Itasca State Park, Minnesota

In October, it is a place of beauty and quiet serenity. The last of the vibrantly colored autumn leaves still hang on to the intertwining branches, not quite ready to secede to the darkly rich soil below. Still, foggy mornings turn to sunlit, blue-sky afternoons filled with bird song, which in turn fade to velvet nights of crickets and stars. It houses the humble beginnings of the mighty Mississippi River. It is nature’s embodiment of peace.