Download the Full Magazine - Leisure Group Travel

on location: midwest ❖
Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox, a Bemidji must-see
Hjemkomst replica Viking ship in Moorhead, Minnesota
Explore Minnesota Tourism Photos
Paul Bunyan and Babe at 75. On the shores of Lake Bemidji
in downtown Bemidji, the Bemidji Tourist Information Center
greets guests with the colorful statues of Paul Bunyan and
Babe the Blue Ox, a photo opportunity if there ever was one.
Reflecting the state’s northwoods heritage, the iconic cultural
figures have awed millions of vacationers since 1937
and were added to the National Register of Historic Places
in 1988. Made of steel, cement and wood, the giant, painted
statues (designed on a three-to-one scale) are touched up
each year before the summer tourism season begins. Four
blocks west of the mythical lumberjack and his ox is the Bemidji
Woolen Mills outlet store, which brims with the warm
clothes it’s made for loggers and outdoorsmen since 1920.
The fourth-generation family company makes the signature
cotton sweater vests worn by Republican presidential candidate
Rick Santorum. (visitbemidji.com/bemidji/paulbabe.html)
Discovery of Mississippi River Headwaters, 180th anniversary.
For decades European explorers were on the quest
to find the headwaters of the Mississippi River, the “Father of
Waters.” It was not until 1832 that Anishinabe Indian guide Ozawindib
led British explorer Henry Rowe Schoolcraft to the
source of the river at Lake Itasca in Northern Minnesota. The
source was disputed until the late 1800s when land surveyor
Jacob Brower proved the source and led efforts to preserve the
remaining pine forest at the site through creation of Minnesota’s
first state park, Itasca State Park, in 1891.
Today tourists make pilgrimages to the Mississippi River
Headquarters site, where the mighty river begins as a humble
stream flowing out of Lake Itasca on its 2,552-mile journey
to the Gulf of Mexico. A trail leads from the Mary Gibbs Headwaters
Visitor Center to the Headwaters Post, a tree trunk
sign that signifies the river’s source. Some people wade
across; others negotiate the neatly placed stepping stones.
(http://dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/itasca/narrative.html)
Hjemkomst Viking Ship Voyage 30th Reunion. The
Hjemkomst, a replica Viking ship, was built by local history
teacher Robert Asp and his family to prove the Vikings could
have sailed to the center of the North American continent. The
77-foot ship and its story, including a documentary movie about
the harrowing 1982 journey from Duluth, Minn. to Bergen, Norway,
are on display at Hjemkomst Center, in Moorhead.
At a 30th reunion celebration on July 21, the captain and
crew will discuss their historic voyage. The museum on that
day launches a special exhibit on the event that will run
through 2012. A platform allows visitors to look down into the
massive oak vessel with 32 sets of oars. Also on the grounds
is a full-scale replica of a 12th century Norwegian stave church.
(hjemkomstcenter.com) LGT
44 April 2012 LeisureGroupTravel.com