Wabasha County

The most wonderful road trips of the year

Posted on December 25, 2017 by Crystal

When winter rolls around, I hop in the car to look for Christmas decorations on Minnesota main streets. I’m surprised that five years into these trips, there’s still so much variety to be seen. Not counting the simple snowflakes and wreaths, I keep spotting more tinsel or white-light shapes around nearly every corner.

My first trip of the season was a solo venture out west on 212 to Brownton, then north to Hutchinson and back on 7.

A snowflake, though with blue as well as white, in Norwood Young America:

and this fun stack of presents:

I ventured off the main road when I saw a sign for Biscay (which I hadn’t heard of), and I’m glad I did.

Four-pointed gold star hanging from a red swoop

Green tinsel tree with a gold diamond at the top and a red base

Candy canes across the bridge in Glencoe:

And stockings down the entire street in Winsted:

Cologne’s white wire shapes:

Wire drum with two drumsticks above, made of many different colors of lights

White wire candle with a halo, and a poinsettia with berries at the base

A sleigh in Missile Park in St. Bonifacius:

The next evening, we took a trip to Le Sueur to do the candlelight tour at the Mayo House. The park next to the house has this very bright tree:

A week later, my husband and I took a trip up 169 and back to the Twin Cities on 65. I got to take pictures from the passenger seat.

Princeton variety:

Two red tinsel candles with gold circles around their flames

Greenery wreath with four sets of three red berries, and three white candles in the center

Greenery wreath with four sets of three red berries, no candles in the center

Greenery tree, almost completely filled in, with a gold tinsel star and red tinsel trunk

Six-pointed snowflake with six swoops alternating

A red lantern hanging from spiral greenery

This fun garland in Onamia reminded me of the Grinch tree:

A park scene in Onamia:

I enjoy the decorations that cross a street, like this one in Milaca:

On the next street was this very festive bank:

After turning east at Lake Mille Lacs, we went through Isle. I first thought these swoopy stars were a fancy boot:

Santas in the library window:

On the east end of town, I wondered why Santa wasn’t in the sleigh on the roof, then I noticed he is piloting a boat:

Ogilvie has a simple version of the decoration we saw in Milaca:

Finally, on a sunny day two days before Christmas, we took a road trip south on Highway 61. Wintry trees along the highway:

Red Wing snowflake:

and a decoration that stretches to all four corners of the intersection of Bush and 3rd:

We drove through Minneiska quickly and didn’t get close to any of these, but I wanted to include them anyway:

White-outlined candy cane with red stripes and a big, green bow

Gold angel with white wings and halo, playing a white trumpet

Red-outlined candle with white dripping wax, with a yellow halo around a red flame

Kellogg started out with a plain snowflake near the highway, but driving into town we saw this great reindeer swag:

and then we stumbled across this simple and beautiful star display on the other end of town:

More photos

All of my Christmas road trip photos, including additional stops in Winona, Wahkon, Wabasha, Silver Lake, Plato, Lake City, La Crescent, Hutchinson, Carver, and Brownton

Previous Christmas road trips

Minnesota state parks in springtime

Posted on June 2, 2015 by Crystal

I’m always on the lookout for wildflowers, so at the first sign of spring, we headed out to four parks to see what we could find.

Wild River

I had a day off in early April and headed an hour north of the Twin Cities to Wild River State Park by myself. It was too early for wildflowers! But there were very clear views of the river and woods since none of the vegetation had grown in yet. It was a great day for a solo walk; I saw only one pair of runners during this 1.5-hour visit.