Pipestone/Kilen

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There are 168 National Park Service parks, monuments, and memorials in the county. We've been to 65% of them, but none of the three in Minnesota. Frankly, it's a bit embarrassing. So, we finally decided to do something about it and head southwest.

We camped Friday-Sunday at Kilen Woods State Park near Lakefield. We've been there once before, as the fourth of four state parks we visited 28 August 2004 to start our bocce battles. It was twilight and buggy, so we didn't stay long. This time, we got out on some of their many miles of trails. The weather was perfect--overcast and not too warm--and the boys did well. We even found the geocache!

From there, we traveled up to Pipestone National Monument. It rained on the way up and back, but not while there. We spent most of our time walking the 3/4-mile circle trail. We passed some lovely sites, got a little exercise, and crossed yet another monument off the list.

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