Minnesota- Ya, you betcha!

Yours truly with our faithful dog Molly as we cross over into the land of 10,000 lakes.

Of course after spending our time on the homestead in De Smet, we had to stop at Walnut Grove, MN.  It was directly east on Hwy 14. This is another homestead of Pa Ingalls that did not work out so well.  You can learn a little more about the Ingalls connection to Walnut Grove at this link: Walnut Grove, Minnesota

The girls ham it up outside the Walnut Grove museum.

We were surprised at the vast amount of farm land in Minnesota, as we made our way towards Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Due to the fact that I'm traveling with three women, I was doomed to visiting the ultimate shrine to consumerism...the massive Mall of America.  This place is 4,200,000 square feet in size and boasts 520 stores.  If you spent just ten minutes in each store it would take you roughly 86 hours to visit them all at that pace.  I spent my time in only one...the Barnes & Noble coffee shop, where I used the FREE wifi to up date the blog!  However, in the back of my mind I was wondering how much my credit cards were being abused, as my trio of gals roamed this unashamed, hyped up bastion of consumer spending....shudder! Luckily, I am married to a very frugal and money conscious woman.  She has done a wonderful job managing the salary that I have brought home to her over the years and in doing so, made this trip possible!  

The "red-heads" of Team Breitmann enjoy a sisters only dinner, while we were camped at Rice Creek Lino Lakes Campground.  We were about 20 minutes north of St Paul and it felt like a world away.  We "chilled" out here and spent some down time working on things that needed attention.  If you ever want to be near Minneapolis-St. Paul yet camp, this is the place.  Check it out here:  Rice Creek Chain O Lakes Campground

The girls treat me to an excellent German dinner on my birthday!  What a nice surprise. Another treat was we attended worship service at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, where John Piper is the Senior Pastor.  We listen to him all the time on-line and have done one of his studies.  After the service I went down to shake his hand and introduce the girls to him.  I told him how much his messages on line have strengthened us while we have been out on the road.  You can check out the church and his messages here: Bethlehem Baptist Church; Minneapolis

For my birthday the staff treats me to an apple-cream cheese strudel!  The candle = I'm number 1!  How old?  Well, as you can tell I'm old enough to have gray hair.  Notice my side burns.  By the way, I didn't make a wish because mine has already come true...spending this year traveling the country with my beautiful ladies!

Our next goal:   The Badger state of Wisconsin and America's dairy land!