Lanesboro- Southeast Minnesota's Hidden Jewell

 (Reminder... pictures are clickable to enlarge)

I discovered Lanesboro, MN through a friend during May of 2010 and have now been back to enjoy it three times. For us it is within easy driving distance and serves as a terrific bicycle-based quickie getaway site. Lanesboro has my spouse's stamp of approval... not an easy thing to get, and is popular, but not so much so as to become over-commercialized. There are numerous B and B options as well as our usual lodging the Green Gables Inn. The chief attraction is the Root River Trail, a very scenic, paved rail-to-trail conversion that is operated by the State of Minnesota.

From Lanesboro, you basically have three choices for a cycling destination:
Houston and back- about 62 miles (Whalan, Peterson, and Rushford along the way)
Harmony and back- about 48 miles (Preston is along the way)
Fountain and back- about 24 miles

On last week's Lanesboro outing I rode three times uphill to the little town of Fountain (pop. 374), a destination I had not visited before.What a neat and tidy little community that is! My chief discovery in Fountain was Willie's Market with it's fine beef jerky and locally-made Spring Grove Soda Pop.

This is the trailhead at Fountain

And a few shots along the way

The day we left for home I got in a very early morning ride to Rushford and back, and managed to take a few shots of the great little towns of Whalan and Peterson along the way. This is Whalan:

This is Peterson, with its phone booth!

Before our final departure from Lanesboro we discovered a new breakfast joint, Pedal Pushers Cafe. It is highly recommended and features locally grown/made eggs, cheese, veggies and meat.