Minnesota--One of My Favorite States! Fiona McGier

And my opinion isn't changing because of the unrest up there right now.  The abuse and disrespect

that people of color have had to endure for so many years isn't limited to one state.  Like everywhere else, there are good and bad people who live there--people of all colors can be either one.  IMHO, the young outsiders doing the rioting, on both sides, the left and the right, politically, should just head into a huge arena and fight each other--leaving the rest of us to deal with the country's problems as adults do.  Listening to each other, and learning to truly accept each other is the only solution.  Don't merely tolerate those different from you--learn to embrace them and love them for their differences, and for the part they play in the vast tapestry of life.  End of lecture. 

I live in a suburb of Chicago, but whenever we get the opportunity, we head up north, to camp in one of our favorite states--Minnesota.  Land of 10,000 Lakes.  Husband wants to try fishing in all of them!  One of his brothers lives in St. Paul with his family, and they own a cabin about 2 hours north of the twin cities, near a huge lake called Big Sandy.  The closest town, MacGregor, is very tiny, without any stoplights.  But Savannah State Park is right up the road. 

We've camped in many of Minnesota's State Parks.  There's Buffalo River,  on the western edge of the state where we saw Northern Lights one night--sheets of colorful lights shimmered across the sky.  There isn't a lake naturally there, so they made a combination pool/lake--they call it a plake.  On another trip, we stayed at Bemidji, which has statues of Paul Bunyan and his blue ox Babe, along the river in their downtown area.  The park has a trail that takes you into the marsh, on a boardwalk, as you learn all about the plants you're seeing.  Who knew there are three separate carnivorous plants?  One night we heard lots of people walking past our site, about 10pm.  We followed them, to find the beach parking lot full of people lying on blankets.  The Northern Lights were racing across around the sky above us.  It went on for hours! Just up the road from there is Itasca, which is where the Mississippi River starts.  You can swim in the lake, and walk across a 4-foot bridge with a sign telling you you've just crossed the mighty river. 

In the southeastern area of the state is Forestville/Mystery Cave.  The ranger who took us on the cave tour laughed that once he'd gotten his ranger degree, he was thrilled to be hired by the state of Minnesota, because he loves to fish-- all those lakes!  But they assigned him to the one park that has NO lake!  Just a river.  So he'd had to learn to love river-trout fishing.  Mystery Cave is a really cool underground excursion. 

One of our favorite places to camp at is near the town of Ely, on the west end of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.  We stay at Bear Head Lake, where the water is pristine, the swimming fun, and you hear loons call all day and night, with an occasional howl from local wolves.  Ely is a wonderful, fun tourist town.  And if you want to head into the backwoods, there are many outfitters happy to guide you, and stores like Piragis who sell what you need. The  nearby Soudan Underground Mine is still open for tours.  Also it's being used in physics experiments with Fermilab, here in Illinois. They shoot electrons from one place to another in mere seconds, whereas it takes us about 10 hours to drive up there!

 A couple of hours driving west takes you up to Orr, where there is the Vince Shute Wildlife Sanctuary. http://www.americanbear.org/  It's  a black bear vacation, since they can roam in and out of the grounds as they please. All they have to do to earn their chow is entertain the tourists by doing typical bear things, and allow the scientists who vie for a chance to live on the premises, to study them.  There's a bus that takes you from the parking lot to the huge blind that has bathrooms and a spacious viewing area, as well as a gift shop. 

Lately we've been camping in the opposite direction, heading through Duluth, along the North Shore of Lake Superior, all the way up to Grand Marais, http://www.visitcookcounty.com/communities/grand-marais/ on the eastern border of the BWCA.  You're only a couple of hours from Canada up there.  Once in the town, go past the 1 stoplight, and turn left to head north up along The Gunflint Trail to find many lakes, some of which have private resorts, cabins and campgrounds, and some of which have National Forest Campgrounds.  At the very end of the Gunflint Trail, literally, is Trail's End National Forest Campground.  Gorgeous scenery all of the way up there, since you're driving up into the Sawtooth Mountains, away from the Lake Superior basin.  We head into the town for supplies when we need groceries, or if we just get cravings for pizza.  You can sign into the local wi-fi once you're in town.  You can find The World's Best Donuts, a tiny place my family adores...along with the frozen custard place a few door's down.  There are even a couple of independent bookstores-- And while in town, you can walk out on the peninsula that juts into Lake Superior, where like all beaches along the North Shore, the beach is tiny pebbles, no sand.  The water is usually very cold which is refreshing when it's 90+ degrees, but we've swum in it when it was less than 70 outside.  Then it feels like your whole body has just fished around in the bottom of the cooler full of ice for that last cold beer.  I got applause from strangers one summer, when I dove in and swam back and forth repeatedly, just to show my family I could do it! 

I could keep going about how much I love the northern part of Minnesota.  But I put that love into a romance novel, For The Love Of His Life, where the area is like one of the characters.  A bad-boy action-movie star with a drug and drinking problem, is sent up there by his new director to dry out to get ready to star as one of the founders of Grand Marais. He meets the director's cousin, a local woman who rejects him because actors Lie for a living. As he grows to love the serenity and beauty of the area, he discovers that he's been floundering his way through life, and he's fallen in love for the first time in his life--with someone other than himself.  I wrote this book because I was so sad leaving to head back home a few years ago, that I wanted a reason to stay up there.  If I can't be there, at least I can live up there with my characters! 

For a chance to win a free eBook of one of my Minnesota Romances, leave a comment here.  And tell me which one of the three you'd like to read.  I'll choose one winner next Sunday, on the 14th of June, when we'll be hanging out our flag to celebrate Flag Day. 

For the Love of His Life--you won't like the hero in the first chapter, but give him time to grow and change, and I guarantee you'll be cheering for him by the end of the book.

Only One Man Will Do--an MC (motorcycle club) book, but my twist is that the leader of the gang is a red-haired woman-- the hero is an ex-KGB agent who tries to tame her.

Her Last Resort--The heroine is a retired CIA agent who is being hunted by someone wanting her dead.  The hero is in the 1st book, Ivan,  ex-KGB agent who owns the resort. 

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To learn more, please visit my website, where my husband's photo at the top is the view of Seagull Lake from our campsite at Trail's End campground, the first year we were there: http://www.fionamcgier.com

Fiona McGier

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