Part Two... Up North

If we are gonna be up in Park Rapids we might as well visit Walker too!

Walker and Leech Lake go together. 

It's great little town that sits on the edge of a gigantic lake.

Rick and I spent last Sunday in Walker, walking the streets, shopping the shops...  

...then parking our lawn chairs on the shore in the city park.

Ahhhh, so relaxing

A little ways from where we were sitting there was lots of action,

we watched the boats race in with their catch's for the day. 

The fishermen were competing in a fishing contest, with a 40,000 dollar purse.

This guy was hoping for some food...no such luck buddy!

Had my "zoom lens" on and caught this beauty flying overhead.

This loon was really putting on a show for us, he was cleaning his feathers...

and just swimming by, minding his own business

You can only read for so long...nap time  :)

 after a nap, it's time for a little Mexican food

Good stuff  :)

Ethnic Festival, Walker....Part two

While Rick and I were wandering the streets of Walker last Friday evening, 

we noticed posters in the store windows advertising an Ethnic Festival the next day.

 There would be vendors selling their goods, a parade and 

ethnic foods in the park....SCORE!!!

 Something fun to look forward to while we were visiting this little community 

We listened to this Ojibwe Indian as he gave a presentation

 and played some beautiful tunes on his flute. 

The Ojibwe bands moved into the region during the mid-to-late 1700's.

The reservation is SE of Bemidji with Walker just outside on the SW corner.

The Vendors...

 Beautiful handmade goods

 Working on her craft

Hand painted window hangings

 Loved this dress

Couldn't resist this photo, 

their mama was selling baked goods and was close by

My social butterfly (Left) striking up a conversation with

 a guy selling Djembe's (african drum)

The parade ...

Off with the hat...

I love how there is still respect when the national anthem is being sung!

 I'm half Norwegian so I especially liked this float...

"Eat Lots of Lefse" I love Lefse!

 The elderly showing they can still play a good tune!

 Oh, I just loved this beautiful sweater,

(and her cute little over the shoulder bag)

These long wooden horns produced a beautiful sound...they stopped right in front of us to play. 

Does anyone know what ethnicity this represents?   Danish perhaps?

 Pow-wow float

This little guy was quite proud of his heritage, his dancing showed it!

 More dancing

Did I mention there was food.....

 Rick and I shared a Gyro, It was delicious

We decided that it was a big partaking to eat this messy morsel, 

so we sat down with a fork at a near by picnic table and visited with some locals 

while we enjoyed our lunch.

"Up North"

 "Up North" typically means anything north of the Twin Cities.... 

Rick and I love up north!

We will be doing out annual north shore trip in a few weeks but this last weekend we felt we needed a little pre-trip to the north country to another area we love, today I will highlight Walker MN

We love to sit out on the marina and look at the activity on Leech Lake 

It was a bit nippy this weekend so there wasn't a whole lot going on

 but the lake was pretty just the same! 

we spotted this pretty little natural wood sail boat...just cute I guess  :)

There are plenty of shops to browse...and we do
  

Love this wooden pelican that sits atop the "Bayside bar & grill"

A favorite place for dinner, Zona Rosa

More on Walker in an upcoming post :)

Vacation....just the two of us

After the kids had all left and went back to their perspective homes,

 Rick and I had 2 days to ourselves...

Thursday

 Rick wanted to show me one of his favorite up north courses 

and his precision putting techniques

I used to golf but now I watch ... and cheer him on

After golf we headed back to the cabin for a swim, then to Dorset

 (a few miles down the road from Park Rapids) 

Dorset is a cute little town made up mostly of 5 restaurants. 

We like the Dorset House.

Friday

 Walker is only about 30 miles from Park Rapids,  

It's a beautiful town that sits on the SW corner of Leech Lake.

(third largest lake in minnesota)

We asked ourselves...."why have we never come to Walker" 

 We sat at the marina for awhile watching the boats and seagulls....so pretty,

We walked up and down the main street, checking out the uniques shops

 Check out the thermos made into a lamp

 remember these....brought back memories for us

General Store

Our big purchase, a pair of Keen's Mary Janes for me

and some comfy Columbia shoes for Rick

main street

Hand made soap in about any scent

On the way back to the cabin we stopped in Akeley to say hi to this guy.

 Worlds largest kneeling, Paul Bunyan is 20 ft tall and was built in 1984

We really enjoyed the town of Walker and will make it one of our "shopping days" when we vacation in the years to come. I might add we enjoyed a breakfast sandwich at Hardees, Rick's favorite fast food in the whole world, Rochester does not have one, so this was quite the treat  :)