When we woke up this morning, we decided against driving through Chicago for a variety of reasons. So we chose another route which carries on via Hwy 2 through northern Minnesota – the same highway we’ve been traveling almost since entering the US in Montana. This evening, we stopped for the day in Duluth, MN (actually, we’re in Superior, Wisconsin). Duluth seems like it should be dubbed “the city of bridges.” I don’t recall how many we crossed over, and saw plenty more that we didn’t cross.


Today’s drive took us through Bemidji, MN where we took pictures of Paul Bunyan standing beside Blue. It’s funny that there are so many references and images of Buffaloes in the northern plains, when it would be most unlikely for the traveler to ever encounter a Buffalo unless passing a farm where Buffalo are being raised. Wild buffalo in North America are quite rare these days, and have been since the 1800’s.

It was not long after leaving Grand Forks that we saw trees.. more and more of them the further east we traveled. They were a welcome site. I just can’t imagine living in an area where there are no trees.

Bemidji is a pretty little town and seems much larger than the reported population of about 13,500. Situated on Lake Bemidji, it’s a favorite spot for tourists in the summer and is about the only major community between Grand Forks and Duluth.

Lake Bemidji is the most northern lake to feed the Mississipi River. After we left Bemidji, we drove over the Mississipi, which is certainly nothing like what the river becomes and what I drove over 15 years ago when visiting Alabama, Mississipi, and Louisiana. It was quite interesting to see the headwater area of the river and to realize that from such small flows of water, a much greater and more powerful river can result.

We’re still looking for our first really good cup of coffee in the US. I thought maybe we’d find it when we came across “The Coffee House” in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. They serve a variety of coffees and had two house blends available this evening.

But still not as good as a good ol’ Canadian cup of coffee that has lots of body to it.

Ah well.. Tim Horton’s or Country Style will be a very happy place to be in a day or two!

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