The massive prairies of the plains consisted of four distinct types....shortgrass, mixedgrass, tallgrass and prairie-forest transition. The plants which make up the tallgrass type have roots that extend 15 feet into the ground. Who would guess that insignificant-looking prairie plants could have such massive root systems? They look like trees which have root systems to match their above-ground size.
Tallgrass prairie plants above and below ground
Prairie isn't overly interesting to see and you'd never guess what the place is unless you'd read about it. The reason for our going there is that they have a small bison herd and this was our last chance to see bison.
There's a 20-foot-high viewing platform from which we couldn't see anything. However, we got lucky and found the herd right at the fence next to the road. It's a small herd, nothing like the hundreds we saw in South Dakota and Wyoming last summer, but it was wonderful to see bison again. This herd belongs to North Star Bison in Rice Lake, Wisconsin, which produces grass-fed bison meat. The animals spend their summers here at Belwin where they have plenty of prairie grass to eat and their presence helps the health of the prairie. Bison and prairies naturally go together. Bringing the bison here in the spring is a big event where people get to see the bison running after being unloaded from their transport vehicles.
After the bison-viewing and lunch we went into St. Paul hoping to visit the Como Park Conservatory. The area was absolutely packed, not a parking place to be found. We finally gave up on it and headed for the Minnesota History Center a few miles away.
Minnesota History Center
The history center is in a gorgeous building with a floor devoted to exhibits and another floor containing the library of the Minnesota Historical Society. We went to the library first, hoping to find information on some of my family members who were in the Minneapolis area around 1876. Didn't find anything about them but at least we gave it a shot.
There were three exhibits which looked like they were probably very good. However, they were full of very badly behaved children....screaming, yelling, running around and throwing things without an adult in sight. Two of the exhibits also had lots of displays with very loud audio components which were so close together it made them all unintelligible. We figured we would probably be arrested if we strangled the children so we skipped those three exhibits and went to the fourth which was reasonably quiet.
The remaining exhibit was supposed to be on the weather extremes of Minnesota (of which there are a lot) but it had a hodge-podge of displays, most of which were very interesting. The funniest one was on the Four Seasons in Minnesota: basement flooding, road construction, leaf raking and shoveling.
The Larson Falls Flyer
The only thing worth taking a picture of was this ultra-streamlined motorboat which was built in 1956 by the Larson Boat Company in Little Falls where we were last week. We had never seen anything like it. It's shaped rather like a bullet.
Minnesota State Capitol
On our way in and out of the history center we got a good view of the magnificent and newly renovated Minnesota State Capitol. The grand opening (or re-opening) of the building is going on today through Sunday with tours, music events and all sorts of things to attract and entertain crowds. Touring this building was on our list of things to do before we found out about the grand opening, but we will forge ahead anyway and attempt to tour it on Sunday. We're hoping the traffic will be lighter that day. It is anything but light during the week. The seven county greater Twin Cities area now has a population of around 3.6 million which makes for a whole lot of cars.
Church of the Assumption steeples dwarfed by a St. Paul skyscraper
St. Paul skyline
Although we had heavy traffic going south to the campground in Apple Valley it was nothing compared to the traffic going north. That's been the case for the three days we've traveled the same route. It's puzzling that the heaviest traffic is going towards the city during afternoon rush hour and away from it in the morning. We'll have to investigate this mystery if we can remember to ask (and then find) a local who might know about it.
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