Our host Patti has asked us to show images of people, places or things on “the edge”. The header image is of the West Quaddy Lighthouse in Lubec, Maine. The lighthouse is located on the easternmost point in the United States so it is on the edge of America.
Next are two more lighthouses. Each is located high above the water on the edge of a cliff.
Bass Harbor Head Light, Bass Harbor, Maine Split Rock Lighthouse on Lake Superior, Minnesota
Although I’m afraid of heights, my husband Henry isn’t. He loves to get close to the edge of a cliff while I stand back, far away from the edge.
Henry on the Edge
I’ll end with a few images of animals on ledges.
Iguana on the edge of a wall, San Juan, Puerto RicoAlligators near the edge of the walking and bike path, Everglades National Park, FloridaPair of doves on the edge of a railing, GeorgiaBluebird on the edge of our truck mirror
Welcome to the next post in my series highlighting states we have visited throughout the years. I hope you will enjoy coming along for the ride!
I will be featuring the states alphabetically. The next state is
Minnesota
Minnesota became the 32nd state on May 11, 1858. The capital is St. Paul.
Our first visit to Minnesota can be described in one word – SNOW. It started snowing shortly after we left Wisconsin one morning in early April. As we traveled west on I-90 we crossed the Mississippi River into Minnesota with the wind blowing snow horizontally across the interstate. It was so bad we pulled off the interstate and spent the night at a Holiday Inn Express in Winona. I will be forever grateful to the kind employees who put us up in a downstairs room with our Labrador Retriever. There was a restaurant in the hotel and they even had an indoor pool so we were roughing it in style.
Crossing the Mississipi River to Minnesota in a snow storm
Snowing over the Mississippi River
Terrifying icy road conditions in Minnesota – at times we couldn’t even see the road
Icy trees beside the interstate
Overnight Camping at a Holiday Inn Express
The next morning the hotel let us have a late check out so we could wait until the roads were safe enough for travel. Later that day we checked into Blue Mounds State Park and we were the only campers in the park. With snow on the ground and temperatures below freezing the water was turned off and the dump station wasn’t operating. It was a great adventure!
Camping in the snow at Blue Mounds State Park
The weather was much better on our other visits to Minnesota. During our stay at Temperance River State Park on the Minnesota North Shore we enjoyed wandering around Split Rock Lighthouse and on the huge boulders beside Lake Superior.
Split Rock Lighthouse on Minnesota’s North Shore
Minnesota’s North Shore
Island in Lake Superior on MInnesota’s North Shore
Minnesota North Shore
We loved visiting the headwaters of the Mississippi River at Itasca State Park so much we camped there twice.
Mississippi River Headwaters in Itasca State Park
Walking across the headwaters of the Mississippi River
The mighty Mississippi River near the headwaters
Walking across the Mississippi River near the headwaters
Sunset over Lake Itasca
We made several visits to the St. Paul area to visit family. While there we visited the Mall of America and the Minnesota Arboretum.
Minnesota Aboretum
A trip to the Spam Museum and the Green Giant Statue were on our bucket list as we traveled through Minnesota.
We drove out of our way to visit the Spam Museum in Austin, MN
Green Giant Statue in Blue Earth, MN
Some of the wildflowers and wildlife we found in Minnesota.
What an amazing ten years! Each marker on this map represents a place where we camped in our RV.
Ten years ago, on July 1, 2006, we spent our first night in an RV park in Tampa, Florida. Two weeks later we left Georgia with no reservations anywhere and a bucket list of what we wanted to see. You can see highlights of that trip at Looking Back on our First RV Trip. Last year I posted a few of our most memorable experiences from our first nine years at Celebrating Nine Years of RVing.
Many of our trips revolved around either visiting family or attending a special event such as a wedding or Titanium Rally. Sometimes we traveled just for the fun of seeing new places. No matter where we were going, we always took the long way around to get there.
We discovered beauty in every state and province we visited. Sometimes the everyday things were the best.
I love watching the changing landscape and seeing the many farms and ranches.
I love seeing the farms as we drive alongWe always enjoy seeing lighthouses.
Split Rock Lighthouse on Minnesota’s North ShoreSeeing wildlife is always a treat.
Black Bear beside the road in British ColumbiaAnd of course we loved visiting many of our National Parks.
Yosemite Valley from Tunnel View OverlookSometimes we enjoyed watching the sunset from our campsite.
Mount Redoubt sunset in Ninilchik, AlaskaWe did a few amazing hikes.
At the Summit of Enchanted Rock in TexasChilling by a camp fire is always fun.
Enjoying the campfireNow that we have ten years of RV’ing under our belt, our priorities have changed. Of course, we are ten years older and it is more difficult to make long trips. When we started our wandering, we only had two grandchildren. Now we have four and we want to spend as much time with them as we can. Going on long trips takes us away from them for too long.
Our wandering days are not over. There are still many places we haven’t seen in and near our home state of Georgia so from now on we will travel a little closer to home.
The weather was much better on our other visits to Minnesota. During our stay at Temperance River State Park on the Minnesota North Shore we enjoyed wandering around Split Rock Lighthouse and on the huge boulders beside Lake Superior.
We loved visiting the headwaters of the Mississippi River at Itasca State Park so much we camped there twice.
Wandering Dawgs 