Lake Minnetonka

It seems that quite a number of my posts end up dealing with a Minnesotan lake. But as Minnesota is the Land of 10,000 Lakes and visiting lakes is a favorite summer activity in Minnesota, I seem to spend a fair amount of time at various lakes.

On this particular trip we decided to make use of my grandpa's car and drive outside of the Twin Cities. We chose Lake Minnetonka, specifically the town of Excelsior, as our destination. Excelsior is approximately a thirty-minute drive from Minneapolis.

The name Minnetonka was translated by early white settlers in the region as "a ton of water," or something close to that. Lake Minnetonka is a spectacular body of water with many bays, inlets, and peninsulas. There are a plethora of towns and villages surrounding Lake Minnetonka, but Excelsior is especially attractive in that it has that quaint small-town feel and is full of antique shops, and has an old movie theater, an ice cream shop with homemade waffle cones, and many quaint cottages.

                                  David and I, engaged in a camera war

                                                  View of Excelsior Bay

                 Barren beach - late May is still too cold for Minnesota's lakes!

                         Gray squirrel - much larger and more common
                                      than the European red squirrel

                                          Cottage near Lake Minnetonka

                                   We certainly do love our flags here...

                                 I ordered a small....and this is what I got!

                Grandpa's car: a sedan so large that it is not even sold in Europe

                                                      
                                                      Downtown Excelsior