By the time we returned to the bus, we were ready to call it a day. Our sightseeing adventures had taken longer than we had thought and since we had planned on stopping for the night at a casino in Cass Lake anyway, staying in Bemidji wasn't that far off.

We had decided we were going to visit some friends from our Navy days who lived in Rhinelander, WI. So, we got up early the next day and set off. We passed through Grand Rapids and I managed to take a picture of the Mississippi as we went by. It had definitely grown wider since we'd last seen it. One thing I forgot to mention was that the river ran north 30 miles towards Bemidji, before it went in a wide arc towards the east and then the south. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why it would be heading north first, until I read on a marker at the Visitors Center that it's all downhill towards the north, east and then south. Ahhh, okay, that makes sense, but, then I was wondering where all the water was coming from, since there are no high mountains with snow on them in this part of the country. My friend, Jane, just yesterday, explained to me that it comes from underground springs under the lake.