The acclaimed headwaters of the Mississippi start at Lake Itasca so we took a short drive north with my brother’s family to visit Itasca State Park.

We discovered, though, a great deal of controversy on the subject of the true headwater or starting point of the Mississippi River. Wikipedia’s article on Lake Itasca tells the story: Henry Schoolcraft identified Lake Itasca as the river’s source in 1832. He had been part of a previous expedition in 1820 led by General Lewis Cass that had named nearby Cass Lake (which is downstream from Itasca) as the source of the river…The western arm of the lake is fed by two small streams on its south end. Nicolett Creek, which is considered too small to be considered as the headwaters, starts in a nearby spring. Another small stream leads into Itasca from Elk Lake, which in turn is fed by two other streams. In1887 Williard Glazier promoted a campaign to consider Elk Lake, which he called Glazier Lake, as the true source of the Mississippi. These streams, however, are generally considered too small to be categorized as the headwaters of the river. The decision was made by Jacob V. Brower, a land surveyor and president of the Minnesota Historical Society, who after spending five months exploring the lakes ruled that the lakes and streams further south of Lake Itasca were not the true source of the Mississippi.

This led us all to wonder what really did constitute the beginnings of a river. Was it the first trickle of water? Was it the earliest lake from which is originates? Or something else? And we also wondered when rivers join, how it is decided which river it is at that point.

Regardless, the headwaters are now officially located at Lake Itasca at a very obvious point. It is obvious because in the 1930’s the Civilian Conservation Corps actually moved the channel of the Mississippi as it emerged from the lake to make a more pleasant experience for visitors. They drained the swamp, dug the new channel and installed a man-made rock barrier to create rapids from the lake to the channel. Now tourists who visit the site wade across the rock barrier.

We’re always on the lookout for new and interesting games. At our resort we found two unique games. The two games, set up in the playground area, involved balls and competition with one other opponent.

In carpetball, two players stand at opposite ends of a long, narrow carpeted table. They set up pool balls on their end of the table. The object is to knock the opponents balls with the cue ball. Each player takes turns rolling the cue ball. We each developed some strategies but none of us became unbeatable at carpetball.

In knuckleball, two players stand next to each other with a paddle. Balls, whiffle or tennis, are played in the playing area and hit with the paddles. The goal is to get the ball on your opponents side and have it roll off. When the ball rolls off, the person on the other side is declared the winner. The difficulty of this games can be changed depending on how many balls or what time of balls are in play.

We had fun experimenting and taking turns playing these games with one another.

No internet. No TV. No phone calls.

Here we were out in the middle of Minnesota with some real free time. With two full days at the resort we had time to feel free and to relax.

We moved slowly from activity to activity. We would be with different people and doing different things, depending on what each person wanted to do. Here are some of the activities:

• Swim
• Canoe
• Kayak
• Hang out in the cabin
• Play games (Carcassone, for example) at the cabin
• Paddleboats
• Play games at the playground
• Visit and talk
• Relax on the dock
• Read books

We stayed in the new 4-bedroom cabin with plenty of beds, rooms, dining space, living space and a large kitchen – more than enough for our family (who stayed upstairs in one room), my brother’s family, my dad and Barbara.

We shared several meals together in the cabin. Barbara fried bluegill fish that my dad had caught earlier in the week in Wisconsin, Gary grilled burger outside on the deck and we put together another meal of spaghetti and sides.

Everyone arrived on Wednesday and left on Saturday morning. I had chosen the resort so I had worried if everyone would like it. From all the comments, I really think everyone had a great time and the resort was perfect for our needs.

“Hello Canada!” Jaclyn and Jennifer yelled as they stood on the shore of Rainy River in International Falls, Minnesota. The Rainy river separates the United States and Canada.

The girls enjoyed being so close to another country. They tried to get as close as possible. They threw stones into the river, hoping they would reach Canada. They yelled across the river. They waved to people in boats traveling along the river.

Hello Canada!

On Wednesday morning, we arrived early at the Kabetogama Lake visitor center at Voyageurs National Park for a north canoe voyage. Led by two park employees dressed as Voyageurs, we learned about the Voyageurs through drama and storytelling.

We learned that Voyageurs were French-Canadians who paddled birch bark canoes from Montreal through this area of Minnesota and west to Lake Athabasca. They brought goods from Montreal and traded them for furs. The North West and Hudson Bay Companies hired men who could not swim so they would have incentive to help keep the canoe afloat and would not steal the goods or furs. Additionally, they rode in canoes made of birch bark, cedar and spruce roots. Every day they would inspect the boat for wear and tear caused by rapids and portaging, then make any repairs. Each Voyageur wore a red or blue wool hat, a brightly colored shirt, a sash to guard against hernias, trousers, leggings to keep leeches from crawling up the body, stockings, and moccasins.

We were each given a sash to wear and a paddle. We boarded our 26-foot canoe, and started out for open water. We tried to sing as Voyageurs were very good singers, but we were not very good. I think we disappointed our guides! Once in open water, we found it a bit rocky so we headed closer to shore. At one point we took a break among the reeds. As we canoed and took a break, we learned a lot about the Voyageurs in an entertaining way.

The views were great and we even saw the Minnesota state flower, the pink and white lady’s-slipper.

June 20

Driving north, we spent out first night on the road in Hayward, Wisconsin. We loved the Comfort Suites there with its resort atmosphere, comfortable rooms and location on the lake.

Tuesday morning we drove north to Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. We did not have time to take a ferry to one of the islands so we opted for a hike. The Lakeshore Trail, runs along the mainland and past the cliffs above the mainland sea caves.

It wasn’t our best planned hike. The trail was wet and muddy, creating many water logged areas along the trail. I was wearing less than ideal shoes. The trail also had many stream crossing, including bridges – one aspect that particularly bothered Jackie. All these things led to a less than perfect hike. Jennifer did well until the return trip when she slipped, lost her shoe in the mud and had to walk back with muddy and wet shoes and socks.

The views, though, were lovely. Our final destination, the sea caves, gave us the opportunity to watch the waves crash into the caves.

June 19

Date: Monday morning. And we were headed on the road.

Destination: Our cabin in Minnesota.

Route: Indirect through Wisconsin and Northern Minnesota
Knowing my children enjoy history and especially any historical reenactments, we ventured north to Old World Wisconsin, a recreated world in which farmers, tradesmen and shopkeepers lead their lives in the same way of 19th century Wisconsin settlers.

In 9 areas we discovered buildings, people and the life of early Wisconsin settlers from German, Polish, Finnish, Danish, Norwegian, Yankee America and African-American backgrounds. A village includes an inn, shoe shop, blacksmith ship, church and general store.

Since it was a slow day, we received lots of attention. “Settlers” in many of the areas would tell us a lot about the times and what the settlers were enduring. In the German area, the girls petted a horse. In the Norwegian area, the girls rolled dough to make a pie and in the Finnish area, the girls saw a newborn calf and visited a root cellar.

The most impressive building for us was the building separate from the main house in the Finnish area, the sauna.

We had planned to spend 1-2 hours in Old Wisconsin. Our visit, which wasn’t exhaustive, although it was tiring, took 4 hours.

June 18

In Chicago Mike’s mom brought out of storage an old toy, Lite Brite. Jennifer and I made several creations together. We used the patterns but were not always delighted with the color choices on the patterns so we changed the designs a bit. It was a fun, relaxing time together.

On Sunday in Illinois, Mike’s parents drove us to the Illinois Railway Museum. The museum features over 4,000 pieces of railroad equipment. There were many trains on display and a few of trains had internal access. The girls really enjoyed sitting inside the regular and dining cars. In one train, we could climb into the front of the engine where the engineer would have sat. We rode on a 5-mile mainline car from an old North Shore Line. With windows open, we enjoyed the breeze.

We enjoyed the museum but not the 90 degree heat and humidity of Union, Illinois. Due the the heat, Jackie ran out of stream before we finished the whole grounds of the museum. We avoided heat exhaustion due to the wonderful museum provided water misters!

June 17