Minnesota: From the Mall to Minneopa

"U should come visit me, bc Ima roadtrip somewhere for a couple days and I want a trip buddy."

 What would you do if you got that text from your girl? Well, I don't know what you might do, but I immediately put in a time-off request! Having eliminated air travel -- just too stinkin' expensive -- we decided to meet "half-way" in St Cloud, MN. (Jamestown, ND is actually about half-way, but it holds no appeal for a city girl!)

I won't bore you with the details of Day One at Mall of America. That is just too close to what I promised in my very first blog post that I would never do. It is sufficient to say that we walked miles and quite literally "closed the place down." Sears was calling the first closing warning as we were checking out. 

Having spent Day One hunting for bargains, we left the motel on Day Two hunting for Fall. To me, fall means mainly two things: colorful leaves and apples. We selected a state park south of St Cloud and headed out. It wasn't long until we spotted signs for pumpkins, but that is not what I wanted. It took a little longer before we saw a sign with apples, but it was worth the wait. Walking in, I was instantly transported back to my childhood. We bought local honeycrisp apples and the BEST caramel corn I have EVER eaten -- sweet and sticky with pieces of soft, chewy apples. Yummy!! I wish now that I had bought the biggest bag instead of the smallest! 

With the "apple" portion of the mission accomplished, we continued our quest for colorful leaves. We reached our destination, Minneopa State Park, without any flamboyant displays of color. Fortunately, the park also offered a small, two-part waterfall and an historic gristmill, so we had plenty of reason to keep the shutters clicking. The sun was shining, and it lit the small patches of color nicely. 

Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and the next morning found us driving in opposite directions toward our respective homes. But we are already making plans for next year!

Bonus material: On Face Book this morning, I promised this picture:

I didn't bring the tripod on the trip with me, so doing a timed picture of both of us was a little tricky. I only found one spot where the camera would sit mostly level and provide a decent background. So I set it up on said spot on a log sticking slightly into the water. I had 10 seconds to get over, under, or around the log and onto some rocks in the creek. As you may have guessed, I missed my rock and nearly fell face-first into the water. Too bad the camera wasn't in sport mode! As you can see, it was pretty amusing! Dan reminded me when I was telling him about this that I while I didn't have the tripod, I did have the remote for the shutter. Well, what fun would that be? 

Blue Skies Smilin' at Me

Nothin' but blue skies do I see!

History is made! We went camping and riding, and we did NOT get wet! Li'l Miss Sunshine overpowered Black Cloud! Haha!

Yes, the entire cave floor is covered in ice.

Friday afternoon, we set up the camper in the Pryor Mountains. Acting on a tip from a co-worker, we went searching for the wild horses in a different spot than the areas where we have seen them before. We didn't find the horses (we probably didn't go far enough as daylight was going to run out on us), but we did finally make it to the Big Ice Cave. It was a neat place, but also dark and just a little bit eerie. Definitely not a place where I would want to spend any time alone! Away from the cave and back on the trail, we broke out of the trees onto the sunny plateau. Now we were looking across the valley over at the plateau where we usually ride. We beat the dark back to the camper and were treated to a beautiful sunset. 

Usually, we are running around on top over there.

C'mon in!

Our time was limited on Saturday, so we stuck closer to the camper. Even though we were back in familiar territory, we did find a few new roads. We came upon an old building previously unknown to us, and we ran another road to the point where it became a hiking trail with an intriguing name -- Crater Ice Cave Trail #31. We decided to save the hike for a warmer day (and maybe do a little research first), and returned to the main road. We got back to the camper in time for lunch and even a little shooting before packing up and returning to civilization. 

No wild horses, but a lot of inquisitive deer.