Traveling from South Dakota through Minnesota

July 23 we head into Minnesota. My goodness – we are seeing corn field after corn field. There seem to be many soy bean fields as well. The countryside is lovely – the corn really does go on seemingly forever. We arrive at Mystic Lake Casino RV Park in Prior Lake, MN. That afternoon the four of us head to the casino for the dinner buffet (we were hoping for seafood, but no….).

The next day we drove the less than 20 miles to Mall of America in Bloomington, MN. It is huge – 3 full floors with a partial 4^th floor that is the theaters. We walked and walked and walked around all three levels. In the center is a large amusement park with rides of all kinds. There is also a Lego display area. It took us about three hours to accomplish our trips around and do a bit of shopping along the way.

July 25 we were on the move again – this time heading south to Albert Lea, MN. We find ourselves in an RV park next to a corn field.  From the RV and on the road, I figured the corn was 4 or 5 feet tall. Well, from ground level it is clear that it is closer to 7 feet high. Most of the corn in this area is seed corn we are told. Since we have some afternoon left, we drive the 14 miles to Austin, MN to visit the SPAM Museum – it was a very entertaining tour. We didn’t realize how many foods Hormel makes!

Crossing the Mississippi River

The next day we drove the 40 miles to the Winnebago Factory to go on their factory tour. Our traveling companions have an Itasca, made by Winnebago. The tour lasted 2 hours and from there we drove back to Albert Lea to pick up our RVs and took off for DeForest, WI – just a few miles from Madison. It was a long afternoon and we enjoyed crossing the massive Mississippi River. We’d missed seeing the Missouri River during that rainstorm earlier in the trip. It continues to be very humid (about 75%) with temps in the upper 80s.

The next day we drove to Taliesen – the 1st home of the architect Frank Lloyd Wright. He used this house to experiment with his architectural ideas, so he was always building and tearing down to try something new. He was a very interesting fellow.

Then just 6 miles down the road we visited ‘House on the Rock’ – I don’t even know how to describe the place. When he was a young man, Alex Jordan visited the area of Wisconsin called Spring Green. He saw a huge rock overlooking the countryside and paid the owner of the property $20 so he could picnic there. Over the next years he managed to purchase the property with the rock and eventually land around it. He built his house there (incorporating the rock into the house) and began collecting things – it seems like he collected hundreds of items. 

One of several unique pots

He expanded his home on the rock to include all these collections. The tour is a 3 mile trip through (1) the house, gardens, and Alex Jordan Center; (2) Streets of Yesterday, a tribute to the sea, Music of Yesterday, aviation area, and a huge brightly lighted carousel; (3) An organ collection, doll collection and doll carousel, and the Circus Room. By the time we were finished, we were exhausted. It was a bit frustrating that we couldn’t get good photos because everything (especially the house) was very dimly lit. But it was amazing.

One of the many huge musical displays

The next day we visited the capitol of Wisconsin in Madison, the Monona Convention Center (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright) on the bank of Lake Monona, and the Olbrich Botanical Gardens – there was a butterfly exhibit going on that we especially enjoyed. We also visited a nearby Cheese outlet – I mean, we ARE in cheese country. There are wonderful farms, many with small dairies all over the area. This is a beautiful and peaceful area of our country.

From the butterfly exhibit

From the Thai exhibit at the botanical garden. The gold is actual gold leaf - just beautiful.