Neighboring Minnesota's Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge

Today we're headed across the Red River of the North into Minnesota.  Folks at the hospital told Granpa that if you get far enough into Minnesota there are scenic roads and some cool stuff.  So we're off!

Jeepers!  Look at all those lakes and rivers!!  No wonder it's called the Land of 10,000 Lakes!!

Not that lakes and rivers do much good in the winter time.  The rivers are frozen more solid than the lakes.  Folks use them for snowmobiling nowadays, but I'd just bet you a hundred years ago they were used by horses and maybe even dog sleds.  (Well, maybe it's too far south for dog sleds.)  That stripe down the middle is pure ice.

We see river ice fishing here in CrookstonMinnesota:

 Beautiful sky!  And all of those trees are coated in ice.  It's really, really pretty!

We're tootlin' down the highway, and I see a sign pointing to the Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge.  I read in some of our touristy stuff that there's MOOSE there!  Ah, what the heck, why not, says Granpa, and we hang a left.  Going north is not going to bring us any warmer weather nor greener grass (duh!), but we just might see something of interest.

Yuppers!  There on the side of the road is a bunch of great big ol' deer - white tail deer, judging from the way they raised those white "flags" and headed for the tree line.

They stop for a minute or two, way far away, and study us, then decide we are indecipherable, turn and head into the stand of trees.  Thanks, guys, for the look-see.  We appreciate it.  Sorry to trouble you!

The farther north we head the smaller the road gets.  Could be not a good idea to go on, but if the rivers and lakes are frozen enough to support a car or truck, we're guessin' there won't be a muddy road in the whole state for us to get stuck on.

Finally we see another sign for the Refuge and hang a right onto a gravel road.  It's a wide, well-maintained gravel road, so we don't even hesitate.  We do, however, seem to be the only people in this northwest corner of Minnesota...

Another couple of deer, and another.  Granpa got this one on the fly:

There's a second one to the right, but you have to do a "Where's Waldo" to find him.

And that was it for the Wildlife Refuge.  No moose, just in the west side, out the east side, and nothing to show for it but a few deer.  But, okay.  We're just out for the ride anyway.  You grandkids know us well enough to know the ride is what is all about, eh?  And God was good enough to give us a few critters to appreciate.  Thank you, Lord.