Follow Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk as we explore the USA and Canada. Trips began in 2013. See sidebar. Since Jan. 2013, over 220,000 miles traveled and 1100 days on the road. Over 700 blog posts written. 2023-We are closing in on 350th National Park unit. Photo below is Pacific Ocean by Big Sur, CA
Just a brief wrapup post to complete the blog for trip one. Saturday was not quite as rainy as we expected so we did go down to do some recreational shopping in Wabasha Minnesota. Wabasha is the home of the National Eagle Center, but we had been there before. We just walked the streets of the downtown and a little bit of the river.
Chris doing some recreational shopping Saturday
We returned to the River Nest bed-and-breakfast for several hours of reading and relaxing. Then we headed out to church in Wabasha and then had dinner at a local bar. All in all, not a lot to report.
What we did want to post are a series of pictures showing the elaborate and delicious breakfast meal provided at the River Nest. It starts with danish and juice at 8 AM. We enjoy this sitting in front of the windows in our room, watching the river and whatever birds, boats, and trains we might see. At 9 AM we go out to the dining room and have breakfast. This starts with a first course of yogurt and cut fruit. The main entrée varies. On Saturday it was crème brûlée French toast with sausage. After that, you have breakfast dessert. Saturday was Swedish cream and raspberry compote. You leave the table not planning on having lunch.
I have included a picture of another one of the tows that we saw from our room. The one we saw last night was not particularly visible in a picture, except for the search light used to help guide the tow and barges. I did not go outside to get a picture of the Empire Builder. Our views of that were pretty much head on and so only showed one or two cars. I didn’t feel like going out in the rain to get an angledshot of the entire train from engine till the end.
Today we just had breakfast, packed up, and headed for home. This ended our first trip. We believe the uncertainties have been conquered. The planning for additional and longer trips in the future will now begin.
Since tomorrow is supposed to be cold and rainy, we made today one of taking advantage of warm, partly cloudy weather to run to various museums and stores that were on our list.
The morning started out watching the bald eagles over the river; observing a US Army Corps of Engineers boat that was recording depth levels on the Mississippi River and in frontof our b and b;, and finally watching two maintenance workers for the Canadian Pacific Kansas City Southern Railroad that had utilized a creosote soaked rope to burn alongside the railroad tracks. We were informed that this process was done to heat up the bolts that are used to connect the railroad tracks and the ties. It was an unusual sight, to say the least.
Chris wished to return to a thrift store in Winona that she and Kathy have been to previously. We left after our morning scones at eight and breakfast at nine at the B&B. Excellent food to fuel our day.
Unfortunately, though, the thrift store is located in a strip mall that has been purchased, and the store has been forced to relocate. We arrived on a day in which they were closed in order to pack merchandise to move to their new location. Activity one foiled.
Activity number two was a visit to the La Crosse Wisconsin Heritage Center. I had read that they had a display on the Ho Chunk Indians, which I wanted to research for use on the Empire Builder Trails And Rails program.
The material on display in their exhibits, for the Ho Chunk and other topics, was basic and minimal. I obtained a few comments that I can use in the presentation, but nothing dramatic.
On the way there, we stopped at the Wisconsin visitor information center. I picked up some Wisconsin maps to use also on the Trails And Rails program. We also scoured their literature racks for information relating to Madison, Wisconsin, which we hope to visit in a few weeks.
All in all, actively number two was just so so.
Since we were finding ourselves with extra time, we backtracked to the Winona County History Museum. In our previous trips to Winona, we have seen numerous specialty museums, but not the basic county one. We were impressed by its scale and scope. The building is about 20 years old and the exhibits were worthwhile to visit. Winona is a center for stained glass artists as evidenced by the one example shown above. There are numerous stained glass windows on display in both commercial and non-commercial buildings.
Winona is an example of a very prosperous town from the late 1800s and which while suffering during the depression era, has managed to maintain an economic and cultural vitality. The volunteer at the history Museum informed us that the Minnesota Marine art Museum, which we have been to before, had a new display about a magnificent panorama.
Panorama’s are not well known today but in the middle to late 1800s they were a cultural phenomenon that thrilled, titillated, and educated the populous. Panoramas are normally 8 to 10 feet tall and 300 to 1500 feet long. They are stored on cylindrical rollers and unwrapped a section at a time. Chris and I had visited the St. Louis Art Museum in January 2024 in order to see the “Panorama of the Monumental Grandeur of the Mississippi Valley”. Unfortunately, it was Just moved back into storage when we were there. It was the only remaining example of those panoramas which were used to illustrate the Mississippi River to Americans outside the territory along the Mississippi. I had not been aware there were panoramas of other topics still in museums in the US.
The panorama we saw today was 1275 feet long and depicted an around the world trip of a whaling vessel. It was on loan from the New Bedford Museum. At the Minnesota Marine Art Museum, every 11 days they will advance the panorama 40 feet to show a new scene.
Activities three and four were well worth the time. We finished the afternoon with a fish and chips dinner at a restaurant overlooking the river in Winona. 
Yes, we are back. It has been a while. 2024 and the first part of 2025 had limited travel. The trips we took were of very short duration in Minnesota or to visit family. We chose not to put those on the blog. More extensive travel was postponed due to various health issues. Hopefully, the health issues are all past and travel will regain its priority in our lives.
Today’s trip is also of limited duration, but it’s a trip designed to get our toes in the water again, check out our stamina and ability to hike, etc.
We are starting with a four day, three night trip to a bed-and-breakfast along the Mississippi River in Reads Landing, Minnesota. Reads Landing is a small town just south of Lake Pepin and about a half an hour north of Winona, Minnesota. The B&B has an optimum viewing location that allows us to see eagles, ship traffic on the river, and trains.
Anderson Center at Tower View Farm 
The day began with a visit to the Anderson Center in Red Wing, Minnesota. The Anderson Center has an interesting history. While it is currently houses an art museum, alternative school, and some local offices, it began its existence as the home to the inventor Alexander Anderson. Anderson was born in the rural area just outside of Red Wing. Some of you who are old enough may remember Quaker Puffed Rice and Quaker Puffed Wheat. Anderson developed the process to puff grains into a cereal. Even though those cereals no longer can compete with sugary and chocolate cereal brands on the market, he made a lot of money from it. Anderson continued to develop other food related products and continued to obtain patents. He built the Anderson Center which was where he lived after he made his money.
Other connections to the Anderson Center include Central Research Laboratories which provides remote and sterile handling devices for nuclear and hazardous manufacturing processes. It was begun by three MIT graduates who relocated to Red Wing due to the wife of one of the founders being a daughter of Alexander Anderson. CRL had a unique product that won US government approval and continues to be an important manufacturer today.
We have been to the Anderson Center previously. It has several small gallery rooms with artwork from extremely well-known artists. Today, we came to see an exhibit of puppets. Minnesota is home to numerous puppet masters. This exhibit shows off their work in hand, tabletop, mask, and full-size puppets.
After the Anderson Center, and then lunch, we drove through the rural sections of Goodhue County to the Jarrett Rock Garden. This is one of those gardens/grotto’s with a series of sculptures made of stone or metal. Off the top of my head, I can recall at least three others that we visited in Wisconsin, one in Iowa, and one in Kansas. Seems to be a minor theme of our travels.
The Jarrett Rock Garden was completed about 60 years ago by a bachelor who did his work over three decades without communicating to others the meaning, purpose, or origin story behind his efforts. Now the sculptures are maintained by a local couple and are visited by back road wanderers like us.
After the rock garden, we drove to Lake City Minnesota. Lake City is at the center of the west side of Lake Pepin. Lake Pepin was formed by the sand dam created by eroded soils coming down the Chippewa River. When the fast flowing waters of the Chippewa River hit the Mississippi and its slower pace, the sand and soil dropped out, creating a barrier that backed up the Mississippi River creating Lake Pepin.
When the water of the Mississippi spreads out across the wide surface of Lake Pepin, it slows down. Likewise, at the end of the lake when it passes the sand blocking the exit of the lake, it speeds up as it goes into the narrow Mississippi River channel. This faster flowing water does not freeze during the winter. This makes it an ideal area to see eagles on a year-round basis. Just south of here in Wabasha, Minnesota is the National Eagle Center. It has wonderful exhibits and year-round viewing platforms to see eagles along the river. 
Lake Pepin and Lake City are also the acknowledged home of the beginning of water skiing. A local gentleman, Ralph Samuelson, in his late teens, sampled several different processes to be able to ski on top of water, similar to snow skiing. It took a while, but he was successful. He ended up traveling around the US giving water skiing demonstrations. The US Water Skiing Association recognizes Samuelson and Lake City as the origin of water skiing. We just took a little while to walk along the shore and enjoy the beautiful day and the sight of the lake hemmed by the 600 foot bluffs on both sides.
After Lake City, we stopped at LARK Toys in Kellogg, Minnesota. This is an amazing toy store which sells every type of new and old style book, puzzle, wood carved toys, dolls, Legos, etc. We did not buy anything, other than dessert of ice cream. The store is still family run and has been rated one of the top 10 toy stores in the world by USA Today.
Finally, we arrived at the River Nest bed-and-breakfast in Reads Landing, where we will spend the next three nights. Dinner was at the Reads Landing Brewery just up the street. Entertainment has been watching multiple trains go by, still waiting for the daily westbound Empire Builder, however.
Chris Klejbuk and Ed Heimel travel adventure 
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