We were in the middle of a rainy week complete with tornadoes when we decided to be "wild" and take off for a biking weekend. Will got out the map and figured if we stayed in Little Falls we could finish off the small section of the Central Lakes trail that we were rained out on over the 4th of July, get a short ride in on the Lake Wobegon Trail and spend most of Saturday on the Paul Bunyan trail. I managed to get reservations at the Waller House Inn for two nights http://www.wallerhouseinn.com/ Friday morning dawned with more rain but the weather radio said it was going to clear so we headed west by northwest to Bowlus. http://bowlusmn.com/ This has become one of our favorite trailheads on this particular trail. It has great facilities including a cafe in town, picnic area, and most importantly flushing toilets! We headed up to the Blanchard Dam first to view the river with all the rain from the previous week. The trail goes across the Mississippi immediately adjacent to the dam so you're looking down at the water spilling over the causeway. Cool stuff. Along the trail there are remnants of the telegraph poles, some still with insulators. We headed back to Bowlus and on to Holdingford. The flowers were amazing - predominantly yellow with golden Rod, false sunflowers, common mullein and woodland sunflowers. We also saw monarch butterflies. I had just heard on MPR that morning that the cool temperatures and dry summer had kept the numbers of monarchs down from previous summers. But we were pleasantly surprised to see quite a few. They are especially attracted to the Joe Pye weed and milkweed that were plentiful along the trail. Not much in the fauna department except for black squirrels, an occasional chipmunk, fighting goldfinches and an immature red tail hawk landing right next to us on the trail. Just a note that Bowlus is the hometown of the boxer Duane Bobick who went to the 1972 Olympics on the USA boxing tea
m. We checked into the B&B and met one of our hosts, Raquel. We had the Sapphire Suite which was two rooms so we were able to spread out our gear and I had room to do yoga in the mornings. Raquel had suggested that we eat at the Black and White Restaurant which is run by two trained chiefs. The food was great and we treated ourselves to a bottle of wine. http://www.attheblacknwhite.com/ It was quite a surprise to find this quality restaurant in a small town. Saturday dawned sunny and cool. After a breakfast of baked blueberry pancakes we rolled ourselves into the car and on to Merrifield to start our ride. If the Lake Wobegon trail was the color yellow; the Paul Bunyan was purple. There was beebalm, thistle, Prairie Blazing Star, chicory, New England Asters blooming everywhere among the golden rod, black eyed susans, etc. Minnesotans were out in droves around Nisswa which is like a shopping mecca in the middle of nowhere. We road alongside lakes on the right, on the left...it was the fisherperson's paradise. Our goal was a 30-40 mile ride but we finished with 52. Not a bad accomplishment after the 33 the day before.
Again we drove home, showered and headed bck to the Black and White for another great meal and a short walking tour of Little Falls. It's really a neat town, full of old houses, interesting churches and of course it is the hometown of Charles Lindbergh. Sunday morning was a later than usual breakfast - hashbrown quiche. Did I tell you I gained back all my weight loss in one weekend despite the exercise!! This was the day to finish off the Central Lakes Trail and our missing few miles from Evansville (named after a postman) to Ashby. We started out from Brandon and road uneventfully to Ashby which sits over a pair of lakes - Lake Christina and Pelican Lake. The road back was long as our legs started to feel tired and then to top it all we heard the ominous hissing in the front tire. Luckily we had a spare (fast learners) and as Will worked on changing the tire I watched a pair of egrets on a small lake and discovered two turtles basking in the sun. If we hadn't had the flat we would have missed them. Back in Brandon we loaded up the bike and headed home on the backroads to add a few more towns to our list. Have you been to Brooten or Regal or Eden Valley?
m. We checked into the B&B and met one of our hosts, Raquel. We had the Sapphire Suite which was two rooms so we were able to spread out our gear and I had room to do yoga in the mornings. Raquel had suggested that we eat at the Black and White Restaurant which is run by two trained chiefs. The food was great and we treated ourselves to a bottle of wine. http://www.attheblacknwhite.com/ It was quite a surprise to find this quality restaurant in a small town. Saturday dawned sunny and cool. After a breakfast of baked blueberry pancakes we rolled ourselves into the car and on to Merrifield to start our ride. If the Lake Wobegon trail was the color yellow; the Paul Bunyan was purple. There was beebalm, thistle, Prairie Blazing Star, chicory, New England Asters blooming everywhere among the golden rod, black eyed susans, etc. Minnesotans were out in droves around Nisswa which is like a shopping mecca in the middle of nowhere. We road alongside lakes on the right, on the left...it was the fisherperson's paradise. Our goal was a 30-40 mile ride but we finished with 52. Not a bad accomplishment after the 33 the day before.
Again we drove home, showered and headed bck to the Black and White for another great meal and a short walking tour of Little Falls. It's really a neat town, full of old houses, interesting churches and of course it is the hometown of Charles Lindbergh. Sunday morning was a later than usual breakfast - hashbrown quiche. Did I tell you I gained back all my weight loss in one weekend despite the exercise!! This was the day to finish off the Central Lakes Trail and our missing few miles from Evansville (named after a postman) to Ashby. We started out from Brandon and road uneventfully to Ashby which sits over a pair of lakes - Lake Christina and Pelican Lake. The road back was long as our legs started to feel tired and then to top it all we heard the ominous hissing in the front tire. Luckily we had a spare (fast learners) and as Will worked on changing the tire I watched a pair of egrets on a small lake and discovered two turtles basking in the sun. If we hadn't had the flat we would have missed them. Back in Brandon we loaded up the bike and headed home on the backroads to add a few more towns to our list. Have you been to Brooten or Regal or Eden Valley? 
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