Minneapolis to Pipestone, MN and on to Grand Forks, ND

June 29 We left Minneapolis headed for Pipestone, MN and Pipestone National Monument. It was a fairly long drive and we decided to get settled at the campground at Split Rock Creek State Park. Here are a few highlights from the drive.

 Of course when we were tooling down route 169 outside of Jordan, MN we came across this place. Minnesota's Largest Candy Store "The Big Yellow Barn." Also America's biggest puzzle store and World''s largest soda selection. They had 155 types of root beer for which we are suckers. So we had to stop and buy some soda and some candy.

These young ladies were modeling on the sign.

 In Iowa we had some of this delicious 1919 Rootbeer and I found this in the fridge a 5 liter pony keg. It had its own tap. I salivated and if I had room in the fridge it would have gone with me.

A selection of root beer that we bought. They were all good.

 This gum selection cracked me up and there was more that I didn't photograph.

Patrick found the Tardis from Dr. Who

Add caption

Patrick got this jaw breaker and flexed his anaconda jaws to get it into his mouth. It lasted three days before it was gone.

A few views from the road. It all looks the same after a while, looks like N. Dakota. Flat glacial plains.

We camped up at the state park and watched some cowboy television and roasted some mallows.

June 30 We left the state park and made Pipestone our first stop of the day. This is where Indians have and still mine for the stone which they make peace pipes from. The stone is sandwiched in between two layers of harder rock that must be quarried out to reach the pipestone. It is deep in the earth and there are large rock piles marking the quarries dotting the landscape at Pipestone. Only Native Americans are allowed to quarry the rock. 

This is known at The Leap, young braves would jump across the gap and plant arrows in the stone to show that they were brave. It is said that young squaws wouldn't give a brave the time of day if he hadn't made the leap.

This is said to be a spirit living in the rock.

The plan was to be in South Dakota for the Fourth of July weekend and we had some time to kill. I wanted to go up to Theodore Roosevelt National Park so we decided to squeeze that little trip in before we got to SD. We left Pipestone and headed north on the Interstate. Its the only quick way to get around up here as a lot of the side roads are dirt or gravel. Plus we could see for miles on the open terrain unlike further south where the only thing you can see on the Interstate are trees.

We made one stop on the way up and that was to see the tallest structure in the United States, a TV tower.

You can't really gauge the height based on the pictures and even in real life. But it was a perfectly times stop because as I turned off into someone's driveway to take pictures, I saw the cap for the sewer hose holders swinging in the breeze. Fortunately we didn't lose the sewer hose and we recapped it and got on our way.
 We finally rolled into Grand Forks AFB and set up shop for the night. Patrick took a bike ride with some other kids. It was a nice fam camp on a desolate base in the middle of nowhere. So glad I joined the Navy!