petehowell
Well Known Member
We rented a cabin on a quiet lake in NW Minnesota for our family vacation this year. Fishing, swimming, biking, eating, and a little flying for me.
Here's the lake. Our place is middle right up on the hill.
The nearest airport to base out of was Perham(16D). It was quiet, but the SS was cheap and the tiedowns were free. I had scouted out a few side trips the week before with the theme "Places I'd never drive to", and I picked out "The International Peace Garden(IPG)". With apologies to my friends in North Dakota, this place is remote! It does have a little airport, the pictures looked great, and they just opened a new cafe.
Older daughter Megan was game to go International daytripping and happily held down the right seat cushions. There is not much between Perham and the IPG, but it was beautiful from 6500 ft.
There are not a lot a of metars in that part of the world, but the ones I could find said 80deg crosswind at 16G23. Oh Goody.... I told Megs we might have to fly back if I could not handle the landing. We called in 10 miles out and US Customs asked us who we were and what we were doing. We told them we came from Minn and wanted to visit the Garden and would be returning after lunch. They said OK and to check in when we headed back to the plane. They had no info on the winds....... Well, after the world's ugliest approach, the -9A bailed me out again with a smooth landing at the last minute - we are not even gonna hint at it being anything but luck......
We parked the plane and took Meg's pic by the big sign.
We walked down the stairs and every customs agent around was staring at us - I guess they don't get many fly-ins. We walked up to them and introduced ourselves and they asked for passports. I told them the web page says we don't need them to visit the park, just driver's licenses. He seemed reluctant, but told us how to get to the park entrance, and said we needed to clear customs inside on the way back. All the customs people were friendly and pleasant.
We walked up and got in a line of cars to buy day passes - we qualified as pedestrian - $5 for both of us.
The Garden - the stream is the 49th parallel.
Lots of pretty flowers....
Megs and the floral Maple Leaf....
Look Dad, No Passport!
9/11 Ruins and the Veterans’ Memorial Bell Tower
The most impressive structure in the Garden, the Peace Tower
We spent about 3 hours in the Garden enjoying the sights, smells and a little lunch at the cafe. We walked out and headed towards customs - they are not used to seeing people walk up, so once again we got stared at and approached. I said we flew in and went to the Garden, and the officer said "OK, you are the ones" My 15 seconds of fame..... They took our licenses and asked us a lot of questions, and in about 10 minutes told us we were good to go. We walked back up the hill to the airport, did a quick preflight, and launched into the sporting cross-wind - not pretty, but effective. One thing did strike me as funny, just after takeoff I called center for flight following - they told me they they had lousy radar coverage up by the border......Hmmmm. I called again 20 min later and they had me at 7500.
If you are in the area, I recommend a quick stop at the IPG! Like I said, I'd never drive up there, but it was a great little sidetrip flight!
We had a nice tailwind that got us back to the lake in time to go fishing.
Here's the lake. Our place is middle right up on the hill.
The nearest airport to base out of was Perham(16D). It was quiet, but the SS was cheap and the tiedowns were free. I had scouted out a few side trips the week before with the theme "Places I'd never drive to", and I picked out "The International Peace Garden(IPG)". With apologies to my friends in North Dakota, this place is remote! It does have a little airport, the pictures looked great, and they just opened a new cafe.
Older daughter Megan was game to go International daytripping and happily held down the right seat cushions. There is not much between Perham and the IPG, but it was beautiful from 6500 ft.
There are not a lot a of metars in that part of the world, but the ones I could find said 80deg crosswind at 16G23. Oh Goody.... I told Megs we might have to fly back if I could not handle the landing. We called in 10 miles out and US Customs asked us who we were and what we were doing. We told them we came from Minn and wanted to visit the Garden and would be returning after lunch. They said OK and to check in when we headed back to the plane. They had no info on the winds....... Well, after the world's ugliest approach, the -9A bailed me out again with a smooth landing at the last minute - we are not even gonna hint at it being anything but luck......
We parked the plane and took Meg's pic by the big sign.
We walked down the stairs and every customs agent around was staring at us - I guess they don't get many fly-ins. We walked up to them and introduced ourselves and they asked for passports. I told them the web page says we don't need them to visit the park, just driver's licenses. He seemed reluctant, but told us how to get to the park entrance, and said we needed to clear customs inside on the way back. All the customs people were friendly and pleasant.
We walked up and got in a line of cars to buy day passes - we qualified as pedestrian - $5 for both of us.
The Garden - the stream is the 49th parallel.
Lots of pretty flowers....
Megs and the floral Maple Leaf....
Look Dad, No Passport!
9/11 Ruins and the Veterans’ Memorial Bell Tower
The most impressive structure in the Garden, the Peace Tower
We spent about 3 hours in the Garden enjoying the sights, smells and a little lunch at the cafe. We walked out and headed towards customs - they are not used to seeing people walk up, so once again we got stared at and approached. I said we flew in and went to the Garden, and the officer said "OK, you are the ones" My 15 seconds of fame..... They took our licenses and asked us a lot of questions, and in about 10 minutes told us we were good to go. We walked back up the hill to the airport, did a quick preflight, and launched into the sporting cross-wind - not pretty, but effective. One thing did strike me as funny, just after takeoff I called center for flight following - they told me they they had lousy radar coverage up by the border......Hmmmm. I called again 20 min later and they had me at 7500.
If you are in the area, I recommend a quick stop at the IPG! Like I said, I'd never drive up there, but it was a great little sidetrip flight!
We had a nice tailwind that got us back to the lake in time to go fishing.
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