Adventures in Gopherland

Minneopa State Park Fall Festival

One of the most exciting parts of moving from Colorado to Minnesota was the return of true fall. Apple picking, fall colors that are more than yellow, apple cider, fall festivals – all of it! We were excited to discover that the Minnesota State Parks embrace the fall season with lots of activities and festivals.

A short drive away, Minneopa State Park hosted a candlelit walk down to their gorge. It was their fall festival, with demonstrations of how a cider press works, and educational activities. The activities were designed for kids, but Peter and I realized we had a lot to learn about identifying the fur of creatures found in Minnesota!

Before the light faded too much, we walked down to the gorge and waterfall to view it in daylight. We actually passed the volunteers who had lit the candles on our way down – when I complimented the work they said “Just wait till it gets dark!”

“Minneopa” comes from the Dakota language and is interpreted as “water falling twice”. The area was designated as a state park in 1905, making it the third state park in Minnesota history! While we were there to just see the waterfall, they also have a bison herd with a drive you can do around the bison area.

The waterfall was impressive, and the walk back up with the candles was stunning. We were captivated by the sight – until all the mosquitoes came out and we made a dash for the car!

For more information on Minneopa State Park, you can visit their website.

Fireside Apple Orchard Opening

When you first move to a new location, you discover places that you couldn’t find on Google maps. Fireside Apple Orchard was that place for us! Located just outside of Northfield, we spotted it on one of our drives to Interstate-35 and after some quick Googling discovered they would be having a grand re-opening. What could be better than ushering in the fall season than visiting an apple orchard?

Fireside Apple Orchard ( https://www.firesideorchard.com/ ) is a family-run orchard that celebrated the opening of a new building at the end of August. They’ve been growing Minnesota apple varieties for 45 years.

Before visiting the orchard, we had no idea that “Minnesota apple varieties” were such a spot of state pride. The University of Minnesota gets the credit for creating the “Honeycrisp” apple, revolutionizing the apple market. (We got a history lesson while at the orchard!) Ever since then, U of M and apple farmers have been looking to create the next “Honeycrisp” apple.

It’s actually an exciting time to be moving to Minnesota, as far as the apple market is concerned. After years of development from U of M and orchards (including Fireside), a new apple is being released to the public – “First Kiss”! It will be called “Rave” outside of Minnesota and they are hoping that it might grow in popularity like “Honeycrisp”.

Fireside Orchard sells pies, cider, fudge, donuts, popcorn, local honey AND all sorts of jams, salsas, and condiments featuring apples (in addition to being able to purchase apples directly). The flower gardens are beautiful, and during the re-opening we got a tour of part of the orchard and the history of the apple market in Minnesota.

We enjoyed the condiment samples, fudge samples, honey samples and walked away with a few slices of pie. Everything was delicious, and we’re excited to be living so close to make frequent visits this fall! If you live closer to the Twin Cities you can catch them at the Minneapolis Farmers Market!

One of the roses from the garden

They even grow a few grapes!

1 Down, 9,999 To Go: Paddling Rice Lake

We will be taking turns sharing the stories on the blog. First up – Katie writing about Rice Lake!

While my (Katie) parents visited us to help us move in, we knew that we wanted to take advantage of their presence and Hobbes’s presence and go out canoeing!

Minnesota is known as the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” and many of those are found in state parks. Turns out, at many of the state parks you can rent canoes and kayaks. We found the state park closest to us, Rice Lake State Park, packed a picnic, and made a day of it!

The Minnesota State Park system is one of the most affordable park passes we’ve encountered. You get access to all the state parks for just $35! (Plan on reading about plenty more adventures in the state parks in the future). We arrived, picked up the keys to canoe storage, and got down to the water.

One of the more unknown parts of this trip was how Hobbes was going to react to being in a canoe. He’s generally not a huge fan of water, even when he has a life jacket. And he had never been in a canoe before this point. Turns out, he’s enough of a spoiled dog that getting transported by human power instead of his own was perfect for him!

Rice Lake was beautiful. We spotted some birds in the reeds, enjoyed the sun and breeze, and only got the canoe stuck once! We enjoyed the picnic spot afterward, and definitely would recommend Rice Lake as a great spot to spend the day! ( https://www.exploreminnesota.com/places-to-stay/125/rice-lake-state-park )

Heading North

Hi! My name is Peter and my wife Katie and I recently packed up our bags and moved north from Colorado to Minnesota. We loved our time in Colorado and sought to fully experience all the state had to offer, as chronicled by my previous blog (The Colorado List) and Katie’s (Discovering Denver).

Now in Minnesota, we hope to see as much as we possibly can here and record our adventures in the Gopher State. Katie and I have joined forces, so some blog entries will be written by yours truly and others will be penned by Katie.

If you are interested in following along, subscribe and get updates as we get our bearings and start showing you the Great North. Our Minnesota bucket list includes attending a home game of each major Minnesota sports team, visiting all National Park Sites in Minnesota (and many in nearby states too) as well as seeing the delightfully odd along the way (from giant Paul Bunyan statues to the Defeat of Jesse James Days and the SPAM Museum). We have already begun, having canoed in a small local state park, shopped in the Mall of America and attended a Twins Game, so posts will follow soon. We hope that it is a fun adventure on which you can join us!