Corn to the Left of us, Corn to the Right of us...Day 29, July 18, 2017

My reference to Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade" is about as far fetched as you can possibly imagine but that's what appeared on the road from Pipestone, MN to Minneapolis -- tons of corn. If it wasn't corn, it was soybeans (we think) which is a crop that is commonly rotated with corn.  Can't imagine where all this corn is going but we did see a rather large ethanol plant that appeared to be turning it into fuel for autos.

Enough about that.  Before we left our awesome park in Pipestone, we visited the National Monument.  What a beautiful place!  Here, we viewed a short video explaining the importance of this place.  This quarry is where all Indian tribes have come forever to retrieve the stone known as Pipestone which they use to fashion pipes.  It is red and softer than quartzite so it is able to be carved.  We saw many examples of the pipes made from this stone.  Check out the story here. We took a walk and saw the most beautiful prairie scenes.  So many flowers and rock formations.  I can see why this place is a treasure to the Indians.  The place is still sacred to the Indians but apparently their cover was blown by a painting that Artist George Catlin recorded in 1836.  His discovery prompted white folk to descend upon this area to extract the rock and sell it.  In 1937, the US Government established Pipestone National Monument to provide traditional quarrying for all Indians.  Indians are still given permits to dig for the stone.

It was just plain peaceful here.  I hope you can see these photos/videos I took.

Winnewissa Falls 

The stream below Winnewissa Falls which flows into Lake Hiawatha 


Old Stone Face (see his nose?)


The Oracle

The Prairie & Russ on the Bridge


Following our visit to the National Monument (which was free for us seniors because of the USDA card), we hit the road for Minneapolis.  About a 4 hour drive and we found this county park called Baker Park.  It has electrical hookups so we can turn on the air.  Cost $25 a night.  I'm sure it is less if you don't need electricity.  Hope to get cheaper up in the lakes district.  We will be here 2 nights.








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