Minnesota, officially

While we have technically been to Minnesota before, some people wouldn't count it because it was "just a layover" in the Minneapolis airport in 2007 on our way to Albuquerque.  But we breathed some outside air, so we counted it.  On this trip, we're spending two nights in Minnesota and driving across 2/3rds of the southern part of the state, so that should check and double-check Minnesota.

We left from Le Mars, Iowa, headed to Worthington, Minnesota, for our first night.  We picked Worthington to tee us up for our Little House on the Prairie leg the following day.  Worthington is about 75 miles from Le Mars.

We were on state highways, so we were hopeful to see a Welcome to Minnesota sign with a good place to pull off to take a picture.  We were in luck!  Not only was there a good place to pull off, but the Minnesota sign was pretty cool!

There was also a rest area / welcome station about 10 minutes into the state, so we stopped there.  It was pretty cool.  They had a whole field of beautiful yellow wildflowers, and y'all know by now, #flowersmakemehappy!

They also had a historical marker that explains why the southern border of Minnesota is such a straight line.  I had noticed that on the map when I was cutting out pieces for my Smash Book, but until I was looking at pictures to accompany this post, I hadn't read it carefully.  Interesting, huh?

There was also a playground for kids and a walking path.

And I want to get this sign to put in our yard.  Ever since I retired, I've been helping DH with the yardwork.  Which means I'm mowing the front yard until the battery on the electric mower runs out of juice, and DH is doing the rest.  I told him if we got one of these signs and put it in the yard, then no one would say anything about our unmown yard.  (And shout out to our neighbor who is keeping our front yard mowed while we've been traveling.)

We saw these pretty trees when we had dinner in Worthington.

     

I spent some time working on my Smash Book pages until my gluestick ran out.  So we walked over to Walgreens to get some new ones, and then we walked to the Hy-Vee to see what it was.  It's a grocery store and more.  Here's some information about the history of Hy-Vee and its founders that I found interesting.  

Have you shopped at a Hy-Vee before?  Have you thought about how state borders were decided?  Should I get a Wildflowers, don't mow sign for my yard?

~ Cindy D.