Upper Midwest Tour Day 7 - July 16

P.S. from yesterday -- have you ever wondered about the name Bismarck for the capital of ND?  Well, the city was originally named Edwinton, after an early engineer-in-chief for the Northern Pacific Railway.  In 1873, the railway changed the name to Bismarck in honor of German chancellor Otto bon Bismarck in an effort to attract German immigrant settlers and investment in the railroad.

Not much to report today.  It was a travel day from Bismarck ND to Bemidji, Minnesota.  Betsy drove the  first 150 miles and I drove the rest, about 190 miles.  We had only one closed road in Minnesota, which appeared with no warning.  The detour was about 40 miles around.  The roads in this part of the country are pretty much grid-like, running north south or east west.  Though, in Minnesota, there are lots of lakes which add some variation to the road directions.  

We checked into a newish hotel -- part of the Radisson chain that sits on the lakeshore of Lake Bemidji, with downtown about 2.5 miles to the northwest.  The Paul Bunyan State Trail follows the eastern shore line of the lake, ending just north of the lake.  Its total length is 115 miles and is the longest "paved" rail-trail in the country.  The weather was chilly and breezy, with rain showers, so we opted out of sampling this trail.

The other interesting fact about Bemidji is that it is very close to the headwaters of the Mississippi River.  The actual start for the river is Lake Itasca, which is a bit south of here, then it flows north to Bemidji, turning east, then south to go all the way to Louisiana, a distance of 2,318 miles.  It runs through or borders 10 states.  It takes a drop of water something like 83 to 90 days to travel this distance, on average. and depending which website one looks at.

Instead, we did laundry at the hotel and went for an early dinner at The Tavern.  I had a walleye (the fish) BLT with onion rings and a pint of Space Dust IPA from Eylsian Brewing.   I know, this is a long way to go to get good Seattle beer.  Betsy had a turkey burger with salad.

The Tavern