Friday, July 28, 2017, Park Rapids, MN
Day 78

In the morning we drove the car to Alexandria and took our photos with Olle, a rather large Viking who was at the 1965 NY World’s Fair. I was at the fair when I was 7 but I did not remember Olle. It seems incredible that we have seen several items on this trip that were at that world’s fair but these items are not part of my memory of the world’s fair.  After Olle we visited the Runestone Museum. We saw the Kensington Runestone and learned its history. Found in nearby Kensington by Olaf Ohman in 1898 in the roots of a tree he was digging up on his farm. The stone tells the story in Runic of the journey of a band of Vikings in 1362. Scholars are not in agreement as to its authenticity. If authentic, it would establish the Vikings in present day Minnesota in the 14th century. After the museum, we stopped at the Carlos Creek Winery for a tasting of Minnesota wines. Not bad but not good enough for a purchase. After lunch, we departed Lake Carlos State Park and drove 90 minutes to the Walmart in Park Rapids, MN. We quickly detached the car and drove 20 miles north to the Itasca State Park. Lake Itasca is the headwaters of the Mississippi River. We hiked the short trail to the headwaters and took off our shoes and walked across the  mighty Mississippi River. Of course the river is not so mighty at this point at about a foot and a half deep and maybe 10 feet wide. After walking in the river I ended up with some sap on the bottom of my foot which I did not realize until I put on my flip flops and found the shoe stuck to my foot. I wrapped my foot in napkins and put my sock and sneaker on. When I got back to the coach I used my black streak and bug remover which after much rubbing removed the sap.