#gopher state

Today is not the final chapter!

Happy Statehood Day, Minnesota!  As the land of [some of] my ancestors, this stamp enthusiast holds the North Star State in special reverence (and also because: any state whose state bird is a loon is a-ok in my book).  Having walked across the headwaters of the Mississippi in my youth (it took more than “five steps down” when I was there, being engorged by flood waters at the time), been consumed alive by the truly astounding barbarous hordes of skeeters, visited Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox, skittered stones across Mille Lacs Lake, peered in the windows of the ole family homestead in Cove, and generally loved each and every one of the 10,000 lakes, this stamp enthusiast can say in all honesty--I’m sure glad you’re part of this nation, MN!

Stamp details: Stamp on top: Issued on: May 11, 1958 From: St. Paul, MN SC #1106

Second row left: Issued on: April 14, 1982 From: Washington, DC; St. Paul, MN SC #1975

Second row right: Issued on: May 17, 2008 From: St. Paul, MN SC #4266

Third row left: Issued on: February 23, 1976 From: Washington, DC SC #1664

Third row right: Issued on: October 25, 2002 From: New York, NY SC #3718

In 1993, a group of teenagers from the local Alano Society invited me to come with them to something called “Gopher State.” It was in a hotel and there were a lot of people I didn’t know, and I didn’t really understand why I was there, so shortly after arriving, I left and walked four miles back to my childhood home. At the time, I just figured that was something people from Alano societies did,…