We visited a Minnesota State Park that we have not been to before. Minneopa State Park near Mankato has a lot to discover. It has a two tier waterfall with a drop of about 30’+ on the second tier. I didn’t know before we went but the word Minneopa comes from the Dakota language which means “water falling twice.” I like that! It is a beautiful waterfalls. Some trails take you down to the base of the falls. It was fun to explore although it was very crowded as there were many people out on a beautiful Saturday in November enjoying the unusually warm weather.
The park also has a bison herd. We did not see any on the drive along the fenced in area where they roam. However, the road took us to an old historic wind mill, Seppmann Mill, built in 1862 and completed in 1864, by a German immigrant for the purpose of grinding grain into flour. Originally it had cloth sails which, of course, no longer exist, but the base of the windmill made of stone is very impressive. The Seppmann Mill is on the U.S. Register of Historic Places.
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It was a fun day making all these discoveries, in a “new to us” Minnesota State Park. On a side note, we saw a little boy who was getting scolded in sign language. It was clear what was happening and it was so interesting to watch as we walked by this silent exchange that “spoke” loudly.
Yesterday I left work a couple hours early to enjoy the unusual warm temperatures for this time of year. We decided to go for a bike ride and headed to the new section of the Cannon Valley Trail to start our ride. The sun was shining and the trail was smooth and there were several people out enjoying the 70* temperature in November, in Minnesota. It’s fun to see the landscape without the leaves on the trees although there are a few stunning trees still showing off their brilliant colors. We saw two deer along the trail. We reminisced about a ride we took in February, my first winter bike ride in Minnesota. Again, the weather was unusually warm and we were tooling around on our bikes in February. That’s a good bicycle season – for me. I know there are many folks biking all year ’round!
One lovely fall day we took the scenic drive down the Mississippi River along the Minnesota side and crossed over the river in Winona and headed north on the Wisconsin side. We stopped at the overlook in Alma and hiked in a park there. Next we stopped at Danzinger Vineyards and sipped ginger beer while sitting outside in the fall sunshine, overlooking the beautiful river valley, listening to live music playing in the background. We continued up the road north to Nelson’s Creamery where we ordered Rueben and Hot Ruby Sandwiches. An ice cream cone was the grand finale of all the good treats we had that day. The drive back during sunset was an added bonus to a wonderful time…trying to get snap shots of it all. 
I sent a card off in the mail this week. I went to the post office to get it stamped and the clerk warned me it would cost extra because it was so thick. I responded it’s OK, I expected that. Then I told him it is a birthday card that I send to my childhood friend and we’ve been sending it back and forth to each other since 1979. That’s 37 years! It began during the push for recycling and the card suggested we save it and send it back to the recipient on her birthday the following year. So we did. We keep adding cardstock for room to write our birthday greetings, thus its thickness.
