Divining Her Way Through Minnesota

Land of 10,000 lakes- a water world to discover

Northern Minnesota- August 3-5

Once upon an August day there was a frustrated woman who crossed a bridge into Minnesota. She wondered, “where to go, what to do?” The only thing she knew about Minnesota is that her friend, Mary, was born there and swore she'd seen 3 foot catfish, or was it 6 foot? But you had to watch that Mary, she could be a trickster. 

This is the 30 foot wide spillway from Lake Itasca that suddenly becomes the
Mighty Mississippi River.

“Water”, she said, “there has to be water.” And so everywhere she went there was water. Itasca Lake, the headwaters of the Mississippi River- the allure of finding the source, understanding how a force so powerful as that mighty river got started grabbed her. Rivers and their windings are the veins for this country; she had been absolutely smitten with their glitter and meanderings, the confluence of smaller rivers into the larger waterways creating the limbs' lifeblood of the landmasses. What could be more vital and magnetic than this?

Looks like New Hampshire to me.

Voyageurs National Park, on the northern border of Minnesota, was all about water, not really to be understood without getting out on Lake Kabetogama and visiting the many islands. But where was the boat for this woman? What mythic polesman would navigate these waters for her? There was none. But wandering its shores, suddenly she was in woods she knew: white and red pine, aspen/poplar, cedar, white and black birch, blueberries, yellow yarrow, yellow dock, moss, deer flies, mosquitoes, granite and quartz. It was familiar and deflating all at the same time- she wanted the continuation of the new, different, surprising, dynamic. Yet she bathed in the lake to baptize herself at Voyageurs.

My own private Lake Superior

Finally, Lake Superior, clear, clean, shining and huge. She came upon a bay with nary a soul in it, so... stripped and jumped. Cold to the bone, cold and bracing and perfectly suited to her longing for immersion. This lake satisfied the wandering woman.

Proof of the skinny-dip

So difficult to leave its shores, so she wandered further the next day just north of Duluth in an urban setting of beautiful gardens and wonderful bike/walkways. Steeped in the glory of water.