Image caption: Photo: Lorie Shaull / Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
Some get-a-ways you plan in infinite detail, and end up running more than you do enjoying, this was not one of those trips. On our agenda, 3 days, watching the unveiling of the Forever Eagle Stamp, good food, A little Eagle Rare Bourbon and of course, watching the eagles.
We loaded up our binoculars and spotting scope and headed across the Mississippi to Wabasha, Minnesota — a small river town tucked between the bluffs that most people drive past without stopping. That’s a mistake. This was our third visit. As David from Schitt’s Creek would say: *thrice*. And it keeps getting better.
We arrived in plenty of time to stop by and visit with Angel, one of the residents of the National Eagle Center in Wabasha. Angel was found on the ground as a fledgling, with a broken bone in her wing. She arrived at the Eagle Center in 2000. Other eagles at the center include Latch, Was’aka and Perseus. All the eagles were found injured and not able to go back into their natural habitat.
After that, we headed to the tents, to purchase our stamps and souvenirs for the day and then took our seat for the unveiling. It was a wonderful program, starting with the Master of Ceremonies, the mayor from Wabasha The Honorable Emily Durand. Then the presentation of colors by Burkhardt-Roemer VFW Post 4086 and American Legion Post 50 and a beautiful singing of the National Anthem by High-Schoolers, Isaac Solberg and Henry Thyren. We then received a welcome from Michael Smith, the Executive Director of the National Eagle Center, followed by speeches from The Honorable Dan Tangherlini, Board of Governors from the United States Post Office, Franky Jackson, Compliance Officer with the Prairie Island Indian Community, Preston Cook, the American Eagle Collector and David Sibley, Author of Sibley’s Field Guide to North American Birds, as well as the artist for the unveiled stamps. As if they knew it was time…during David Sibley’s speech, two eagles soared overhead…right on cue.
Left to right: Franky Jackson, Michael Smith, Emily Durand, Dan Tangherlini, David Allen Sibley and Preston Cook.
The resurgence of the Eagle is one of the best stories in our young country. In 1963, there were 417 known nesting pairs of bald eagles left in the lower 48 states. Not 417,000. Not 4,170. Four hundred and seventeen pairs. Our national symbol — the bird on the seal, the bird we put on everything — was functionally disappearing. DDT was the primary culprit: the pesticide caused eggshells so thin they crushed under the weight of the incubating parent. Habitat loss and decades of hunting compounded the damage. By the early 1960s, we had nearly erased them.
Then things changed. DDT was banned in 1972. The Endangered Species Act passed in 1973. Habitat was protected. Breeding programs launched. And the eagles — given half a chance — came back. Today there are an estimated 316,700 bald eagles in the lower 48 states, including over 71,000 nesting pairs. Minnesota alone is home to nearly 10,000. Wisconsin has around 1,500 and growing. I get goosebumps thinking about it!
That’s not a recovery. That’s a resurrection. And two of them picked that exact moment to fly over.
The most powerful moment of the ceremony wasn’t the unveiling. It was the Native American speaker, who drew a parallel that I’m still thinking about.
His people, he said, shared something with the eagle. They too were nearly erased — by displacement, by policy, by the deliberate destruction of their culture and way of life. And they too, slowly, are rebuilding. Reclaiming language. Passing down ceremony. Returning to the river.
The eagle and the people who have long considered it sacred: both brought to the edge. Both finding their way back.
That’s a story worth sitting with.
After the ceremony, Sibley sat at a National Eagle Center table and signed field guides. We got in line. We got the autograph. We also walked away with first-day release stamps, hand-cancelled in Wabasha on the official first day of issue.
Those are going in a frame.
We then headed to our Air BNB, right across the alley, a beautiful little apartment above the local hardware store, as Nikki unpacked, I went back down the stairs to a little chocolatier next door. Along with decadent chocolates to go with the bourbon, I also found eagle sugar cookies!
I walked back up to the apartment, where Nikki was barefoot, walking back and forth across one of the most comfortable rugs I’ve ever witnessed. On the front of the apartment, the bedroom overlooked main street and on the other was the balcony view of the Mississippi and National Eagle Center. We then cracked the seal on our 10 year Eagle Rare and sipped from our glasses and enjoyed the dark chocolate truffles as we scanned the horizon for eagle nests and watching the cliff swallows coming from under the bridge to help with the insects, naturally.
We spotted an eagle nest from our balcony…the first of many during the weekend. We then headed to Slippery’s just upriver, for a quick bite to eat and enjoy the ambiance, surrounded by memories of “Grumpy Old Men”.
We’ve stayed at the Anderson Hotel on past trips — one of the oldest continuously operating hotels in Minnesota, right on the main street with the river just across the road. It’s a landmark worth knowing. On one stay, our room was directly across the hall from where John Dillinger allegedly spent his last few days before being killed. But the Anderson leans into its history, and that’s part of what makes it special. Whether you stay there or not, you have to go in for a drink at the speakeasy in the basement. Dark, intimate, old-school. Exactly the kind of bar a place like this deserves.
One more trip to the patio before heading to bed, as a thunderstorm passed overhead.
The next morning sunrise was just as magical.
Wabasha at Street Level
Beyond the Eagle Center, Wabasha rewards slow wandering. There are eagle sculptures tucked all over downtown — and in one memorable alley, a life-size green alien wearing a pink scarf standing right next to one of them. No explanation offered. None needed. We posed with both. You would too.
There are also some genuinely good small shops worth poking around — local pottery, artwork by regional artists, the kind of hometown talent that only shows up in places where people actually care about their community. Worth an hour of your time.
A Town on the Rise
One thing worth noting for anyone who visited Wabasha or Red Wing a few years back and came away underwhelmed: go again. Both towns have genuinely transformed. On our first visit, there were empty storefronts, businesses closed mid-day, a downtown energy that felt like it was waiting for something. This trip was different. New businesses, full storefronts, people out and engaged. Both towns feel alive in a way they didn’t before.
I’ll just say that I still felt most at home eyeing the little jon boats with the outboard motors bobbing in the marina. Some things should stay exactly as they are.
Highway 61: Red Wing, Lake City, Eagles All the Way
The next day, we got in the jeep, roof open, and headed up Highway 61 to Lake City and Red Wing. Highway 61 north is one of the great river drives in the Midwest and you take it slow or you’re doing it wrong. We stopped wherever the eagles were — and there were eagles everywhere. Soaring over the bluffs, riding thermals above the water, tucked into nests overlooking the bridges. I said out loud more than once that I wished I’d brought the boat or rented one for a few hours. The Mississippi from the water on a day like that would have been something else entirely. Heading up that majestic river in our 1972 fiberglass boat with the original canopy on…we would have been legends.
Lake City is a must on the way between Wabasha and Red Wing — a charming lakefront town that deserves more than a windshield glance.
In Red Wing, we found the eagle nest near the bridge crossing from Minnesota into Wisconsin — a massive structure high in a riverside snag, a white head just visible above the rim. Checked that one off the list. Look closely, right below and to the left of the adult, you can see the fledgling, head pointed to the left.
Winona- Home of Winona State University, Winona is a perfect little town, between the bluffs of Minnesota and Wisconsin, we had to go to the overlook, if you go…don’t miss it!
One constant across every trip up here: the people are genuinely friendly. Not transactionally friendly. Actually friendly. That goes a long way.
As all good vacations, this one came to an end…no matter how badly we didn’t want it to. We continued on the voyage home, stopping quickly in Sparta, Wisconsin to see the park dedicated to Nikki’s aunt, “Chatty Kathy”. The play equipment is second to none, and the ground is covered with squishy rubber…we bounced on it for a few minutes, walked around to see the benches and other equipment, then climbed back in the Jeep for the last leg of our trip.
Come for the Eagles. Stay for All of It.
If you are looking for a tranquil get-a-way, consider a trip up the Mississippi on Highway 61, be prepared to pull over many times, where allowed, and stop for a minute, to take in the beauty of the Mississippi River, stop in the small towns, visit the little shops and of course, bring your binoculars and watch for the eagles!
We’ll be back. *Thrice* was not enough.