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Whenever one thinks of Brainerd, Minnesota, you can’t help but think of these three words: VACATION and BEAUTIFUL SUNSETS!
Brainerd is a popular vacation destination for those wanting to RELAX for days at a time at some of Minnesota’s most beautiful lakes.
Brainerd is also known as the ‘Brainerd Lakes Area’ because of the many fabulous lakes there and in the surrounding areas where one can thoroughly enjoy the beauty of Minnesota sunsets on the lake while closing out a day of fishing for prized Bass, Walleye, Muskie, or Northern.
Brainerd and its surrounding areas also has many nature parks, biking, and hiking trails you can enjoy as well.
Ther’s no lack of places where you can enjoy:
• Golfing and mini-golfing
• Shopping
• Exploring the nearby Paul Bunyon Trail
• Horse back riding
• Riding Go Karts
• Driving Bumper Boats
Or for those more adventurous, there is also:
• Wall Climbing
• Zip Lining
• And so much more…
While there, you can also plan for a day of:
• Visiting the Mille Lacs Indian Museum
• Hot Air Ballooning
• Visiting the Charles Lindbergh Historic Site
• and so much more!
Brainerd is home to the Brainerd International Raceway (BIR) – a world-class raceway which regularly hosts the NHRA Lucas Oil Nationals (Races, anyone!?).
Throughout its early years, BIR attracted many of the motorsports more well known rising stars who had raced here, such as NASCAR’s Ken Schrader and Jimmy Spencer, as well as Indy 500 racers Danny Ongais, Tom Sneva, Bobby Unser and Al Unser – all of which are ssome pretty impressive racers!
Remember the old wildly popular Pontiac Trans-Am cars? (come on, think Smokey and the Bandit here!)
Throughout the 1970’s, the Trans-Am series was very popular among fans at BIR and had attracted racers like actor Paul Newman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Cool Hand Luke, The Sting, The Color of Money, etc), who set a lap record in 1977 during the Uncola Nationals, and had gone on to win races in both 1978 and 1979, as well as had won his first professional race at BIR in 1982 (Yay Paul Newman!).
Other popular events that regularly take place at the Raceway include:
• The Thunder at the Lakes Races
• The Street Car Showdown
• The Show & Go
• The Coca-Cola Muscle Car Shootout
• And much more…
While searching for camping or lodging in the Brainerd area, you will find there are dozens of hotels, motels, campgrounds, and resorts to choose from that will fit your lodging needs, but they do sell out rather fast as Brainerd is a very popular vacation destination, so you will need to plan a few months ahead for your trip there.
Brainerd and its surrounding areas is one of our all time favorite Minnesota road trip destinations, and once you visit there, you will definitely see why it is a favorite among so many others as well.
For more information about Brainerd, please visit the Brainerd Lakes Area website at: www.brainerd.com
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