Great Lakes - Day 12 - Wednesday

Scott and I were up before the sun and on the road at 5:30 AM because this was set to be a very long driving day. To complete the Minnesota parks, we had to drive about 3 hours, almost to South Dakota to Pipestone National Monument. Pipestone is a soft red rock that is only found in the corners where South Dakota, Minnesota and Nebraska meet. There is a vein of it that was formed by glaciers a long time ago. Different tribes would meet here to get new stone for carving pipes and it is preserved as an active quarry for the Native Americans of today. After taking a walk to see the quarry and exploring the museum and finishing Lorelei's junior ranger, we were eastbound.

We got a park and the state Capitol of Iowa on a previous trip because of a re-route around some flooding but we missed Effigy Mounds so we decided to pick that one up on this trip. From Pipestone, we were looking at a 5 hour drive to Effigy. Unfortunately for us, we are in Minnesota's road construction season and we ended up with several detours which delayed us. We stopped at a rest area to make lunch and I noticed the historical marker sign about the "golden section" of I-90 which was a section where the east and west met. Supposedly similar to the golden spike for the railroads, there was a dedication ceremony. The sign said that at the 1978 ceremony, the 56 foot Jolly Green Giant statue was unveiled and later put up in the town of Blue Star. It's still there today, 1 mile off of I-90. We figured we have seen Salem Sue, a giant Holstein in North Dakota and the Superman in Metropolis, IL so we had to take the little detour. We did and he was giant.

Back on the road, we headed in to Iowa and got to the site 30 minutes before closing. Thankful they were open until 6. The ranger told Lorelei that she probably wouldn't finish her badge before closing time which just lit a fire under her. We watched the movie, explored the museum. These mound builders were similar to those at Hopewell Culture but these mounds were shaped like creatures, birds, bears,some were even in a line of bears and really they are best viewed from the air. The ranger asked Luke if he was a Boy Scout and could help with the flag, he said he wasn't but that Lorelei knew how to do it from her time at Nature Camp in VA the last two summers so she helped and with 3 minutes left until closing she was sworn in.

Back on the road, we crossed the Mississippi and were back in Wisconsin. Another two hours later and we pulled into the campground just north of Madison. We were all happy to no longer be driving through cornfields. We made a really quick dinner of chicken and rice before showers and a late bed time. Just a few more days and we will be home.