The Mississippi River's Headwaters are at Lake Itasca near Bemidji, Minnesota. It doesn't look quite the same as the river many see near New Orleans as you can tell by the fact that our Grandson Cam (right) and Son Rich (left) walk across the rocks at its origin. Pretty neat spot!
The spot is also quite a contrast to Bangkok, Thailand where Rich lives and teaches English at Thammasat University.
We spent a few nights at Phil and Mary Gelhorn's lake home on Birch Lake near Hackensack. We were able to get in a bit of canoeing one morning when the lake was like glass. Very serene and if you look closely in the one picture you can see three lake otters that were having a ball as they played with us, but kept their distance from the canoe.
In another few weeks Birch Lake will freeze over and snow will blanket the area; temperatures just may get down to -40 during December or January. Snowmobiles will then replace the canoes!
