Fiesta Salad Recipe

So I had a request earlier today to send this recipe onward to some of my friends, and I realized that I could just post it – what is the point of having a place to record this if I don't actually use it!

Fiesta Salad:

Ingredients:

Not the best picture but should be a reminder!

1 can black beans

1 can sweet whole kernel corn

1 can diced tomatoes with chilies (I actually used the whole foods diced tomatoes with jalapeños)

½—1 bunch green onions

2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 Tbsp olive oil

½ Tsp ground cumin

¼ Tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

¼ tsp salt

Fresh cut cilantro sprinkled on top (I forgot it at home and this makes it way better)

Directions

Drain and rinse black beans and corn. Chop green onion and add.

Mix from vinegar down in a small bowl and toss with the drained ingredients.  Add the can of diced tomatoes.  Add more salt later if needed.  Let sit combined in fridge for at least one hour- better if overnight (I had it sitting overnight – really improves the flavor).

We normally serve with either chips or veggies, but I also love it on my omelets.

Also, I need to credit this recipe to my friend Maisy Liao Sanneman.  It is her recipe, but I have used it plenty of times!

Minnesota River Valley Geocache Route

Saturday's Route

Just in case you are curious we are now well over the 1,000 mile mark on on quest to see all of the state parks and to complete the Avian Geocache –  I think when we finish this I will tally the entire thing up and see how many miles (and gas dollars) all this insanity took.

We had actually planned on hitting one more state park this weekend, but we just ran out of time.  We had another event that we wanted to make it to in St. Peter, so we are going to save Minneopa State Park for another day since it isn't too far away from the Twin Cities and it is a really neat state park with a lot to do there.

Drive via Hwy 7, MN River Scenic Byway, and US-169 · 331 mi

Flandrau State Park

Flandrau State Park (New Ulm, MN)

Our last park of the day was Flandrau State Park in New Ulm, MN.  This is a cute park with a really neat sand bottom pool (clearly not open yet for the season).  It is right at the edge of town and feels like it is actually a city park (kind of like Charles A. Lindbergh State Park by Little Falls, MN, as Luke pointed out).  We got to the park around 5 pm, and the weather was starting to look a bit ominous.  The park office was once again closed – this gets annoying because there are no baby-changing stations in outhouses!

We quickly parked and started searching for our first location.  It was actually very easy to find!

So we quickly went off to Location #2 –  Marcus thought it would be a bit more fun to wonder around the volleyball court (he has seen us playing volleyball before).  By the 4th stop of the day he usually is getting pretty feisty and a bit crabby, so we let him do some running!

It didn't take long to find Location #2.

Here is the view of the Cottonwood River from the bench.

At this point Luke and Marcus went wondering around the park while I went in search of the next location.  I got to admit – I saw this stump from a long ways away, and I knew it was there!

It was the perfect size for a geocache ammo box!

While I searched, Luke and Marcus walked all over the dry swimming pool bed.  Marcus LOVED the sand and running up and down!  He even climbed up both lifeguard chairs with Luke, which he really enjoyed.

And since we were in New Ulm we took a quick drive over to see Herman the German (Arminius who kept the Romans out of Germany for good is who Herman is actually portraying) on his perch before we had to leave!  Too bad the gate was locked so we couldn't go to the top.  We also missed the last glockenspiel performance of the day by half an hour.  New Ulm is a very neat town, and we really want to go back to spend more time there.

Fort Ridgely State Park

Fort Ridgely State Park

We followed the Minnesota River Scenic Byway (including going down some crazy small country roads that make up part of it) and eventually arrived at Fort Ridgely State Park.  I have to admit that I love this state park and have since I was a kid.  It is really pretty and has a lot of history attached – it was actually attacked three times during the Sioux Conflict of 1862, and it is in general a really neat place to visit.

We stopped in at the Rangers Station, and it was actually open.  Then we headed off to our first location.  I have to admit that I totally flubbed this one.  The other finds today had been soooo easy and this ranger was a bit craftier in hiding the information.

Can you see the spot on this board where it looks like a piece of paper was removed?...  I thought it was there and that someone had removed it to update it or something (and I might have jokingly texted my dad and accused him of it in fun).  We actually went back to the Ranger Station and were told to look again!  It was there all along.  One just has to look all over every surface to find it!

While I was looking for this Marcus was running off to play on the playground equipment he found...

And Luke was running off to check out the really cool cemetery and outdoor stage (I saw the coolest version of Dracula at night there when I was a teen (super scary))...

While they were exploring I found my way to the 2nd location.  Once again – Tricky Ranger!  Somewhat camouflaged against the bark of the tree on a small tag.

From here it was not far to the final location, so Marcus and I ran ahead and found the scenic overlook right next to one of the golf course greens (where people were golfing inside the State Park at its golf course when we got there).

We sat down and rested and then found the cache!

Marcus was pretty excited because he found a ladybug!

And of course the "Bock Bock" card.

It was a great view!

When we were going to leave the overlook we heard a car honking – turns out my Dad was stalking us after all!  Marcus was happy to see Grandpa, but it was quick because we had to head off to today's park #4!

Upper Sioux Agency State Park

Upper Sioux Agency State Park

The trip brought back all of my 6th grade Minnesota History class knowledge.  We had moved on to the Upper Sioux Agency State Park.  This is one of the places where the Native Americans came during the 1860s to get supplies.  There is not a lot left of it, but it was quite interesting.  If you go during summer they actually have teepees and other cool things here.  Of course we continue to be off-cycle for everything.  We just keep geocaching!

We got into the park (the ranger station was closed) and found Location #1 very quickly.

We drove off to Location #2 –  it was about a mile down the road to an overlook with a historical marker and a very sad story.

I found Location #2, but it was in fairly rough shape.  You can see that rain had gotten into it and it needs to be replaced.  The good news is that we were able to read it enough to move on.

A fantastic view from the top of a ridge overlooking the river below.  Quite windy just like it was at the last state park.  As the afternoon crept on the wind did lessen a lot though.

View from the overlook!  The river is visible in the distance.

We jumped back in the car and drove off to the final location.

This was actually a pretty cool placement for a final cache.  Not too easy to see unless you are really looking.  Bet this doesn't get found by muggles (geocacher slang for those "non-geocachers") very often.

Marcus was very excited to find the final cache!

Marcus came out of the car to help find the "Bock Bock" card!

Marcus and Luke had to stretch their legs after the long drive!

Lac qui Parle State Park

Lac qui Parle State Park

We had some big plans for today, so we got the earliest start so far, and were out the door on our next goecaching adventure.  We left at 9 am and took Highway 7 straight east in order to head back into the tall-grass prairie biome of Minnesota.  Our first stop was the farthest on today's list: Lac qui Parle (pronounced sort of like "Lah-kah Parlah") State Park in Watson, MN.

One of the interesting things about today's adventure is that we primarily followed the Minnesota River Valley and saw a lot of the historical Sioux lands, reservations, and locations that were involved in the 1862 Sioux conflict.

We got to the Rangers Office and had a chance to see some awesome taxidermy displays.  This park is extremely well-known for the very large numbers of birds that migrate through this park (we were not there at the right time, so we didn't see that many "Bock Bocks" as Marcus would call them, but I would like to go back and see it at another time).  The lake was huge and very beautiful (and full of whitecaps on a blustery spring day – thankfully, no rain at all even though it had rained a lot recently).  

It was also extremely windy all day long as the sound in this video conveys!

The exhibits were pretty cool.  Marcus really liked looking at all of the birds and animals (and the bearskin rug inside the taxidermy room).

After we had checked out the information center, we went in search of the geocache, but we ran into something even cooler.  This is where the largest known plains cottonwood tree in the state of Minnesota is located.  It is right off the road with a small, and quite easy-to-miss, sign to tell you it is there just over the crest of the hill on a small dirt path.

The pictures really don't properly do justice to the size or the scope of what you see.

You can see the first view of the tree.  And then Luke in it for perspective.

Marcus decided he wanted to climb up too!

The bark's ridges were think enough to actually grab onto and almost climb!

Saying this tree is big is an huge understatement!

Now that we found the tree, it was time to go on for our actual goal: the geocache!  It was actually located on the far side of the lake and this would be what I would consider a car cache – we only had to step 5 feet from the car to "get it done".

Location #1 screamed geocache from a distance.   Once we saw this we knew the rest would probably be easy!

So we went on to Location #2...

Once again, when we got close it was pretty easy to find.  This ranger didn't add a lot of challenge!

This is a picture of the view from this side of the lake (we had to backtrack and drive all the way around to the lower campgrounds/beach area from the main office).  If the birds were migrating right now it would have had THOUSANDS of geese, ducks, and other water fowl.  I wish we would have seen that!

Now off to the next and final location.

This was an easy find – we drove it and spotted it from a distance.

It was extremely windy; please ignore my hair!

Since this was so close, Marcus did not even get out of the car, but you can see him examining his new "Bock Bock" card.