We enjoyed the long drive through the lush, green fields of Minnesota, dotted with massive wind turbines and farm land as far at the eye could see. When we rolled through the gates of Blue Mounds State Park in the southwestern most corner of the state, the weather was windy and cool. Though a bit ominous at times, it felt wonderful compared to our scorching journey through Indiana the day before. It was already 8:30 pm by the time we popped the Westy top and established ourselves at the campsite, so there wasn't much time for exploring. Jeff made a lovely pasta dinner before we turned in for the night.
We woke early, eager to explore the rolling grasslands and cliffs of the park. Unfortunately the Bison herd was grazing out of sight, deep in the prairie land. Under cool gray skies, we enjoyed a hike along the “mound” at the top of the cliffs leading to a historic Sioux quartzite quarry. We then dropped down to the lower trail to explore the cliffs from below. To Parker's frustration, we had to keep him on leash the whole time to avoid any surprise encounters with an 1800-pound bison.
Jeff was very excited to see the cliffs, but a bit sad that he didn't have his climbing shoes. However, that didn't stop him from enjoying the rock face.
The rain held off as we wrapped up the few miles of prairie land hiking and headed back to the van. We couldn't visiting downtown Luverne, a stretch of town reminiscent of another era. We found the coffee house and treated ourselves to some hot beverages before hitting the road to the Badlands of South Dakota. Parker was passed out on the backseat within five minutes.
cute town !!
ReplyDeleteBerg, that rock looks tasty! I bet it was slick though....shoes may not have done you very much good!
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