For the past several years I have been making occasional trips to my dad's place in south eastern MN, and from there forays into Wisconsin and Iowa for various reasons. Well outside of the incidental trip to Iowa in the next year or so, possibly not even that far into the future, I am not going to have a major reason to be traveling. That's because my dad is heading out to the state of Washington for his retirement, which leaves me with a few cousins in the twin cities and surounding communities, and not all that much else.
As a result I am looking at the year 2007 as a travel for myself year. I would like to make visits to half a dozen or so places in the state and see what they have to offer. Community celebrations of some type would be nice, and if I can work Ham radio into the visits, that would be great too.
My intention is to make an average of one trip every two months. Probably a Friday - Sunday, or Frida - Monday outing. With my schedule, about a third of the possible weekends are shot, If I am scheduled for a Saturday night, it is unlikely that I will get a vacation day.
All that said, I have a couple of places in mind that I do want to go, Bemidji, and with it Lake Itasca, and some event in Winona. Steamboat days there is likely to be out, as the Convergence Science Fiction Convention happens that same week, and I happen to be rather involved with it. Big Stone Lake holds some attraction, as I spent parts of many summers there until my grandparents passed away and the cabin and trailer there were sold.
There are many places in MN that are possible. A couple of potentially helpful thoughts are that I would like the place to be at least 75 miles away, and it would be helpful if they had a motel that was dog friendly. I am not sure about KOAs, I don't mind the thought of camping, I have a tent and sleeping bags, but I am not as sure about dogs being welcome.
Do you have some favorite communities that you would like to recommend. What is the big event for the year, and what dates does it happen on in 2007? Is there an active Amature community in the area, and who do you recommend contacting there?
Part of this would hopefully include some hamfests. That isn't a requirement though, and just because some place has a hamfest going on, isn't likely to be enough to get me to go there, unless it is less than 75 miles away.
Thank you for any suggestions.
73,
de kc0vcu - Rusty