October 9, 2008 -- A Scenic Drive

Today was another very windy day. The sky was mostly sunny, the wind was 20+ mph out of the WSW. The temperature was 54 degrees.

Kathleen and I needed to go into town to pick up a few groceries, but rather make our usual run to Bemidji, we decided we would go into Deer River, and then take the "scenic" way home. In northern Minnesota, in the Chippewa National Forest, nearly every highway and road you could possibly drive on is scenic. The route we had planned was one we had never taken before and we figured it would be especially beautiful since the leaves on the trees were near full Fall color.

After our stop in Deer River we started out heading west on Hwy. 2 for just a couple of miles before turning off on State Route 46 heading NW. State Rt. 46 led us to the far eastern edge of Lake Winnibigoshish where the Mississippi River flows out of the lake. Kathleen and I stopped there to check out the beautiful scenery around the river.

We then continued NW on State Rt. 46 to Alvwood where we turned west onto County Route 13/30 (it's Rt. 13 in Itasca County and turns into Rt. 30 when you cross into Beltrami County). This was a particularly spectacular road, so we took our time and enjoyed every colorful tree and beautiful meadow.

County Route 30 took us into the small town of Blackduck, just east of Blackduck Lake. We stopped in Blackduck so Kathleen could check the incredible fabric store in town. I have to admit, I've never seen a fabric store, even the big chains, with such an amazing selection of material.

We left Blackduck going south on County Rt. 39. That took us through the Buena Vista State Forest by the eastern shore of Kitchi Lake and Cass Lake. Along Rt. 39 we stopped in the very tiny town of Pennington, where I bought two scoops of fathead minnows. Eventually Rt. 39 led us to Hwy. 2 again, about 10 miles west of Sucker Bay Road.

The entire venture took us four or five hours and we couldn't have had a better time. The sun was shining most of the day, the color of the Fall leaves on the trees was spectacular, and we saw no more than 5 or 6 cars the whole trip. Although we didn't spend the day at Leech Lake, we did enjoy the splendor of northern Minnesota.