Far removed from the nearest ocean, Minnesota nonetheless thrives on a watery love and live-style. Retreating glaciers let 15,000 lakes; from one, Lake Itasca, the Mississippi River begins its long flow southward.

Grown to an imposing stream 500 miles farther along, it cuts through the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul – economic and cultural bastions of a state that, despite its north woods “get-away-from-it-all” appeal, has vast stretches of rolling prairie. Towering grain elevators, a hallmark of prairie architecture testify to Minnesota's importance in the nation's grain markets; fertile soil dropped by glalciers makes the state a major agricultural producer.

South and east if the Twin Cities that Mississippi cleaves high bluffs. Scenic routes here and in other states along the river are tagged by a pilot's wheel emblem on highway markers. Near Red Wing the river widens to become Lake Pepin, where vacationists fish, boat, an water-ski between distant banks.

But most of the patches of blue that gave the state its name–an Indian term for “sky-tinted water” – lie in the central and northern tiers. There the long, eerie cry of the loon punctuates the summer dusk. Lakeside resorts range from rustic to plush. Increasingly they extend their seasons through the area's hard but invigorating winters; guests busy themselved with snowmobiling, skin touring, iceboating, ice fishing in heated huts, or trekking through snow-laden woods of birch and pine.

A gateway to the region is Duluth, where cargo ships from distant lands glide in and out of the port formed with its sister city of Superior, Wisconsin. Visitors can watch a lift bridge soar 120 feet in less than a minute to let ships pass. A highway–U.S. 61–from the port skirts Lake Superior to the Canadian border, scenic, piney sort of inland Maine coast.

North of Duluth, Superior National Forest blends crystal lakes, rocky shorelines, and deep woods in a picturesque northland retreat. At Ely outfitters supply equipment, maps, and even guides for trips into the forest's labyrinthine Boundary Waters Canoe Area. And on the Canadian border, near International Falls, Voyageurs National Park evokes the days of doughty French-Canadian fur traders who left every rapids, every portage, every stream with tales to tell.

(poster text about Minnesota)

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Common Loons, aquatic birds found in many parts of North America and northern Eurasia, is the Minnesota State Bird.

The call of the loon is distinctive: the naturalist John Muir said “one of the wildest and most striking of all the wilderness sounds, a strange, sad, mournful, unearthly cry, half laughing, half wailing.” (listen to loons)

Loons are also prominent in Native American myths and the “loonie” is also the provincial bird of Ontario.

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Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium), a hardy orchid native to temperate and colder regions of the Northern Hemisphere, is the Minnesota State Flower.

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The Walleye, the Minnesota State Fish, is a freshwater perciform (perch-like) fish native to most of Canada and to the northern United States.

Walleyes are a popular food fish and quotas are necessary to insure their survival.

The common name, “walleye”, is from the ability of their eyes to reflect white light. Because of their resulting excellent vision walleyes are found in deeper waters and allows them to see in choppy water conditions.

Walleyes are also the state fish of South Dakota and the official fish of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.

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Red Pine, also known as Norway Pine, is the State Tree of Minnesota, and native to North America.

A “self pruning” evergreen tree characterized by tall, straight growth, the Red Pine is commercially valuable for timber and paper pulp, and as a landscape tree.

The Red Pine derives its name from the thin, flaky and bright orange-red bark in the upper, conical shaped crown.

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Rainy Lake straddles the U.S. - Canadian border and a portion is included in the Voyageurs National Park. It is a part of the system of lakes that extends from the Arctic Ocean south to Northern Minnesota.

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