A Sentimental Journey to Lake Park, Minnesota

The furthest north we went this year was to Detroit Lakes, Minnesota which is 40 miles east of Fargo, North Dakota.  We chose this destination because it's near the towns of Lake Park and Moorhead, Minnesota.  SheM's family made several trips from Texas to Minnesota as summer vacations to visit grandparents here in the 50's and 60's.  Mom was born and raised in Lake Park, and spent her young adult years in Moorhead.  And it was in Moorhead that Mom & Dad met during World War II.  There are many 'Mom' memories in this area of Minnesota, and this was a fitting year to make the trip.

The RV park is one of the nicer ones we've experienced.  The streets and pads are paved.  Our site was far enough off the highway that road noise was not an issue.  There is a busy railroad within hearing distance, but that didn't really bother us either.  There is a very nice golf course that is affiliated with the RV park, and its 19th hole (Izzo's) gave us easy walking access to pizza and beer.  We would stay here again if only for the easy access to the pizza and beer. (A note of interest:  There are plenty of liquor stores around here. Every small town has at least one, very prominently advertised, overshadowing most other signs in the town.  Larger towns have a liquor store on almost every corner.  Not much to do in the tundra during winter we guessed.)

We went to Moorhead and found the house that Mom lived in when she and Dad exchanged courting letters during the war.  We found a bridge that dates back to the 30's which may be the very one where they met.  We visited the University of Minnesota at Moorhead where our good friend V from Dallas attended and graduated so, so many years ago.  We drove into Fargo and found the train depot where 8-year-old SheM remembers arriving with Mom and sisters on one of the train trips from Texas to Minnesota.  The depot has been nicely preserved, and is now home to various offices.

We visited Lake Park, population 790.  We found the old farm house where Mom was born and raised, and where so many summer vacations were spent.  The ownership of the house has changed hands too many times for the current residents to recognize Mom's name, but they were very gracious in letting us walk around the property and snap a few pictures.  We found the cemetery where SheM's grandparents are buried.  And we had lunch at the Lake Park Cafe, imagining that it's the very one where Grandpa went every morning to visit with friends; it's certainly old enough to be the one, with it's 50's and 60's furnishings and decor.

SheM wanted to share with HeM some of the highlights of tourism in this area that she remembers from her childhood.  The main one is the state park at Lake Itasca where the headwaters of the Mississippi are.  One can claim to have walked across the Mississippi after stepping across the stones at the river's beginning--a claim that SheM, the child, took great delight in repeating to friends back in Texas. So we have now both walked across the Mississippi, not to say we walk on water, you understand.

The trees had just started to turn their fall colors while we were there.  We hiked to a 100-foot fire tower there in the park, and climbed it for the view.  HeM made it, huffing and puffing and sweating, to the top; SheM, partially conquering here acrophobia, was very happy with the view a few stories from the top.

An outing to Lake Itasca always included a stop in Bemidji to see the statues of Paul Bunyon and the Blue Ox.  There are family photos of SheM in front of the statues at different ages; now we have a picture of HeM with them, too.  Frankly, he was not as impressed with them as he may have been at age 6 when the stories of Paul and Blue were popular with kids.

So we left northwestern Minnesota on September 30, and just in time.  We saw on the weather a couple of days ago that they have now experienced their first snow there.  We'll be making our way back to Texas over the month of October.