On September 12, 2026 at 6:15 pm at Savanna Portage State Park, which is a bit over an hour west of Duluth, Linda stamped our MN DNR “Passport” booklet.  The significance of that action meant we now had visited all Minnesota state parks. 

Our first state park stamp was at Lake Maria State Park on September 5, 2018.

There are sixty-four Minnesota state parks.  Pretty much they are distributed fairly evenly all over the entire state.  The thing about going to every state park is it means you’ve visited most every section of the state. 

Visiting state parks is mostly about driving rural state highways, county roads, some gravel roads, and city/township streets.  It is about driving through a small city with a new high school which has four city names included in its name.  It’s about potty breaks in gas stations. 

We’ve been to every corner, east, west, north and south, big cities, small cities, small towns, gas stations at the intersection of two roads with no towns anywhere close.  

Most state parks were “developed in the 1930’s. This is from google search: “During the Great Depression (1933–1942), the federal Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) deployed thousands of young men to build most of the rustic-style park buildings, trails, and campgrounds still found in Minnesota state parks today.”  

When we travel Linda “likes to get a feel” of an area.  She researches things to see in the area we are visiting.  There is the wonderful Itasca Rock Garden in Albert Lea, Mn.  The Rodman Windmill Farm near Jasper in southwest Mn.  The list of interesting places to visit is long and varied. 

The truth be told, we visited all but one of the state parks.  That one would have required me to backpack over rough terrain to get to the park.  I declared a medical exemption. 

Visiting a state park brought me back to nature. It kinda centered me. All parks are different with their own characteristics and idiosyncrasies.  Yet, in a way they all are also similar, with roads, paths, most have water bodies and serenity. 

Which state park is the best?  Visiting state parks is not really about the parks themselves.  Each park is unique. Each person who visits a state park has their own experience with that park.  Here is my truth.  Visiting state parks is about the journey and the experience, not so much the destination.  

There is no best or worse state park.   Go to the park, form your own opinion. 

Part of the experience of going to a state park is about what music you listen to and what was the weather on that day and your mood and a thousand other influences.  State parks are not like visiting Disneyland. 

Enjoying state parks is about doing stuff you enjoy doing while you are at the state park.  When was the last time you stood still at the end of a fishing pier listening to the gentle waves and bird songs, feeling the warm sun and a slight breeze.  Just soaking in.

It’s about hiking a challenging path or the easy path to the old settlers house. It’s about looking up at the tallest trees you’ve ever seen. It is about looking at and listening to a gentle stream gurgling over some rocks.  It’s about a turtle sunning itself on a log.  

Seeing all the state parks is about having a peanut butter sandwich on a picnic table on the shore of a lake watching the loons dive for food. It is also about local restaurants and benches in a city park.  

We’ve driven down rural highways where you only see a couple cars and trucks for five miles.  Most of the towns and small cities we passed through may not have been thriving however, they mostly seemed to be doing just fine.  Well maintained, clean, not many, if any, empty store fronts.  

Most farms are big operations. Corporate farms, large family farms and not many small family type farms. What I noticed mostly was how rural Minnesota seemed to have fewer people than they used to.  Restaurant customers were mostly older folks. 

On the other hand, the park visitors we’ve seen are a wide spectrum of ages from a wide variety of walks of life.  Teens, young adults, families, individuals of all ages, retirees, and about every category of smiling people you can imagine. 

Numerous times we’ve seen parents of young kids each take one kid and do stuff individually with that kid. We’ve seen families play games / work on crafts at the shelters. One of my favorite things has been watching parents help their kids throw pebbles in the lakes and streams.  All smiles taking pride in throwing the rocks as far as possible. 

Mapping apps on our phones make finding the parks pretty straightforward.  One problem though is parks are big and the map apps sometimes take you to the closest edge of the park, not the entrance. One time in a park by Mille Lacs the app led us to the back border of the park. The entrance was a couple miles away.  

There are several parks close enough to be day visits from the Twin Cities. For the rest we did two to four day trips visiting a couple parks. The other thing is as we traveled we explored lots of other stuff: cities, towns, tourist spots like the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame, local museums and the like.  

The answer to your next question is no, we haven’t got a plan for the next thing we’re going to do. There will be a next thing, it’s just not planned yet.