 All our lives we have lived in Minnesota, even though we've moved around a lot. We were in Bemidji (Paul Bunyan country) most of our lives and I moved back here to stay in 2004. Bemidji, MN, is a resort community that has as its origin a trading post established along the Mississippi River in 1888. Bemidji served as a great lumbering center following the coming of the railroad in the early 1900s. Statues of Paul Bunyan and his blue ox 'Babe' are reminders of the town's colorful logging days. Paul and Babe are a big legend in the north country. It has been said that the 10,000 lakes in Minnesota are their footprints! Lake Bemidji State Park is located on the northern edge of Lake Bemidji and provides visitors with lake recreation within a natural forest. Trails wind through the 1700 acre park and interpretive programs take place during all seasons. Through various treaties, only 1250 square miles is left of the vast track of land that was once the Red Lake Reservation. The reservation has remained independent from the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. You can find out more about them and Bemidji by going to one of the links below. {Bemidji, MN}{Story of Paul Bunyan}{Another Bemidji, MN site} {Bemidji Chamber of Commerce}{Minnesota Historical Society} In Bemidji Paul & Babe stand right by the lake. It's almost like they watch over the town to keep it safe. In the winter they have an extra town to watch over! As you can see, there are always enough fish houses on the lake in the winter to make up another town!  We lived in this area for most of our lives and loved it! It has grown tremendously since I first moved here 20 years ago. Because of this growth we moved to the southern part of the state to a little town called Jeffers, which we call the prairie because there's NO trees!   Well, here's the prairie. No, that wasn't our house, although it felt like we lived in the middle of a field! All of our lives we lived in Paul Bunyan country so that stage of our life with no trees took lots of adjusting! We were in southern Minnesota about 20 miles from Walnut Grove. You do remember that town don't you? That was one of the homes of Laura Ingalls Wilder! Here's some sites to check out for more info on her. {Laura Ingals Wilder Memorial Society}{Songs and Musical Memories} {Frontier Girl}{Walnut Grove} Down in that area there are lots of very small towns and there's one every 10 miles! If you don't get your groceries or gas during the week you're outta luck come Saturday and Sunday because nothing's open! It's an experience to live there and was okay as long as I could just remember to get Sunday's roast from the store on Friday! Check out that local area  We lived between Menahga and Park Rapids in Minnesota for about 6 years, the boys still live there for now. Menahga is a small town in nothern Minnesota that is famous for its great pine forests and St. Urho. In Menahga there is a statue of St. Urho. He is recognized by the Finlanders for chasing out all the grasshoppers. Don't ask me, that's what I was told! The town closes up early like any other small town and has no shopping, none that a normal woman would want anyway! The school in this town has K-12 all in one building, so it provides a little more one on one help for the kids. There are many local web pages in Menahga, go check them out! Park Rapids is on the other side of us and is a little larger. There are a number of resorts and tourist traps here. Area information Northern Minnesota is a beautiful area to explore any season of the year, and there's lots of trees too!  The start of the Mississippi is in Itasca State Park which is between Bemidji and Park Rapids. At the start of the river, as you can see by the pic, you can actually walk across this huge river! Look what I got!  
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