Father's Day Weekend Road Trip

by Dakota Noel

[Note to my employer and co-workers: travel described here did not incur added expense for the company.]

Two of my family members were in Europe and the third in South Dakota, so things were ripe for a road trip over Father's Day weekend and it dovetailed with business travel to Moline. I stayed with / stopped at my mom's apartment coming and going. My departure from the normal route was at Alexandria, MN where instead of staying on I-94, I turned off to MN-29 towards Glenwood. There is a fantastic view of Lake Minnewaska (not my video) as one comes over a hill and into the town.

From there, I got onto MN-104 towards Willmar, MN. MN-104 is one of the shorter state highways in Minnesota and a road less traveled. Along with MN-29, it is part of the Glacial Ridge Trail Scenic Byway through the Alexandria Glacial Morain featuring ridges left by glaciers an estimated 30,000 years ago and kettle lakes. I enjoyed it.

The rest of the drive was US-71 and MN-30 through the usual corn and soybean fields of southwestern Minnesota. There was heavy rain just before I got to my gas stop in Willmar, MN. While fueling, I got treated to a very intense full rainbow with an accompanying secondary rainbow. I thought it a bit ironic that the rainbow ended at a Caterpillar service center given my employment with John Deere.

Saturday afternoon I went with my mom to visit an uncle and aunt as well as their daughter who was in town. We had a very nice afternoon and evening together.
 
On Father's Day, I set out from my mom's for Moline. The most direct path largely follows the four lane Avenue of the Saints between Albert Lea MN to Iowa City, IA with the 2 of the remaining 2.5 hours on I-90 and I-80. This route takes about six hours, but is four lane highway through corn and soybeans. Not much to blog about.

I had planned to take MN-30 east from where my mom lives, but ran into road construction and dropped down to I-90 and then MN-16 which I took into Lanesboro, MN for my first stop. MN-16 is also the Historic Bluff Country Scenic Byway and after crossing some prairies, follows the Root River. Lanesboro is a 19th century town which could have easily disappeared as farming decreased in the area US-16 was abandoned with the completion of I-90 to the north. However it was re-invented as a tourist destination and in fact an art-in-the-park event was going on. The old rail line is now a bike trail and the Root River is popular for canoeing. Besides outfitters, the town has restaurants, antique stores, B&Bs, and Amish Country tours.

I walked the town and then found a place to get a coffee and a scone (gotta love a town with "Coffee Street"). Just afterwards, as I was near the river, I got a phone call from my daughter in Spain with Father's Day greetings. Sweet.

From Lanesboro, I headed east and then south to the college town of Decorah, IA on the Upper Iowa River. I walked the downtown area and settled on the deli at the Oneota Food Coop for lunch. It was very similar to a Whole Foods store. I had two types of quiche, some potatoes, and a sparkling juice. I refueled on the way out of town.

From Decorah, I got onto US-52 headed towards Dubuque. I like this road because of the vistas of farm valleys from the tops of ridges. There also gets to be some winding, wooded stretches closer to Dubuque. There is also a swoosh down to the Mississippi River in the town of Guttenberg, IA where Lock & Dan #10 is located. The light comma on the hill in the distance is US-52 coming from the north. The portion of the river shown is a fraction of the width. The land on the right is an island.

I like stopping in Guttenberg and strolling the park along the river and lock and dam right along the river. The other side of River Park Drive has many quaint buildings dating from the mid-19th century. I found a place to get an ice cream cone for my walk back to my car following a Father's Day chat with my other daughter who was visiting her aunt in South Dakota. On the way into town I passed the "bee lady" who keeps hives and processes honey. As I expected on the way out of town, there was a stand set up on US-52 at a scenic overlook where her honey was being sold. I didn't stop to buy any this time.

From Dubuque, I continued along the river to Bellevue, IA where Lock and Dam #12 is located. It is a very similar situation to Guttenberg with a park between main street and the river. I was in luck to be there when a barge was going through the lock. I had heard that it took an hour for long barges to get through because only half could go through at a time. This is correct. Also in town is a new Subway which has a deck overlooking the lock and I had supper there.

I crossed the Mississippi on the Savanna-Sebula bridge on US-52. It is a really grand, old, narrow bridge (not my video). From there, I picked up IL-84 and followed the Mississippi into Moline, passing through several Quad City area towns I had not previously visited. My total time was 12 hours or twice normal. However, my trip met expectations for the leisure and the scenery on a beautiful Father's Day.

Record Flooding in North Dakota

While the Red River in Fargo crested at the #4 historic position a couple months ago, it took it's sweet time dropping. It finally dropped below flood level after a record 77 days, breaking the 2009 record of 71 days. It didn't stay below flood stage long due to heavy rains and the second flood of 2011 crested at about 5 feet above flood stage yesterday and is on its way down. This is considered minor flooding, so no impact other than one street and a bunch of bike paths being under water. Out of the last three months, the Red River has been below flood stage maybe a handful of days.

After the flooding on the Red in Fargo, there was near record crest (can't remember which side) in Valley City on the Sheyenne River. And then due to record snow melt and heavy rains and flood control dams at capacity, there was record flooding in Bismarck and Mandan on the Missouri River. And then due to heavy snow melt and heavy rains and flood control dams at capacity over the last few weeks, there is a new historic record flood on the Souris River in Minot.

Due to the rapid river rise from the rains, there wasn't time to build up dikes. More sadly, because of the rapid rise, most people don't have flood insurance. There are about 000 homes in water and roughly 1/4 of the population of Minot, a city of about 40,000, have been evacuated. Shelters are lightly used, so most are presumably staying with friends and family.

Minot is a 6 hour drive from Fargo. While I don't know anyone personally impacted by the flood, North Dakota is a low population state and I know a fair number of people with immediate family impacted (ie homeless) from the flood. Minot live flood coverage is broadcast on one of Fargo's cable TV channels and at night on one of the broadcast channels. The governor, the ND National Guard commander, are familiar faces  on Minot TV from the Fargo flooding of two months ago. But by the grace of God, it could have been my home in water and my family evacuated in 2009, 2010, or 2011.

The Minot flood has also raised interest in the Fargo flood of 1975 which is the record summer flood. It occurred due to heavy rains on otherwise normal to dry conditions and crested in the low 30s (flood stage = 18 feet). With our current full marshes and reservoirs along with saturated soils, a similar rainfall or a heavier one could push Red River levels above the 40 foot levels without time to build dikes. Sobering. It also gives pause to consider that the Sheyenne, Missouri, and Souris River flooding is on rivers with dams which were supposed to prevent or at least significantly mitigate flooding. The 19th and 20th century hydrological assumptions which went into these dams are being invalidated in the first decade of the 21st century.

North Shore Get-Away (May 30 - June 3, 2011)

by Dakota Noel

Our official Annual Lake Superior Vacation is still a few weeks off. However, we couldn't let our exchange student, Thien, head home without experiencing one of our favorite places. School was out, so we did a quick four night trip. The day-by-day specifics are listed below, but I do want to spend some more focus on the general timing of this trip as it is the earliest we have been to Lake Superior.

Our rule of thumb is that during a week at the North Shore, one will have a few days of poorer weather and th rest will be better weather. On this shorter trip, we hit the poorer weather which could be characterized as cool, cloudy, showery and breezy. Other than Wednesday afternoon and evening, it was very good weather for sitting outside. With our good planning, the rain in particular was a non-issue. The forecast for this weekend was very pleasant, but we are enjoying the good weather at home in Fargo.

Rather than staying at our traditional location, Bob's Cabins, we stayed down the road at Larsmont Cottages which provided better sleeping, TV, and bathroom arrangements for our larger group. It worked out well and we would stay there again for a non-summer visit. In fact, Ilene and the girls had stayed there a few years ago for a November get-away.

It seems like a number of places we visited were just ramping up for the summer season. Staff were new and took a few minutes to get answers to questions we had about history or menus. Since Minnesota schools were in session, there were very few (ie out of state only) families with school age kids. That made for less crowded conditions.

There were some new sight-seeing opportunities with the earlier timing. Trees were not fully leafed out which provided additional views of the lake. Streams were fuller which gave the waterfalls more thunder and even the lake seemed higher by a foot or two. On the down side, a favorite flower, lupin, was just barely starting to bloom and the lady slipper orchids were not even close.

We also altered our route to the North Shore by heading first to the Twin Cities where we spent Monday afternoon. It added about 90 minutes to drive time, but did give us half a day in the Cities for a 90 minute drive. We retraced out steps from a previous trip to the Chipotle grill on the south end of the Nicolet Mall for lunch and then took a short drive to the Minneapolis sculpture garden. Then we hopped on the freeway to St Paul and time at the King Tut exhibit at the Science Museum of Minnesota. One of my biggest takeaways was that if your country is geographically isolated and has lots of slaves, there is little incentive for technical innovation. Artifacts spannned 2500 BC to 1000 BC.

Driving from St Paul to Duluth, we pulled off the freeway at Pine City and drove into town where we found an A&W drive in with true drive in service. We shared this bit of Americana with Thien: ordering by intercom, having the food rest on a tray hooked to the care window, and then flipping a switch to have the tray removed. Pretty fun.

Tuesday had a good chance of showers, so we decided to stay in the Duluth area. After a leisurely start to the day, we toured the 105 year old Glensheen mansion and grounds. Lunch was at Little Angie's Cantina in Canal Park. We stopped at Whole Foods in Duluth to get freshly ground peanut butter and Super One in Two Harbors for general groceries.

Wednesday was our North Shore day. We drove up the shore to the Canadian border and hiked to the High Falls of the Pigeon River. Canada is on the right of the falls and the US to the left.

The we drove a few miles down to the Grand Portage National Monument and toured the visitors center and reconstructed fur trading fort which had a number of costumed docents on duty.

For lunch, we tried a new-to-us restaurant in Grand Marais, the Angry Trout Cafe. We were not disappointed with the fare. We also spent some time shopping (including Drury Lane Books) as well as walking along the harbor shore and an adjacent bay looking for stones. We finished up with custard at Syndey's Custard which we at at the shore. We returned to Larsmont cottages and had a light supper at the on-site Ledgerock Grill and some smores over a fire. We lounged outside on a beautiful evening.

Thursday we headed a brief distance up the shore to take in Gooseberry Falls and Split Rock lighthouse. We did the falls circle hike and then went up to Fifth Falls. Lunch was at the historic Betty's Pies outside of Two Harbors followed by sea glass hunting at Flood Bay state wayside.We returned to Larsmont Cottages to hang out for the evening with a quick run into Two Harbors for salads at Culvers.

Friday it was time to head back to Fargo. After packing up and checking out, we made a number of stops at Duluth grocery stores in search of Alakef-roasted highlander grog decaf coffee beans. We were unsuccessful, so will need to order online from Alakef. Lunch was at the Subway in Floodwood and a snack at McDonald's in Park Rapids. We also stopped in Ackley for a celebrity photo opportunity.

Upon arrival to our home in Fargo, we discovered our house didn't have water due to water main replacement on the cross street half a block to the south. It came back on by 6:00 PM, but it is our custom that my wife not cook upon return from vacation. We ended up getting our first-ever Vietnamese carry-out from Jade Dragon in Fargo. It was a nice meal eaten on the patio on a very nice evening.