October 4, 2008

Old Mill State Park

Autumn is one of my most favorite times of the year and I wanted to go and enjoy the fall colors today. I packed up the kiddos and we drove to Minnesota (it was hard to hold my breath the whole time) to Old Mill. Now, I am one for modern technology and all of that, but the stinking tom tom wasn't getting us where we needed to go! It took over 2 hours to get there when it should have only been an hour and ten minutes. I know! RUDE!

To pass the time away whilst driving, I did partake in some picture taking. I know! RUDE! May I not recommend this behavior?! I must repent of such things ... ;) One of the pics I took was when we were driving over the Red River - the river that separates ND from MN - so you'll have to pardon the glare.
Did you know that sunflowers don't stay all pretty and bloomed for very long? I found out the hard way and didn't get to take any coolio pics of the sunflowers here in ND. FACT: ND grows more sunflowers than any other state. FYI. Well, after driving and seeing tons of sunflower fields, we pulled over and took some pics. It was actually really interesting!
After searing and driving roads that aren't even county roads, I flagged down a fellow driver and he pointed us to the right direction. Whew! I was actually about to throw in the towel and call it quits, but we were saved by a man in a truck. :)

Believe it or not, we were the only ones at the state park! I know! RUDE! It was such a beautiful day out! We drove and parked near the Lars Larson log cabin and steam-powered flour mill. Austin thought it was "too bad" that the log cabin was locked (I agreed) but it was interesting to see the cabin and the mill. It was not fun to see the outhouse! :)
Next, we went "toe dipping" into the Middle River - it was very clear and a little on the cold-side, but Austin and I braved it! I went around the rest of the day with a double soaker, due to the fact that I didn't wear my standard footware (Crocs). What was I thinking?
Melissa opted out of the "toe dipping" because she said that she didn't feel well. :( Poor Melissa missed out of the fun but created her own by texting friends. It looks like there may be a "no cell phone" rule while we hike around! :P
A little walk on a trail brought us to a bridge to the campgrounds (which are closed for the season). It's a nice little state park but I bet it gets packed in the summer.
We saw a sign for a "beach", so we were thrilled to go and check that out! HA! It was a little man-made area that was drained for the winter. :( It looks as though they have some sledding there in the winter ... there were randomly placed stairways for no reason - until I looked at the map! :)
We had a fun time at the park (at least I did) but it was soon time for us to depart. But was it the end of my picture taking? NO! :) Of course, I saw some fun things on the side of the road - cattails! I must say, my dad also liked pulling over onto the side of the road for "weeds", but I do not consider a cattail a weed, even though I'm not entirely sure of what their purpose is (except to please me). ;)
Another fun thing I saw was ... get ready ... a drive-in theater! It has been so many years since I've seen one! They don't have them in England (that I saw) and I don't recall one in New Mexico. What a flashback! :) The screen looked like it was in good enough repair so I am hoping it is still a working drive-in. Driving through all of the little towns around that area, it wouldn't surprise me at all that it was still working. The population of the towns were in the 300's or 600's.
Yet another fun thing we saw were the sugar beet trucks and a mountain of sugar beets! Occasionally, you would find a stray beet along the way ... poor little beet! :)
Here are some last random shots that I took on the way back home. It was such a lovely day and I'm glad that we were able to get out and enjoy it (even though it was in Minnesota). HAHAHA!