World United States Minnesota Minneapolis

Travels with Holly - The Big One

We Added Two More States Jun 20, 2010

I have mixed feelings when we add a state to our map. We're getting near our goal of going to all of the continental 48 states! We added North Dakota and now Minnesota this week. We have Wisconsin, Missouri and Florida to go. It looks like Missouri will be our last state on this trip. We plan to go to Florida next winter. We are in the Twin Cities area and have enjoyed a nice weekend at a beautiful campground on Lake Independence in Maple Plain. It was very busy when we got here with every campsite taken. There were more tents than RVs which is the first time we have seen that. It was crowded, but since we don't use the showers or restrooms it was not a problem for us. Checkout was 3 p.m. today so now we are here with just a remnant. The campground is called Baker Preserve and includes a beach, large picnic area and boat launch. It is all meticulously maintained. Last night we went out for a walleye dinner. I got out the GPS and looked for seafood restaurants in the area and found one that looked good when I went to their web site. I made a reservation after I found out they had walleye on the menu. When we got there it was very crowded but our table was waiting. As luck would have it, we had a waterside table. Wonderful. The service and food were excellent. We both ordered the exact same thing - walleye, creamed spinach, and potatoes au gratin. We diverged on dessert, which we don't usually order, but we had room at the end of the meal. Both of us ordered a chocolate dessert but mine was a mousse with a French name. It had raspberries in it. Jerry's dessert was a chocolate mud pie. While at dinner there was a parade of powerboats going between the shore and a small island just off the shore. It was a beautiful night and we were on Lake Minnetonka, the largest lake in the Twin Cities area. After dinner we walked along the shore for a bit and saw two of those cars that are also boats. I've seen them on TV but never in real life. Today we relaxed at the beach. The temperature rose to 80 degrees. There was no humidity and no wind. It was so nice to be on a glacier carved lake in the Midwest. There are trees everywhere so we know we are heading east. We're moving on to another campground tomorrow, not that far away but a little closer to St. Paul where I went to Bethel College, now Bethel University. It's time for some more nostalgia as we visit old haunts and see some new sights.

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