Staycation

The pictures are here! The pictures are here!

With the costs of airfare and gas and the realities of traveling with a 2-year-old being what they are, we decided this summer rather than plan any grand getaway we'd spend one day each weekend exploring part of the greater Twin Cities metropolitan area. Even though I grew up near here, I hadn't spent a lot of time exploring all the great things "The Cities" have to offer.

We didn't know we were part of a larger trend until we saw a headline in the Eden Prairie paper last week which read "Summer of the Staycation."

One month into the summer, here are some of the things we've done:

We took a train trip along the St. Croix River on the Osceloa and St. Croix Valley Railway. On our way home we stopped at William O'Brien State Park, bought a State Park pass and went for a hike along the St. Croix.



We rode our bikes around Lake Calhoun and part of Lake Harriet.

We went to the Mill City Farmers' Market, where we bought rhubarb and radishes and Madeline got to pet a goat. We also learned that residents of St. Paul are able to raise goats and other hoofed mammals, but residents of Minneapolis are not. Just one of many things to love about St. Paul. Both cities allow fowl (chickens, turkeys, ducks and the like.) Then we walked around the Mill Ruins Park, which as the name implies contains the ruins of several of the old flour mills that lined the Mississippi and gave Minneapolis its nickname, "Mill City." Did you know Minneapolis was at one time the leading international producer of flour? I didn't either.



We visited Minnehaha Falls. Many visitors are surprised to discover a roaring waterfall in the middle of Minneapolis. This is the best time of year to see it. The creek was high and water was pouring spectacularly over the falls. We also rented a double bicycle surrey and rode around the park. Madeline was delighted. It had a little basket for her in the front. She sat up front yelling, "Faster!! More faster!!" as Al and I pedaled as hard as we could up hills. It's not the most stable vehicle, more than a little top heavy. Every time we went around a corner I was sure we were going to tip. We finished up our visit to the falls with a fried fish po' boy from a little restaurant called Sea Salt right in the park. The sandwich was very tasty, but we were perplexed as to why this restaurant at an inland waterfall in Minnesota was called Sea Salt.

I was going to crop myself out of this pic, but decided to let everyone see my sexy farmer tan and hot bike helmet.

Our most recent excursion was to a local berry farm to pick strawberries. The season is very late this year. The berries were still a few days from peaking. A storm was moving in so it was quite cool and Madeline was shivering and asking to go home most of the time. But fresh picked strawberries are kind of like sex in that even when they're bad they're pretty darn good. We had strawberry shortcake, strawberry-rhubarb crisp with rhubarb we bought from this wonderfully crazy old lady who has a farm near the berry farm, and I'm gearing up for my first attempt at homemade jam. The prospect of homemade jam on fresh-from-the-oven homemade bread is almost more than I can stand.

Stay tuned for further updates from our staycation!