Foreword: This was sent to me by my cousin (who is the the great-granddaughter of my great-great grandmother Larsen) who lives in Oregon (Oregon has no winters, they also do not have any summers), while in Minnesota we have winter, and sometimes we have summer ( which usually falls on a weekend when it does nothing but rain cat and dogs!

Minnesota became the 32nd state on May 11, 1858. It was originally settled by a lost band of Norwegians seeking refuge from the searing heat of Wisconsin's winters.

The state flag of Minnesota consists of a blue background upon which sits a design best described as "how a 7-year- old city girl would draw a picture titled, 'life on the farm.'"

Minnesota gets its name from the Sioux Indian word "mah-nee-soo-tah", meaning, "No, really... they eat fish soaked in lye".

The state song of Minnesota is "Someday, the Vikings will...um... Aw, never mind".

The Mall of America in Bloomington , Minnesota covers 9.5 million square feet and has enough space to hold 185,000 teenagers yapping away on cell phones.

Madison, Minnesota is known as "The Lutefisk Capital of the World". This town is to be avoided at all costs.

"The Mary Tyler Moore Show" was set in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and was Mary's first big acting job since the "Dick van Dyke Show. Her show was about a single woman's struggle to find happiness in the big city, and was originally titled "Life Without Dick"... but that was changed for some reason.

The state motto of Minnesota at one time was, "Where Even a Man Who Wears a Feather Boa can be Governor. Now it's, "Where Even Stuart Smalley can be Senator."

Downtown Minneapolis has an enclosed skyway system covering 52 blocks, allowing people to live, work, eat, and sleep without venturing outdoors. One downside to this: a Norwegian occasionally turns up missing.

Cartoonist Charles M. Shultz was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and grew up in St. Paul . He was the first artist to accurately observe and depict the perfectly circular heads of Minnesota natives.

The Hormel Company of Austin, Minnesota produces 6 million cans of Spam a year, even though no one here actually eats it. Spam is however, a prized food in Hawaii, and... Japan.
St. Paul, Minnesota was originally named "Pig's Eye", after French Canadian whiskey trader Pierre "Pig's Eye" Parrant. St. Paul residents are fond of pointing out that their neighboring city, Minneapolis, was for a time known as "Pig's Colon ".

Pelican Rapids is home to a 16-foot-tall concrete pelican, which subsists on a diet of 4-foot-long concrete fish.

Minnesota license plates are blue & white and contain the phrase, "Blizzards on Independence Day - You Get Used to It.?

In fact, the snowmobile was invented in Roseau Minnesota, to provide families a means of attending Independence Day picnics.

Frank C. Mars, founder of the Mars Candy Co. was born in Newport, Minnesota... many people do not know that his 3 Musketeers candy bar was a big hit in Minnesota, and was originally three bars in one wrapper, each filled with a different flavor of nougat - chocolate, Spam and lutefisk.

Although the first fully automatic pop-up toaster was invented in Minneapolis Minnesota back in 1926, Minnesota's strict bread-control laws currently only allow residents to own semi-automatic toasters.

Tonka trucks continue to be manufactured in Minnetonka, Minnesota, despite hundreds of GI Joe dolls killed by them annually in rollover accidents. No airbags, no seat belts... These things are deathtraps, I tell yah!

Author Laura Ingalls Wilder was raised near Walnut Grove, Minnesota, and was famous for writing the "Little House" series of books, as well as inventing the "Spam diet" which consists of looking at a plate of Spam until you lose your appetite...much like the "lutefisk diet".

Minnesotans are almost indistinguishable from Wisconsinites. The only way to tell them apart is to ask if they voted for Mondale in '84.

Okay now... it's up to you to forward this on to your friends...failure to forward will result in being given an entrance pin to attend the Eelpout Festival in Walker, MN, February 18-20, 2011.