In the area:
The heart of Minnesota is dappled with hundreds of lakes and traced by the Mississippi River. The fish in these renowned waters have drawn anglers to these shores for well over a century, and still do today. This area was home to some of Minnesota's first lakeside resorts, and now offers a wide range of resorts, including some of the largest in the state. Today's visitors also find some of the finest golf courses in the country here. And the legendary lumberjack Paul Bunyan looms large in this area.
The lovely rivertown of Little Falls has a historic downtown with colorful murals and pretty riverside parks. Just across the river, the boyhood home of aviator Charles Lindbergh is open for tours and an interpretive center tells more about this interesting family. Nearby is the Charles A. Weyerhaeuser Memorial Museum, with more about the area's past, including its lumber industry. The Pine Grove Zoo features a variety of animals, from prairie dogs to bears, and the Minnesota Fishing Museum has a vast collection of antique lures.
Nearby is Camp Ripley, a large training center for the National Guard and Army Reserve. The Minnesota Military Museum here has weapons, uniforms and other memorabilia dating from 1850 related to Minnesotans' military service.
The Brainerd Lakes area is well-known vacation destination, popular for fishing and golfing. Besides the bounty of lakeside resorts and campgrounds in the area, there are numerous motels right in Brainerd and adjacent Baxter. In the winter, the woods and waters of the Brainerd Lakes area draw snowmobilers, ice anglers, cross-country and downhill skiers.
The bustling city of Brainerd anchors this lakes region. Kids enjoy visiting Paul Bunyan at an amusement park east of Brainerd, where Paul greets them by name. Another major lure for young people is the indoor waterparks at several lodges in the adjacent town of Baxter. Other attractions in the area are Brainerd International Raceway, Northland Arboretum, several art galleries, and mini-golf, go-karts and horse-back riding stables.
Just to the north of Brainerd is a cluster of lakes, including Gull, North Long, Pelican and the Whitefish chain of lakes. The villages of Nisswa, Pequot Lakes, Crosslake and Pine River harbor an array of fun shops and restaurants.
At Pequot Lakes, the water tower looks like a giant fishing bobber poised above the town. Crosslake has a shady town square lined with attractive new shops. The Nisswa Square is another nice spot to take a shopping break, and there are weekly turtle races in town during the summer. Down the road at Pine River, weekly duck races, using floating decoys, have been a tradition for years.
The Brainerd Golf Trail is another top draw to the area, boasting 17 courses, some designed by the most respected names in golf. Some of the finest championship golf courses in the Midwest are found here, as well as more easygoing courses. Several of the courses are at upscale, lakeside resorts, some with spas. Golfers will enjoy the challenges of The Pines, Deacon's Lodge, The Classic, The Legacy, The Lakes, Whitefish and Golden Eagle golf clubs and other excellent courses.
The 70-mile Paul Bunyan Trail is paved for biking, and runs north from Baxter up past Hackensack. It links many of the small towns in the Brainerd Lakes area, so it's easy to make a lunch or ice cream stop. The 54-milePaul Bunyan Scenic Byway loops through this lakes area. Both the trail and the byway are named for the legendary giant lumberjack whose footprints, according to tall tales, filled with water and became the area's lakes.
"Mille Lacs" is French for 1,000 lakes, and the name gives you some idea of the giant dimensions of this body of water to the east of Brainerd. It's 14 miles wide, 20 miles long, with a shoreline of 86 miles! And for anglers, this is paradise. A wide variety of fish inhabit these waters, including walleye, bass, northern pike, perch and muskie. Fishing launch services, with boats that hold from six to 50 people, furnish bait, tackle and a fishing guide. The action doesn't stop when the lake freezes over; several resorts offer heated ice-fishing houses in the winter. (In fact, a whole town of furnished ice houses crops up on the lake each winter.) There are more than two dozen resorts and campgrounds and several motels along the lakeshore, near the towns of Garrison, Onamia, Wahkon and Isle.
Off the water, there's plenty to do as well. There are several golf courses in the area, including the Hardwoods Golf Club and Black Brook. Grand Casino Mille Lacs is one of the largest in the state, operated by the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Indians. The Mille Lacs Indian Museum, a cooperative venture between the band and the Minnesota Historical Society, features both the traditional and contemporary life of the Ojibwe. Indian handcrafts are available at the gift shop, a 1930s trading post.
Father Hennepin State Park, at Isle, is right on the shore of Mille Lacs and has a great beach. Near the southwest shore is Mille Lacs Kathio State Park, with miles of beautiful hiking, skiing and snowmobiling trails through the forest. Its observation tower has a spectacular treetop view, especially pretty in the fall when the woods are ablaze in color. The Soo Line Bike Trail runs most of the way between the two parks.
Northwest of Mille Lacs is the Cuyuna Range, an iron mining area decades ago. Former mine pits have filled with clear water, and several of these deep lakes are now part of the Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area, popular for trout fishing, boating and scuba diving. There are several resorts and campgrounds around the towns of Crosby, Ironton and Deerwood. Antique shops line Main Street in Crosby. Nearby is the Croft Mine Historical Park, with a tour of a simulated underground mine.
Aitkin County, north and east of Lake Mille Lacs, is a prime area for bird watching, fishing, hunting and snowmobiling. The Rice Lake Wildlife Refuge is a good area for viewing the waterfowl migration each October. There are resorts and campgrounds around lakes near Aitkin, Hill City and on Big Sandy Lake at McGregor. Savanna Portage is a beautiful state park of lakes and hardwood forests, with brilliant fall color and scenic hiking and cross-country ski trails.