Day 26

Kati was riddled with anxiety about finding a first-come-first serve campsite late on a Friday night. I assured her that there was nothing to worry about. Only 76.7 people in total live in North Dakota. There aren’t enough people to fill any campground anywhere in this state. At 9 PM we pulled into a campground outside of Jamestown and sure enough it was completely empty. Not one tent. Not one RV. We had it entirely to ourselves. However, the amenities were sparse — really what do you expect for $10 a night — which means they only have vault toilets (or in layman’s terms more permanent porta-potties). Kati hates vault toilets. She refuses to use them. And so, once we pitched our tent she drove 8 miles to the closest gas station just to pee — that’s half an hour of driving to avoid a stinky toilet. G3 hates them too, but he opted more simply for a tree.

We got to the campground in time to watch the sun set and then, about an hour later, we saw the moon rise. As the sky darkened and the stars came out, G3 gave me and Kati a tour of the constellations. Not only can he pick them out, he can identify some individual stars in the constellations. Plus, he wove into his tour a few of the myths he read about in the book he got at The Knife River Indian Villages gift shop.

A week or so ago, my cousin — the same one who gave G3 The Week Junior magazine — sent me a link for the most beautiful State Parks in the country. On the list was Custer, which we loved and totally agreed was one of the best State Parks we had ever been to. Therefore, I looked more closely to see if there were any more parks on the list we might be able to hit on this trip. There was. Itasca in Minnesota. My brother’s childhood friend lives in Minnesota and he does a fair amount of hiking so I shot him a message asking if he thought it would be worth our time to visit. He responded quickly and enthusiastically that he absolutely recommended it. And so I added it to our itinerary. Now, the cool thing about Itasca is that it’s where the Mississippi begins. The Mighty Mississippi — America’s second longest river — is so narrow and shallow at it’s source that you can walk across it. And yes, that does immediately call to mind an Indigo Girls’ song which of course we did have to listen to in the car.

This morning we broke camp, had breakfast in Fargo, and then crossed into Minnesota. We spent the afternoon at Itasca State Park. Because I love Mark Twain’s novels and because I have been to St. Louis and New Orleans it was important to me to see the Headwaters of the Mississippi River. It was fun to walk across. We stepped on the rocks first and then took off our shoes and sloshed through the water. G3 was unimpressed and declared that it was anticlimactic. Oh well, maybe someday he will appreciate being here. In fact, knowing my son, if he ever reads Twain in school, he will be very quick to announce to the entire class that once upon a time he did walk across the Mississippi. And at that moment, he will appreciate the experience.

After seeing the headwaters, G3 and I hike on the Brower Trail along Lake Itasca. It was 92 degrees but most of the hike was shaded which kept it from being too uncomfortable. Although, it was too hot for Kati. She opted to wait for us in the comfort of air conditioning at the visitor’s center. The trail was easy — a few ups and downs but nothing too taxing.

We asked G3 if he wanted to go swimming and he surprised us by saying no. I guess fresh water — in a small lake — was unappealing after his last swimming mishap.

The woman at the visitor’s center told us we had to drive the wilderness loop because is wasn’t beautiful. If you ever come to Itasca, don’t waste your time. We were all bored by it. It was like driving through the woods — with no scenic spots along the way — and we can do that at home.

The campground in the park is not first come first serve. It requires a reservation so we were surprised to find vacant sites for this evening. It did make for a more relaxing day knowing we had a place to sleep and didn’t have to hunt for a site after a day of activity.

If we make G3 eat one more sandwich he might launch a hunger strike. Sandwiches for brunch and dinner today just might have been too much. He was not happy.

Since we are staying in the state park we actually get to have an early and restful evening around the campfire. When we first arrived we saw posted signs saying fire restrictions are in affect — Minnesota is in a drought — and campfires are not allowed. It turns out that they are not allowed except between the hours of 6 and 10 PM. We can work with that.