Lake Itasca in the background.  By the way Itasca is a word combined from the Greek language for "truth" and "head".

  
This is a view of the Mississippi River just a couple of hundred feet from the headwaters.

This sculpture is of the Headwaters Caretaker Woman.  She appears to be watching over a lot of turtles.

It is hard to see in this picture, but the small mounds are a few of the many Indian burial mounds located in this part of the park.

As we left the park we saw this sign indicating the Mississippi River.  Looks like a small creek to me.

We had a great day trip around the area.  We headed back to Grand Rapids for an evening of rest and preparing the RV for travel.

We were on the road by 0900 on Thursday morning.  I'll tell you about our next destination in the next posting.

You all have a great day, and remember

God Loves You,

Gary