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We headed straight to Yahoo! and typed "Minnesota how many lakes" into the search box. The search results looked promising, but a bit overwhelming. As you can imagine, quite a few cities, towns, and businesses in Minnesota have the word "lake" in their name. We decided to get more granular in our search. We reversed direction and went back to the top page of Yahoo! and typed "How many lakes are there in Minnesota?" Although sparse, the search results provided the answer. After clicking on the first site, a web page from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, our fishing for the answer was over -- we'd found it. The Frequently Asked Questions about Lakes page offered many facts about the lakes of Minnesota, including the actual number in the "Land of 10,000 Lakes." Turns out there are 11,842 lakes in Minnesota (10 acres or larger in size). But what constitutes a lake in Minnesota? According to the site, a "lake is not classified by size or depth as some may suggest." In fact, a lake may be defined as an enclosed basin filled or partly filled with water. In general, a lake is an "area of open, relatively deep water that is large enough to produce a wave-swept shore." Do Minnesotans love
to spend time on their lakes? Oh, you betcha. In fact, waterskiing was invented there in 1922 by a plucky 18-year-old native. Also, there is one boat per six people, more than in any other state. With Paul Bunyan, the Vikings, Booya, Jesse Ventura, and all those lakes, what more could you ask for?
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