The Mighty Mississippi?

Our trip started with seeing what the mighty Mississippi could do to St. Louis in flood stage. We also planned to see the headwaters of the Mississippi in Minnesota, a state with more coastline than any other due to its lakes and rivers. As we drove to Lake Itasca we couldn't help noticing how many lakes there are! There are also beautiful forests with a huge variety of deciduous and coniferous trees in so many shades of green! We did not take the interstate, but traveled a state road that went through national forests.

Itasca is a state park in which you could spend weeks. There were lakes for kayaks and canoes, cabins and campgrounds (we stayed at a KOA nearby). We met people from the state who go there every year and stay for a week at a time and others who come several times a summer.

We walked a short distance from the visitor center to a marker of the headwaters to get a tourist shot. Skip offered to take a family photo of a group and they reciprocated. I posted the tourist shot. We dipped our feet into the water and found out from a local that you can wade downstream for a bit and the water only gets thigh deep (unless you are short...) then there are steps so you can climb out and get back on the path. It was a very hot day, the water refreshingly cool...who could resist? There were squeals of delight as children got in the water in their clothes. I think part of the appeal was getting your clothes wet, but there were many kids with bathing suits, locals I guess, who knew the drill. Another local told Skip that it takes 90 days for the water do go from where we stood to the mouth of the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico.

Foolishly I did not listen to Skip's suggestion to put on my Tevas and water shorts like he did....so I slogged through the water with my Island Pro Slippers (Hawaiian Flip Flops) gripping tightly with my toes to avoid losing them. Flashbacks of having one stuck in the muck of a stream in Reno last year were haunting me. It took great effort to locate and free it and I wasn't leaving it in Reno and the Mississippi wasn't claiming it either.

We walked the distance with some other people. At one point I almost lost my step and would have landed in the water, purse and all, but I managed to regain my footing. I felt a bit naughty getting my white shorts wet, and being short, I was wet beyond my thighs... The good thing about being in an RV was that there were clean dry clothes and a place to change waiting for me.

Another wonderful place that we left thinking we would like to come back some day....