July 31 - It's a Mini Day

After getting over our midnight excitement (nothing like a group howl from the local coyotes to get your heart pumping...and set terror into the hearts of the terriers), we successfully cooked our breakfast in a bag (interesting/ fun/ something to experiment with) over the campfire and prepped for the day.

With chances of scattered rain showers expected all day across the region, we decided it was to be an adventure day in Mycroft.

Traveling North to Winona Minnesota (we now can all say we have been to Minnesota (new for all of us), we continued north along the western shore of the Mississippi following Bob Dylan's road of song....rte 61...in the rain.

Then, challenged for getting off the beaten path we called up our geocaching app and went in search of a multi-cache up a likely candidate of a road...Switch Back Rd.... Near the #6 Lock and Dam.....found step one, took a nice mile hike in the state forest to the coordinates, found all the clues...but no cache 😞....

Wending our way along the high plains of the upper Mississippi (much higher and rolling vs Wisconsin side) we found ourselves looking at the sign for the National Eagle Center and decided to follow the signs....between the road construction in town and our growing hunger, we became distracted by a cafe offering coffee sandwiches and ice cream and great yard art!

The NEC is in the town of Wabasha... better known for it being the setting for both Grumpier Old Men movies... And just like the movies requiring a happy ending, the rain ceased by the time we finished lunch.

So...ever northwards towards Lake Pepin and Lake City (self purported home of the invention of water skiing) and the former Boy Scout camp now municipally operated  for "forever tent camping" Hok-Si-Li Park. We saw over a dozen Bald Eagles (adult and juvenile) and Muriel saw one snag a fish from the lake.

After making our way to Red Wing and past their correctional facility we decided the sun was such that we should head back across the river and south... In search of cheese.

Finding cheese and more interesting places (you should check out the google app "field trip" for your next "blue highway" adventure and additional info surrounding the spaces for Historical Markers)...

We drove past Maiden Rock and the Beef Slough (a part of the Weyerhaeuser legacy)

we made it back to our campsite in time to be serenaded by the Cranes again.  Quiet night here on the midweek night at the Camp ground, looking at all the reservations posted it looks to be a busy next few nights.... Enjoying our time.