Waters of the Dancing Sky Scenic Byway

Minnesota – Saturday, November 9

I enjoyed some lefse for breakfast, then loaded up in another wet, snowy morning. Tula and I walked almost 2 miles around the town of Warroad, then I found a park by Lake of the Woods with a long trail.  Despite the weather, people were out fishing, and I bundled up to take a 3+ mile walk by this huge northern lake. Lots of the shoreline was covered with reeds, grasses and cattails, or maybe some of the vegetation was where  the wild rice grows that the Indians used to battle over. The trail I was walking on mostly followed the shoreline of a small bay. When I finished my walk, I went over to look out across the mighty lake, but of course it was too big to see across to the other side.

I finally left Warroad and continued east to the town of Baudette which had another 40 foot statue – this one was Willy the Walleye, because Baudette was the walleye capital of the world. There was also a sign stating Lake of the Woods had the best fishing in the world. The people here take their outdoor activities seriously! Tula and I did a little walking here too – and the sidewalks were still icy and snowy. I was thinking about making a donation to a church youth group that was sponsoring a hunter’s lunch as a fundraiser, because it was opening day of hunting season. The lunch was supposed to last until 2:00, and I got to the community center about 1:50, and there was no one around. The front door was open, and I poked my head in, and even though no one was there, I could smell barbecue and other good smells from a hot meal. I must have just missed them – they sure got out in a hurry! I was still in good shape donation-wise since I had made 2 donations on a couple of consecutive days, and I knew I could always mail them a donation, but I thought I’d wait to see if I ran across any other interesting donation opportunities in the next day or two.

From there I continued east  to International Falls, right along the border of Minnesota and Canada on the “Waters of the Dancing Sky Scenic Byway.”  It was misting /snowing out, but I still walked 2 1/4 miles throughout the downtown area and a nice neighborhood along the river. Then I used one of my free nights and stayed at a Comfort Inn, which was one of the nicest motels I had stayed in. They had lots of little extra things, including a popcorn cart with good fresh popcorn, and a cute little restaurant called the Chocolate Moose  shared the parking lot, so I actually went over there and enjoyed a walleye dinner. I figured I couldn’t be around this northwoods fishing country and not have some fresh fish!