Wauseca, MN Third Graders Among Visitors at Minnesota History Center in St. Paul today.

Minnesota History Center member or first-time visitor:  Everyone knows Paul Bunyan and his Blue Ox, "Babe." 

The iconic post card greets you after you stop at the ticket counter, show your card, begin the climb to the exhibits.  I waited for a down-hiller so I could include her in the pic.

Note pesky squirrel in the lower right corner of the art work.

Lots of kiddie visitors check out this famous foto from Itasca State Park -- head waters of the Mighty Mississippi River.

The River flows 2,552 miles downstream, gathering power and grandeur, until it roars into the Gulf of Mexico.

Coal Mining exhibit.  Ouch.  Exquisite, straightforward fotos of miners and most dangerous -- though certainly honorable -- trade.  God bless these guys, their families, and the memories their desecndants must surely cherish.  Somebody had to descend into darkness w/pick and shovel.  Glad it wasn't me.

Wacky Black Label Bike Club members go out of their way to see who can create the weirdest bike -- that a weird member can still pedal and balance! The idea is to build 'em tall, and the fad has caught on all over the world.

I'm thinking that the babe to the left in this foto must likely be a member of the Black Label's ... her vest would lead you to that conclusion. She belongs to the local chapter in Austin, TX.

One of the best "pure Minnesota" exhibits at the History Center.   I looked at this chicken and the egg diorama three times before I mae up my mind that the chicks were not real.  So well done is this work of art.  Fun and instructive for children of all ages.

Mid-Century Soda Fountain has been recreated -- so darned realistic that the kids in this picture surely thought they'd be able to order up a 7-up Float.  No such luck, though the young visitors seemed to be having a ball nonetheless.

You can see the Minnesota State Capital down a long, highly polished hallway.  And in this pic, likely what the teacher and her charges are checking out, an explosion of spring colors from a planting of crab apple trees, proudly showing their stuff.

History Center has been designed so visitors and members alike can take breather from busy exhibit-looking and stroll outside for fresh air - and a fresh gander at the Capitol.

And back to Wauseca, here a third grade teacher and some of her kids stop to check the items collected on their very cool (and instructive) History Scavenger Hunt.