The National Eagle Center
Road trip Wabasha!
We are longtime followers of the Minnesota Department of Resources Eagle cam, since our covid Grandma School days. Our last snowstorm of the season had enough heavy snow and high winds to topple the over-20-year-old nest. It weighed more 2,000 pounds after all those years of adding on, and the now dead branch could not support the weight in the storm. The one surviving eaglet of the season did not survive the fall – so sad. But the eagle parents are already collecting twigs for next year.
Wabasha is home to the National Eagle Center, the world’s premier resource for impactful eagle education and experiences. Minnesota has 9,800 nesting pairs of bald eagles (Alaska is #1 with 30,000 pairs, Florida comes in third with 1,500). Fresh water resources and easy fishing are the main draw. We wanted to see eagles up close and learn more about them.
The Wabasha Eagle Center is home to multiple Bald Eagles and a Red-Tailed Hawk who were rescued from around the United States and rehabilitated there. These “eagle ambassadors” are considered non-releasable due to injuries sustained prior to their arrival and provide unique up-close encounters. There are up-close question and answer opportunities, and a scheduled presentation with an “eagle ambassador” volunteer (apparently the eagles let them know when they are not in the mood!)
The Eagle Center is about a 90-minute drive from the Twin Cities. Jack (8) entertained us with these Would You Rather questions on the way down. We made a plan to stop at Main Street Kitchen, just a block from The Eagle Center, for our meal. Jack polished off a plate-sized pancake and two orders of bacon, Grace loved her BLT, and Grandma enjoyed a nostalgic mandarin orange chicken salad with Chinese noodles.
Eagle Center admission is $12 adult, $10 child and an extra $3 each for the presentation. The presentation was definitely worth it. We learned that an eagle has over 7,000 feathers and could shoot poop horizontally nearly 10 ft (well, those were the most memorable facts for a 6 & 8 yr-old!). There is a play nest for kids to build and gather in, an up-close encounter room with an eagle expert, and a museum section with historic U.S. memorabilia celebrating eagles. The museum is built right on the river with windows on the world of nearby eagles.
We purchased small inexpensive telescopes at the gift shop and were given a map of the eagle nests to find on 61 on the ride home. We went down during Spring break before the trees had leafed out, so the nest search actually entertained the kids the whole way home.
Before turning back though, we visited nearby Lark Toys, just another 15 minutes down the road in Kellogg, and amazingly in the middle of farmland. It is rated one of the best toy stores in the world! Lark is a family-owned huge toy store and children’s book store, with decades of toy memorabilia and a working, hand-carved carousel that you can ride on for $3. They also have a café, an ice cream shop, llamas, and mini golf. You can even watch them producing their own wooden toys in an in-house workshop. Set a budget before walking in the door!
Grace’s review on the drive home – “Grandma, I saw things today that I never could have imagined!”
