Red Wing is a popular weekend and day trip destination for many people in the Twin Cities and is part two of my 2015 Toyota Camry road trip. You may remember, last week I posted about my visit to Lake City, the home of water skiing. Red Wing is situated right on the Mississippi River, surrounded by beautiful bluffs and is home to world famous boots, pottery, and many historic sites.
Before checking out the town itself, we drove through it to Memorial Park, specifically Memorial Bluff. I got a great parking spot so we could hop out and explore Red Wing from up above first.
I went over to the little wall to have a look for myself. Wow, it is a long way down there!
Bailie wanted to have a look as well. She is such a teenager! It is dangerous and Mom was holding us tight so we wouldn’t fall, but Bailie insisted on doing acrobatics on the top of the wall. When you look at the photo, you can see the Mississippi River, and there is a bridge which crosses the river to Wisconsin so we could see two states from our overlook place.
We took a little walk to get our paws some exercise and came across this castle tower in the middle of everything. Very odd, but in a way cute. It looks old but it is only from 1939. Being a dog from England, I do have a thing for castles.
Next we headed down the trail a bit and found some markers detailing some of the things a dog will see in Memorial Park. It was a pretty warm day, and I was ready for a drink of water at this point.
Beautiful bluffs are all over this area, so Bailie and I decided to pose in front of one. Boy do we look small or what?
How about a bit closer so you can actually see us? We saw tons of rock stuff in Utah on our Vegas trip last year and frankly had more than enough of it, but these bluffs are a bit more friendly, so they were nice to see.
Time to hop back into my 2015 Toyota Camry and head down the bluff into town. It has been a really fun car to drive on my road trip!
Have you heard of Red Wing Shoes? Guess where they come from? Yep, Red Wing. In 2005 Red Wing Shoes celebrated 100 years of business and created the world’s largest work boot. We were looking for it, but it was indoors and locked on the weekend. We did have another great find, though. In honor of the 100 years, they had a “boots up” campaign with someΒ 30, 4 ft tall, Red Wing boot statues which are on display around Red Wing. The custom boot statues are the creations of Jim Schauf, owner of F.A.S.T. Corporation, located in Sparta, Wisconsin. The above boot was the first one we happened onto right by Red Wing Shoes headquarters.
We headed down to Levee Park right on the riverfront. A pretty area.
Bailie felt the need to pose with the crazy jester sculpture!
On the way out of town, we stopped by the pottery place where I found this boot in front of the candy store. My Mom wanted to eat it but I told her “no”. I do want to go back and look for all the boots just like I searched for Snoopy statues a couple years ago, so one day I may do that!
Stop back on Thursday to read my review of the 2015 Toyota Camry and see what I found to be the best features!
Looks like you guys had a great trip! Every time I see one of those boots I think of the song, “These boots are made for walking.” Have a fantastic Tuesday! π
Oh no…we may have an ear worm for the day now! We have to go to the vet, so not looking like too good of a day!
How fun! It looks like you really enjoyed your adventure. And we love the muddy paw prints on the car seat!
I girl needs to mark her car somehow!
Love the boots! It’s always so fun when towns do things like that to celebrate. Looks like this was a great adventure for you girls π
We had a really good time and I think we will go back.
Looks like a very attractive town. The boot statues are fun. I had no idea Red Wing Shoes were named for a place!
Well, now you have learned something! Red Wing shoes are huge here because they are from there. Fun town on the river.
Beautiful pictures! Males me want to take Schooner and Skipper on a trip. Love the boot pictures!
We love to travel, near and far. Mom likes us to get out and experience different places.
You are the perfect tour guide. Is that moms shoe?
Lily & Edward
LOL! She could live in that shoe I think!
Dad has some Red Wing boots. Didn’t know they were named for a town either. The boot statues are pretty cool!
We want to go on a boot statue hunt sometime to see what more of them look like. Now your dad knows a lot more about what he is wearing!
your are pawfect tour guides… no wonder with that fabulous noses! my mom would like to discover all that big shoes there… even when they are not made for walking :o) I can’t wait to hear more about the car, do you think a guy like me can sit on the backseat without “touching the sky” of the car?
Katie was in the backseat with no problem and she is tall.
I love reading about your trips. They are so much fun.
Thank you. We usually have a fun time and find some unusual stuff along the way.
Great day trip Emma! looks like fun. I hope we go on a trip one day soon. We love the boots!! And that Bailie… she is just like the Jester!!!
The jester was a perfect photo opp for Bailie for sure!
I love their boots, didn’t know I’d love the city so much too. May have to make an excursion their with the pups one weekend.
We didn’t even get into town which has a lot of historic buildings. It is supposed to be a pretty pet friendly town too. We got a few tips from this post: http://www.sidewalkdog.com/blog/2015/06/kramer-does-dog-friendly-red-wing/ I’m sure you would need to go to Flat Pennies Ice Cream!
What a great trip. Levee Park is a great place to do some nosework and tracking as well!
It would be. It was a long day, and really hot and windy, so posing for photos was plenty, but good idea if we head down to hunt for shoe statues on a cooler day!
What a cool town! You look natural in the castle but it really does look much older than 1939. We love castles, but OMD! those boots are the BEST! Great tour β₯
Hopefully we will do a boot tour one of these days when the weather is cooler.
WOW! What a great trip you guys had!
α¦ husky hugz α¦ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
It was fun and tiring all in one. Hopefully we will head down when the weather is cooler.
we have been there but we didn’t see all the neat things you saw
There is a lot more to see. We have to go again.
I knew Red Wing sounded familiar but didn’t know why until you mentioned the boots! That looks like a great place to visit….I especially love the views from the park. That would be fun if you find all the boots like you did with the Snoopy statues.
I have my staff researching boot locations. When the weather cools down, we may go on the hunt.
love RED WING BOOTS! Someday we are going to go exploring like you ladies get to. Chablis
We are always going somewhere, and it sure does get tiring, but it is fun.
Wow! That looks like a really fun trip!! π
We had a great time on our little road trips.
Great trip – looks like fun. I would love to see all the boot statues – great idea!
Ooh so the town was named for the industry. Cool.
Glad you didn’t pose too long with those bluffs. They were good camouflage for your coats.
I’m not sure, but I think the shoes named themselves after the town, but no matter, it is still fun finding the shoes around town.
That sure is a pretty area, and nice wheels too! Hey, I would love to have the box those boots came in!
You all could build a mansion in the box these shoes would come in!
Looks like a fun road trip!
Lots of fun stuff to see and sniff.
Great road trip, Emma! Red wing looks like a very interesting and scenic place to visit!!
Smileys!
Dory, Jakey, Arty & Bilbo
It is real nice and we didn’t even get into the historic parts of the town.
What a cool road trip. The view was beautiful. And I wonder what the castle tower was doing just sitting there.
–Wags (and purrs) from Life with Dogs and Cats
We have no idea why that tower was just sitting there, and there was no signage explaining it either.
We knew it, the shoes! Great pictures I can’t wait to go on fun outings again when mom gets back from abandoning me. Love Dolly
Yep, the shoes are the big thing down there and we want to find more of the commemorative ones.
What a fun trip especially the boots.
Mom is on a mission to figure out how to find all those boots, so stay tuned.
Looks like a pretty cool place to visit.
It was a lot of fun and we are going to go back one of these days too.
Your travel report is excellent !
Thank you. We had a fun time checking out some new places.