Day 2 - Wednesday July 14th

I slept hard last night, having been up for about 20 or so hours and woke refreshed this morning. We look forward to continuing our journey of the Mississippi.

After breakfast at the hotel, we stepped outside and made our way to the walking/bicycle trail only a few yards away.  We walked about two miles around the which got the morning off to a good start.

We made a short denture to the small town of Cass to visit Lyle's Logging Camp and Museum but unfortunately it was closed.  It looks like it was a victim of the pandemic.

We did see some artifacts and this town water pump which was used until 1910.

We HAD to stop by the Big Fish Supper Club which was in the movie National Lampoon's Vacation.

                             

Our next detour was outside Grand Rapids.  I happened to notice on Google Maps an eating establishment named Pasty Plus.

We all love pasties, an upper Michigan pastry filled with meat and vegetables. I first experienced one that Janet made, a native of Michigan.  We also had some Cornish pasty in the UK which is where they originated. 

My beef, potato, carrot & onion pasty covered in brown gravy

The ones we had at this little shop were great.  The operator said they shipped all over the US.  With shipments going out every Monday.

During a long stretch of sparsely populated highway CSAH 10, we found a public river access area to take a short break and walk down to the Mississippi.

It is not too impressive this far north.

Some State Natural Resource workers were taking a canoe out of the river.

Just to let you faithful readers know I am really on this trip too.

I loved this old barn we passed on a graveled road.

We arrived at our hotel in Little Falls, MN around 3 PM.  After resting and getting refreshed, we were planning to visit the Charles Lindbergh house and Museum.  Little Falls was his childhood he.  Unfortunately it was closed.  We instead visited the Lindbergh State Park.  Here are several miles of hiking trails through the Minnesota woods.  

After an hour of hiking, everyone was ready to eat. 

In downtown Little Falls we found another victim of Covid.  Sad.

After reading several reviews, we decided on this local downtown pub, "Beer Belly's".  The food was good, the beer cold and all reasonably priced with friendly service - what more could you want!

I have about decided, that Minnesota is a lot like Georgia.  If you removed Minneapolis and Atlanta, they would both be better and friendlier states...