Paul Bunyan’s Backyard

Last summer, my wife, Jen, and I embarked on an exciting adventure, hitching up our travel trailer and setting our sights on Brainerd, MN. We made Lum Park on Rice Lake our home base, perfectly situated just a short bike ride away from the charming historical district and the scenic Paul Bunyan Trail. Arriving on a beautiful Wednesday afternoon, we couldn’t wait to dive into downtown for a memorable date night. 

At Shep’s On 6th, nearly every inch of space was taken up by sports memorabilia. Vikings, Twins, Timberwolves and North Stars jerseys hung on the walls in frames, but that wasn’t all. Whoever put together this collection is a real fanatic, and a closer look revealed more and more collectibles, the longer we looked. Signed golf tees, baseball bats, boxing gloves and a myriad other sports knickknacks were sprinkled throughout the room, along with a door from Jeff Gordon’s #24 race car and a collection of jerseys from Brainerd natives who had gone pro. A glass case holding a pair of boots from a Vikings cheerleader rounded out the collection. The sports ticker behind the bar streamed constant game updates in a running line, and of course, multiple games were on TV.

Sports are definitely king at Shep’s. But, the evening we visited, his majesty had yielded the court to a uniquely Minnesotan event, the meat raffle. It’s just what you think. You buy tickets and hopefully win various meats as prizes. We were all in. When it was time for a new round of drawings, the music turned off and a hush fell over the crowd as the winners were announced. By the light of the neon beer signs and a chandelier made from Smirnoff Vodka bottles, we clutched our tickets and waited for our numbers to come up. Between turns, we devoured a pizza and a Shep’s specialty, the Big A** Pretzel. The place had a fun and friendly vibe on a Wednesday night, and we walked out with a robust haul.

The next day, we hung around camp and went for a paddle on Rice Lake. We didn’t have to bring our own kayak, because there was a self-service rental station at the beach near the campground. All we had to do was download the app and enter our information. The caged door opened with a whir and a click, we grabbed paddles and life jackets, and were on the water in no time. Rice Lake is an appendage of the Mississippi River, which flows through Brainerd from the northeast to the southwest. Going with the flow, the trip is cut short by the Brainerd Dam. Going upriver, the possibilities for day trips are endless and there are islands and sandbanks to explore. Returning the kayaks was just as easy, and everything slipped back into its home by the beach.

After paddling, hunger drove us out of camp, but we had one stop to make before finding a place to eat. At The Crossing Arts Alliance in downtown Brainerd, the Cup North II Exhibit was happening. Three dozen artists were asked to produce five mugs each, to give examples of their style and creativity. We walked around the gallery to look at the exhibits, and the variety of styles was amazing. Given only instructions to make a cup, these artists came up with shapes that ranged from organic to geometric, and forms in between. Some were intricately carved, some plain with fancy designs drawn into the shiny glaze. One set in particular, featuring human and animal faces, stood out for its details, the use of a dull glaze and the expressions on the faces

A pizza from Dough Bros Woodfire Kitchen was just what we needed after the activities of the day. If your formative years were the eighties and nineties, you’ll feel right at home there. The walls of the long dining room were decorated with gold-framed pictures of that era’s pop culture greats. If David Hasselhof as crime fighter Michael Knight sitting on the hood of his talking car, KITT, doesn’t ring a bell, maybe the cheesy troupe of the American Gladiators, bulging under their spandex suits, will shake the cobwebs off those long-forgotten memories. It was a trip back in time for us. 

At the end of the room, the wood-fired oven beckoned. Clad in red and white tile, it was the star of the show, and the two pizza chefs on duty were busy rolling, topping and shuffling pies in and out of its fiery maw. Fifteen minutes later, it was time to sink our teeth into the hot and bubbly pizza we had been waiting for. There was nothing not to like about my Short Dawg pie, as it combined my love for pizza and my love for barbecue, with a healthy dose of short ribs as a topping. Jen’s Over the Top was just that, loaded with bacon, ham, pepperoni, sausage, and prosciutto. After another busy day, we turned in early.

Pillsbury State Forest’s 25,000 acres are home to about 30 miles of wooded trails in a mixed forest of deciduous and coniferous trees. Even a simple drive down the forest roads can be beautiful, but we decided to park the car and go for a hike on a pleasant Friday morning. Most trails were wide, grassy paths, shared with horseback riders. However, we found some very narrow hunter walking paths as well. Without much pre-planning, we let intuition guide us through the rolling, rocky hills. 

Occasionally, there was the sparkle of a lake through the dense woods, then on the next turn, we were in a wide open area that had recently been logged. Pillsbury State Forest is a managed forest and, through logging and reforestation, the picture constantly changes. We drifted around aimlessly for a while, when we came to a familiar intersection. Surprise! We had just walked a giant lollipop and were on the way back to the car. Next time, we decided, we’d bring a paper map of the forest trails, as trail signage was sparse, and internet connection iffy in the woods.

We had worked up an appetite and drove a little farther up the road to the city of Lake Shore to have lunch. At Sunshine’s Summer House, a fun, casual restaurant on the shores of Gull Lake, we enjoyed the calm and sunny day on the patio, listening to Bob Marley spread the vibes of late summer. From the cocktail menu, we picked the lavender bee’s knees, sans the gin. Lunch arrived, and the burnt ends with corn, jalapeño and pickled onions were gone fast. We were off to our next destination.

When Jen and I travel the state, we search for the unique and local, because visiting those kinds of places make the trip worthwhile.
Cherrywood Hand-Dyed Fabrics does more than just what the name says. This homegrown Baxter business transforms ordinary cotton muslin cloth into soft-as-suede high thread count fabric, through a series of dye baths and washings. After 35 years of perfecting the process, their product comes in 200 colors and is highly prized by quilters, who call from places as far away as Australia and Dubai. We met with Lorrene Maroney, head dyer and shipping manager, who gave us a tour. It was a fascinating look behind the scenes that began in the showroom, brimming with colored fabric patches and completed quilts on the walls. It went on to cover the dye room, where a dozen or so washing machines were churning away. Jen may have found a new thing to try with her sewing machine. I learned that a quilt is not just for grandma’s Davenport anymore, because it can also be a piece of art.

We closed the evening at Dennis Drummond Wine Co, just a short drive from Lum Park.
In the tasting room, a very engaging Jody Drummond, Dennis’ wife, was hosting guests in the bistro. Neither of us are wine drinkers, but we started things out with a sample flight on Jody’s suggestion. The L-shaped room was cozy, with a pub atmosphere, and much of the back wall was taken up by a chalk board menu, which was full of comfort foods. It didn’t take long for me to settle on the schnitzel with red cabbage, and Jen had the Swedish meatballs. We were tasting our way through the flight, when Dennis Drummond himself stopped by and invited us on a private tour of the winery. Glasses in hand, we tagged along. When the couple designed the winery, Jody, an event manager by trade, wanted to host weddings, Dennis said. As a result, the winery features an enormous ballroom and patio, as well as a private bride’s suite.

We went on to the fermentation room, then the cellar, where wines slumbered away in oak barrels. We were surprised to find out that white oak is shipped from Minnesota to France, where it is coopered and shipped back as barrels; an 8,000-mile round trip as the crow flies.
Back at camp, sleep came early and we rested up for another ambitious itinerary.

Wings Airport Cafe was the place to be on a Saturday morning, and we were lucky to snag the last seats in the house. Yes, there’s a restaurant in the Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport that quietly serves up great home-style cooked meals to the public, no boarding pass required. We slid into our seats and watched the planes taxi on the runway through the picture windows, after we ordered. Our beef fritter and eggs Benedict arrived fast and were delicious.

We needed that fuel for the next item on the itinerary of the day, a trip down the Paul Bunyan Trail. Back at camp, we suited up and rolled out, destination Merrifield. To connect with the trail, we biked through a neighborhood, then turned north on Mill Ave. The bridge across the Mississippi River, or Rice Lake, had great views of where we paddled the day before. We continued on low-traffic roads with ample shoulders, then connected with the Paul Bunyan Trail. It was a wonderful, sunny day and the going was easy. Riding this section of the trail brought back memories of a long time ago, when Jen and I took our very first multi-day bike trip. It took us one day to get to the Paul Bunyan Trail from home, and we took it and the Heartland Trail all the way to Nevis over two more days. We hadn’t been on this section of the trail together in almost 20 years, and we reminisced along the way. Turns out, we remembered the details differently, but we agreed that it was an adventure. Merrifield was the turnaround point, and we cruised back through the same up north scenery we enjoyed on the way out

We rolled into the parking lot of the 371 Diner just in time for lunch, and, again, hit a popular spot. The outside of this diner-style, metal-clad restaurant was shinier than the bumper on a 1955 Mercury Montclair and glistened brightly in the noon sun. Inside, the theme continued. Glittery, red, upholstered booths, reminiscent of bumper cars, lined the walls and chrome swivel stools sparkled at the lunch counter. Below, a classic black and white checker floor; above a silver tin ceiling and red neon. When we walked in, I couldn’t resist doing my best Arthur Fonzarelli, but all I got was the side-eye from Jen. We bellied up to the counter and enjoyed our turkey club and patty melt, before returning to camp, where we took the rest of the day off to enjoy our quiet campsite.

The Spot 371 is a toy store, candy store, soda fountain, ice cream parlor and restaurant, but they also serve a breakfast specialty. If you’ve never heard of a bubble waffle, you’re not alone. We found out it’s a thin, crepe-like batter cake, and its dough spheres marry the softness of a pancake with the cargo-holding ability of a waffle. Topped with our choice of breakfast food, it was a familiar taste, served a new way. It was a fun place to fuel up for the last adventure on our Brainerd trip, a Sunday hike.

Located about nine miles south of Brainerd, at the confluence of the Crow Wing and Mississippi rivers, Crow Wing State Park’s name derives from the wing-shaped island at the junction of the two rivers. 18 miles of hiking trails travel through a blend of oak forests and prairie areas, and are open year-round. Hikers can retrace the early fur traders’ footsteps on the Woods Trail, which is part of the famous ox cart route used to transport goods in the days before the railroad. A boardwalk with interpretive signs, through what was once the bustling village of Crow Wing, takes you back in time to the early settlers. Crow Wing State Park is also the southern terminus of the 123-mile, paved Paul Bunyan State Trail, which winds through Minnesota’s northern forests and ends at Lake Bemidji State Park.

We’ve visited this park before, but had not been to the southern part, where the Red River Trail
passes by the site of a 1768 battle between the Dakota and Ojibwe. Starting from the picnic area, we fashioned a nice loop hike through the woods, and along the Mississippi River. It was just enough of a walk to warrant an al fresco lunch. At a picnic table, we unpacked sandwiches we had picked up at Mickey’s Pizza and subs in Brainerd earlier. It was another pleasant day and a light breeze rustled the leaves in the oaks trees around us. Every once in a while, an acorn plopped to the ground with a soft thud. It was peaceful, and we did what we could to stretch out this moment, and avoid going back to real life after playing in Paul Bunyan’s backyard.