Itasca...aka 'Coon City

Jamie & I at the Headwaters of the Mississippi River

On the first night, we got settled in and took off on our bikes to the Mississippi Headwaters.  It was only a couple miles on the bike trail with a few minor hills to contend with.  We visited here a couple times on our vacation to enjoy the peace and serenity of the flowing water.

When we got back to camp, Jamie started the fire and I got out the ham, cheese, and bread for our sandwiches.  We were going to grill them by the fire.  We had a great idea to put a slice of the butter into the little fryer and just pack the bread and fixin's inside to let the fire do the work of melting the butter onto the bread at the same time as it was melting the cheese.  Jamie managed to get his together first and sat by the fire.  I finished prepping my sandwich and sat down by the fire, a few feet away from the picnic table.  Suddenly I heard a noise behind me.  Then it got louder and there was rustling at the picnic table.  I turned and yelled, "Hey! What's that noise!?"  I was kind of talking to Jamie but yet yelling at the noise at the picnic table.  And Poof!  Just like that, a raccoon scooted away from the picnic table with our loaf of bread!  I couldn't believe it!  The picnic table wasn't even 10 feet away from the fire where we were sitting.  I was officially panicked!  Jamie found the flashlight and followed the trail of bread the raccoon left behind.  As we continued to cook our ham & cheese sandwiches, our little bandit kept trying to return to steal more food. Jamie would stomp at it and chase it away.  Not only did that raccoon interrupt my supper, my grilled ham & cheese was a big burnt mess.  I ended up eating mushy bread with cheese and a chunk of ham.  The rest was burned to my little frying pan.


That night, I discovered our Food Locker was sacred.  The words posted to store our food inside was not just a suggestion, it was now officially Camping Doctrine.  It applied not only to the times we were absent from camp, but also while we were there.   We could hear those crazy 'coons rustling around all night.  We packed our food and cooler inside.  Little did we know how smart those little buggers were.  They managed to prop a bit of the locker open and could stick their little paws up and reach the front bottom of the locker.  Rocky Raccoon poked a hole and had a feast on our sunflower seeds.  Needless to say, I did not sleep well that first, or even the second, night.  By the third night, a new family of campers set up nearby and those thieving raccoons raided them instead.

The next day, we went to Bemidji and saw Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox.  We visited Paul Bunyan's Animal Land and roamed around the town.

Sometimes, I just manage to say some stupid things.  We took this picture below to remind me of one of those fabulous moments.  As we were walking around Bemidji, I saw this huge sign on the side of the Bakery.  I said, out loud to Jamie by the way, "Four hundred forty four buns. Wow, that's a lot of buns!"  Jamie looks at me and grins.  "Honey, that's a phone number."

At Paul Bunyan's Animal Land, we got to feed the animals.  We hesitated at first to feed these stupid raccoons after the events of the night before, but they were so darn entertaining we couldn't help ourselves.  Most of the other animals were sleeping or plain old too hot to get up and get the food.

The one raccoon has his whole face in the PVC pipe waiting for food - and check out the paw that's digging outside the fence!  Greedy little buggers!

A pretty big porcupine, though I've never actually seen one before so who am I to say?! 

 We liked feeding the pig because he made funny snorting noises into the PVC pipe.


Of course, I had to make snorting noises first to try to get him to do it.  I didn't even know Jamie was videoing. Awesome debut, Anita.

Sunset on the Mississippi River

Sunset at the Pioneer Cemetery - You can actually see a lot of the fallen trees due to the storm from a few weeks prior to our visit.

I'm standing in a hole in the ground at the base of a fallen tree.  There were many areas damaged by the recent storm, but the park did a great job cleaning up and had everything accessible - minus a few hiking trails (that we didn't want go on on anyway!)

Relaxing on the dock.

On Wednesday, we loaded the "pack-pack" with gatorades and water and hit the bike trail.  I was a little nervous; I told myself I was only allowed to walk up 5 hills.  We had met an "older" couple that said they completed the 16 mile trail in 3.5 hours the day before.  They walked a few hills and stopped at the scenic viewpoints, but they made it!  I thought, "what the heck - if they can do it, so can I!"

I did.  But wow, was that a lot of work.  There were a few stops for water breaks and various observation points.  The worst part was that nearly every stop was at the bottom of a hill!  Talk about a momentum breaker!

Elk Creek 

On our bike ride, we clocked ourselves going over 25 mph.  Jamie was actually up to 30 mph.  That might not be fast for an avid biker, but in my world...that's really fast!!  We didn't bring our helmets along, so that was a poor choice on our part.  Going that fast was probably kind of dangerous, but oh well.  It wasn't the only mistake we made.  We rarely read the signs for bikers until it was too late.  "Bike single file." "Biker's, Slow Down."  "No Bikes."

We got to the Fire Tower Look Out Area.  There wasn't a bike rack, but there was a big bar blocking the road, so we parked our bikes on the shoulder of the entry road and walked up the hill to the tower. We walked half a mile, uphill, only to realize when we got to the top of the hill, there at the base of the tower was a bike rack!  We could have ridden our bikes up the God-Forsaken Hill that killed my hamstrings!

We climbed up the 100 foot tower to view Itasca's forest, my fingers gripping the railing the whole way.  My white knuckles and jell-o legs managed to get me back to the bottom safely and we walked back to our bikes.

What a surprise when we reached the bottom of the hill.  Next to our bikes, there were about 15 more bikes neatly parked on the shoulder of the road.  We had started a trend!  Funny how we took our bikes where we couldn't go, but we left them behind when we could have taken them further on the trail.  We just couldn't get it right!

Mary Lake 

 "BE CAREFUL coming down the hill to Mary Lake.  You MUST follow the sign that says, "Biker's Slow Down.'"  

Thank goodness the couple had given us this advice the day before.  We were gaining speed and taking curves, just clipping along and enjoying the breeze.  In the back of my mind I could hear the couple telling us, "At the bike shop, look at the ceiling.  All of those bent tires are victims of the trees by Mary Lake.  There's a sharp turn at the bottom of that hill..."

  I am so glad I didn't miss the turn or I would have been telling you the story of my swim in Mary Lake or my trip to the emergency room with a broken leg because I hit a tree!


At the end of the day, our bike ride was a fulfilling experience!  I didn't walk my bike up any hills, and we finished in less than 3.5 hours.  There was a point in time when I was going a mere 3.4 mph up a hill.  My legs were working fiercely to make it without stopping.  Do you know how hard it is to balance your bike at such a slow speed?!  I took Dori's advice and told myself, "Just keep pedaling!"


For the majority of our vacation, we relaxed at our campsite reading our books or magazines.  We would take a short bike ride here or there, but spend the heat of the afternoon resting in the shade. 

As a side note - I'm sure you are all wondering about the spider situation in this area.  The bathrooms were exceptionally clean and I had very few worries.  Well, let me rephrase that - because there is ALWAYS a worry, and I ALWAYS scan the areas for lurking predators, I found the restrooms to be a pleasant, non-threatening place to go (aside from the one night someone left the door open for any little creatures to inhabit the place!)

Below is the last picture...Jamie was bragging about his track days and letting his testosterone take over.  He had to show me how he could jump over the picnic table.  He didn't make it, but I was proud of his efforts anyway.   After all, it has been nearly 15 years since he was in track, and most importantly, he didn't hurt himself during his attempts!