Minnesota Summer (part 4)

In July, I spent an interesting day in Wadena, Minnesota with a friend.Their Farmer’s Market was small but I bought beets, onions and green beans. It’s always wonderful to have fresh produce for meals.

The BN Park has several sculptures:
      
    
And the old restored depot that is a museum:

In the same park the Wadena Lion’s Club was busy setting up their annual Turkey Barbeque Dinner. The best eating out is usually from local organizations. True for
this meal.
    
   
Wadena is known for “Murals of Minnesota”. They all have tabs or cutouts that look like jigsaw puzzle pieces. It is supposed to be the world’s largest jigsaw puzzle. This one is very three dimensional.
  
                 
These were all in an alley. There are many more throughout the town.
           
On my drive to Wadena I drove through a couple of small towns.

Berta, MN

     

Eagle Bend, MN

I left Minnesota on August 1st during a thunderstorm with strong winds, treats of hail and tornados. It was the sixth time the weather center warned of possible over 60 mile an hour winds, quarter size hail and tornados. Fortunately, only one of the six had any hail but all six had very high winds and a lot of rain.
I’m in Smithville, MO in a Corp of Engineer (COE) park that’s leased to the city. The day I pulled in here it was 107 degrees with super humidity. I haven’t had a blanket on the bed or run the heater since I got here and thankfully the RV has an air-conditioner.  Good ole Missouri. Next stop: Branson for a couple of months. Work calls!

Minnesota Summer (part 3)

I drove part of the Otter Tail Trail, one of Minnesota’s Scenic Byways, expecting to see Inspiration Point and one steel sculpture in Vining, MN of The Foot.

I did, of course, see The Foot and didn’t expect to see so much more!
        
       

These are scattered around this small town.
    
                     

And these are all in the park.
     
                  
    
                  
                  
        

I missed some sculptures.


Back on the trail to an unexpected site and it must not be a state
site since it was open.
    

So I hiked up the hill and you could see for a loooong way, the
flag on the pole and nothing else. It was a beautiful day for a hike.
      

Then again the Minnesota State Government had their say:
     

Fortunately, at the bottom of Inspiration Peak is a very nice
restaurant and it was getting late in the day. After a good meal,
the drive back to the RV park was about 45 minutes.
 

I certainly did not see all of the Otter Tail Trail. I’ll save the rest for another year.
Minnesota Summer part 4 will be the last. I’m heading for Missouri August 1st. The annual conference for Missouri Community Betterment is October 16 and 17. Until then I’m scheduled to be in Branson assisting with conference preparations. For the fourth year, I most likely will be judging communities for the statewide competition, the week of September 11th. I’ll also make a few trips to see Mom before heading to “Snowbird Country”, in Aransas Pass, Texas!