Minnesota - Day 26 - south to New Ulm

Flandrau State Park, New Ulm

Monday, 26 September 2022

I didn't haul us out of the campground this morning until 9:00 because I was reading newspapers I bought yesterday when I stopped for gas.

today's route

I headed south on the Glacial Ridge Trail Scenic Byway, per a sign.

A church I passed noted they'll have a "Polka Service" at 9 AM - either yesterday or next Sunday, I guess.

We came to Alexandria, pop. 13,182 - the big city of the area.  I stopped at a red light, and when the light changed both I and the guy next to me paused for just a moment before moving forward - and that may have saved a life.  A guy in a pickup towing a long metal trailer ran his very red light and both I and the guy next to me missed hitting him only because we'd paused.  It was very scary to me, and I'm sure to the guy next to me.

We passed by Sauk Center, and I noticed it has a Sinclair Lewis Avenue.  I looked it up and learned that Sinclair Lewis was indeed born in Sauk Center and lived there until he graduated high school.  He was the first American writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature and is best known for his novels Main Street, Babbitt, and It Can't Happen Here.

As we went down the highway, I saw a whole lot of corn.  It's actually not possible for me to describe how much corn I saw - and MN only ranked 4th among the states in 2021 for corn production.

Sometimes it seemed like I was seeing an anti-abortion billboard for every corn field I passed.  There are a lot of them in MN, which seems odd since this is a state where abortion is allowed as a constitutional right up to viability.

Then we came to Belgrade, pop. 738, which has a large solar field nearby.  I'd accidentally noticed that Google said I'd find the world's largest statue of a crow in the middle of the road here, so I was looking for it.  And though it wasn't in the middle of the road, it would have been nearly impossible to miss.

There seemed to be some activity buildings by a parking lot on the other side of this display, so we stopped there and Dext and I went out for a little walk.

It really is big.
Dimensions and explanation of the flags below.

This says it's 25' up to the branch (which is 30' long) under the crow
(which weighs 3,000 pounds) and another 18' from there to the top.

Seems like an awful big display for such a small town.

We stopped at Olivia, pop. 2,484, which calls itself "The Corn Capital" and has a statue to go along with their title.

Actually, this fiberglass statue was put up in 1973, long before the Minnesota Senate designated Olivia as the "Corn Capital of the World" in 2005.

The statue sits near a small city park, where Dext and I walked around for a bit after having some lunch.

A little farther along the road, the town of Morton, pop. 411, also had a large solar field.

In the town of Franklin, pop. 510, I saw a business called McGowan Lawn and Snow - which is sure one way to cover all the bases.

In the area of Fairfax, 1,250, I saw a lot of sugar beets.  Originally most farmers in Minnesota produced wheat.  But they had some very high yield years and the price dropped too low for them to make a living.  So they began to diversify and learned they could actually improve their yields by also planting corn and soybeans.  Later they added in sugar beets to the mix.

From Fairfax I turned on progressively smaller roads, ending up on one that was barely 2 lanes wide and had been designated the Mississippi River Valley Scenic Byway.  After almost 17 miles of that, I found myself absolutely nowhere that Google had told me I'd be.  But having almost no choice (not really enough room to turn around), I kept going and discovered Google was more than 6 miles off on its mileage.  That's a lot of miles to be off.

I crossed the Mississippi, which I'd been driving somewhat parallel to, and came to New Ulm, pop. 14,120.  I went first to find the glockenspiel I'd heard they had here.

This is the glockenspiel.

A sign nearby told me I was too late for one show and too early for the next.  So I decided to go find the post office and walk Dext while I was waiting.

one side

the other side

My wonderful family had sent me mail c/o General Delivery to the post office here, and it was there waiting for me.  A few blocks down the street was a nice large park with big trees and lots of grass, so Dext and I went down there.  I found this historical marker about the town.

Some info about the town's beginning.

part 2 of the message.

There was also this statue, which I thought looked a little odd, especially since it was erected in 1991 so can't claim deterioration from age.

German Bohemian Immigrants

on one side of the statue

on another side

In the neighborhood I saw a style of gingerbread I don't remember seeing before.

Looks very lacy.

We walked back to the square in time for the next glockenspiel performance.  This first sign explains the characters that display themselves in the tower.

And here's about 2 minutes of the show.  Sorry - you'll have to turn your screen sideways.

We waited until the end of the program (a full 10 minutes in all) and then drove through town, passing the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame.  It's open only on Thursdays through Saturdays, so I couldn't have seen it in any case, though it would have cost $6, which seems a little steep for what it is.  On the other hand, they say they have exhibits for Bob Dylan, Judy Garland and Prince, among many, which might have made it more enticing.

Tonight's campground was actually in town, though we descended quite a way to wind up alongside the Cottonwood River, arriving in our campsite by 3:30.

It was pleasant and wooded, and I thought some of the buildings looked like the CCC had put them up.  Which turned out to be the case, according to this history of the park that I found.

The campground had 2 sections and there weren't more than a dozen groups staying the night in the whole place - so it was quiet and comfortable.