Red Wing, MN

We had a lovely lunch at the Smokey Row Cafe in Red Wing, which is north of Lake City where we were vacationing. Their River City Days was in full swing, but we decided to tour the town, instead. My hubby, of course, had to stop at their Caribou Coffee, and I, of course, had to get out of the van to take a few pics of the building, a former train station.

This town, which stretches along the Mississippi River, has a Menard's, Walmart, and Target. I'm sure there's more, but that's what I remember seeing. Having lived near big cities my whole life, it's seemed strange not having larger stores in several near-by towns out here in much of WI and MN.

One evening, we ate dinner at Applebees which had a cool steamboat shoe in front of it. In fact, there were lots of decorated shoes sprinkled around town, just like Chicago's bears and Eau Claire's hands. It's very fitting since Red Wing is famous for the shoes made there.

We later found out that as of February, 2005, Red Wing is also home to the largest leather boot, built by the Red Wing Shoe Company. According to the Guinness World Records, it stands at 16 ft, is 20 ft long, 7 ft wide, and weighs 2,300 lbs!!!

Was that made for Paul Bunyan??? --LKR