Lake Superior on Memorial Weekend

As we discussed where we should camp for Memorial Day weekend Karla took one look at all the ice still on Lake Superior and noticed that the trees hadn’t leafed out and we decided to head south in search of leaves.

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We found leaves around Hinckley but continued south to Myre-Big Island State Park. We found lots of leaves and warm weather.

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Not only were the leaves out but we also found lots of wild flowers like this Jack-In-The-Pulpit.

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We also found mushrooms.

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The lakes had some great sunsets. Those are pelicans flying in.

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Albert Lea Lake is known for its pelicans and we saw many of them.

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This one is called Little Island.

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We had a visit from a raccoon. Every night two barred owls hooted to each other in front of our campsite but we never found them.

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Early morning wildlife drives did not disappoint. We found a doe with her newborn fawn and about a dozen wild turkeys displaying.

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It was fun to watch them interact with each other.

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This was the most turkeys that displayed at one time.

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These two appeared a little battered with some lost feathers.

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I guess these two were practicing flying.

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One turkey walked through this swamp near a red-winged blackbird nest because this male attacked with a vengeance. It was amazing how a much smaller bird drove off the bigger one when concerned for its young.

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We really had a lot of fun watching the parks resident wild turkeys. But you had to be up at sunrise to see the action.

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Later we drove to Forestville-Mystery Cave State Park and went on the cave tour.

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Some of the formations were awesome.

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There were even pools of water in some areas of the cave.

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The last little pond of water was the best.

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We met some friends and toured the old Forestville town site operated by the Minnesota Historical Society. Several costumed staff performed the living history.

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The kids ground corn and fed the chickens and this very handsome rooster.

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