Buller Finally Made It!

My main goal for Buller when he arrived in the States
was for him to make it to the
Headwaters of the Mississippi River.

On Sunday July 19, 2009 Buller arrived at this location. Luckily for our cold blooded friend it was a lovely day out. Those have been few and far between in the great state of Minnesota.

The Mississippi River runs the length of the United States. It starts just outside of Park Rapids, MN at what is now a State Park named Itasca. It then travels North to Bemidji and then starts heading South toward Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico.The Mississippi flows out of Lake Itasca and travels 2552 miles before becoming part of the Gulf of Mexico and eventually part of the Ocean. A man named Schoolcraft was the person who discovered the correct source (as others had been named as such) and the short story is on the sign below.

Remember Sabin: click to enlarge it
so that you can read it better

We try to make it to Itasca State Park at least once a season if not more often. There are miles of bike/hiking trails, camping, boating, fishing, dinner cruises, naturalist programs, swimming, shopping, restaurants, etc. Plus it is one of the last great stands of old age/ untouched forests in the area. Almost everything else has been logged at one point in history.

Here is a collage of our time at the headwaters. I will first point out the upper left and lower right pics - these are from a 10 mile canoe ride that Addie's mom and dad took down part of the Mississippi on Friday. You can read about that here. Buller came along for the ride, but due to the rain and cold he stayed in dad's jacket.

From there I will start at the top left and continue to the right and around
1) Loon - Minnesota state bird. Came up right in front of our canoe
2) This is a shot taken at the Lake Itasca swimming beach - across the lake is the headwaters. You can barely see people walking across
3) My feet (mom) on the rocks of the headwaters. Imagining the water going across my feet will eventually be in the ocean
4) All four kids sitting on the Headwaters
5 &6) A shot of people walking across
7) Buller basking in the sun on the rocks collecting memories
8) Rocks to send to your mom out of the Headwaters - they will be making the return trip with Buller
9) Canoe trip - cousins in the canoe behind us
10) Heading down the path toward the river
11) The kids and dad walked from the Headwaters to the first bridge.
12) Dad holding Addie's brother's homemade boat he was floating down rocks
13) People from all over the world come to see this
14) Ducks and ducklings on Lake Itasca
15) Buller on the log bridge
16) Addie sitting in the headwaters
The middle pic) Buller hanging out at the Headwaters of the Mississippi sunning on the rocks.

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Sabin -
Ask your mom if she ever made it to this place?
Did her family take a trip here?
Does she remember it?
Are the pictures hidden in your granparent's basement ;)