Windfarm
Driving on Highway 14 – Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Highway – between Walnut Grove and De Smet takes you right through Lake Benton, Minnesota. While Lake Benton is beautiful and well worth a short stop to stretch your legs in the small park, the most striking part of the landscape is the large windfarms in the area. Nearby South Dakota ranks high in wind production power. You will see these large wind turbines all across the area, but these are particularly picturesque. Be sure to read the chapter in By the Shores of Silver Lake where they are en route with Pa towards the first railroad camp and you’ll start to recognize the terrain.
Learn more about wind production as you will see these wind turbines, modern day windmills, throughout the area on any Laura trip and may even pass extra long semis 3 in a row hauling the blades to a new installation.
http://trundlebedtales.wordpress.com/2009/11/06/giant-windmills
http://trundlebedtales.wordpress.com/2009/11/15/update-on-wind-turbines
Sadly they don’t seem to take into account that people just might want to take a photo of them so you’ll probably have to pull off the main road to get in a good place to take one if you want one yourself.
Sarah S. Uthoff http://www.trundlebedtales.com
She blogs at TrundleBed Tales; look for her on Twitter and YouTube.
The small park is one of my favorite stops on Highway 14. There is usually some sunflower fields to enjoy too. Thanks for the post Sarah.
My husband and I just went to Walnut Grove last weekend. We took our camper and stayed in Brookings at Sexhauer Park and then drove Hiway 14 to Walnut Grove. The wind farms are an interesting sight. There is a large dairy operation along the way also. The dairy farm made me think about two young girls milking cows in the morning while the songs that they sing are carried away in the strong Dakota wind.
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