Since arriving in Spring Valley, I’ve been on 3 different road trips around the area with Bev. Somewhere around 150 miles driven since arriving a little over a week ago! There is so much to see in the area. Being the 6th generation in her family to live in the valley, she makes for a fantastic tour guide.
Some highlights:
I think we went to 5 or 6 different fossil hot spots between all the trips. It is wild how fossilized some of these spots are!
She was very dedicated to taking my picture at each location. Out of character for me, but I’m glad she took them, they are pretty funny. Bucksnort had a funny name, thus a stop. Plus some cool hills and parks.
We stopped at this super cool spring. Probably my best picture.
But the best stop was where we went my last day here. Kinstone Modern Megalithic Garden. Its normally closed for the season, but Bev is friends with the owner, Christine, and we got to go check it out.
Being an hour north, plus 500 feet higher and windy, it was cold as shit. I borrowed Christine’s “Big Blue” to put over my jacket and waddled out to explore while they caught up inside. Despite being about 0 degrees with the windchill, I found myself captivated by the place.
The pictures don’t do it justice. It’s an indescribable feeling standing in the middle of these giant stones. Each has their own character, drawing your attention in an endless contemplative circle. You can almost feel your thoughts and attention reverberating around you. Pulling myself away, I checked out the chapel, labyrinth, dolmen, and the rest of the arrangements. Making sure to make one more long stop at the Stone Circle, before heading in.
I’m writing this after coming back from the Kinstone trip. I’m beat! This has been a jam packed stay in Minnesota. I ended up extending my stay one final night, skipping Mississippi Pallisades State Park, and just heading towards Texas tomorrow. I’ll have to split it up over 2 days of driving — will see where I end up tomorrow!
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