Dodge Nature Center & Pre School in Mendota Heights and West St. Paul MN
The pond
What's in the pond?
Straw bale tour.
Visiting with a resident.
Ice cream.
And, entertainment.
Oh yeah, and jumping.
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Rails to Trails, Minnesota in May
Gateway State Trail
Out and back bike ride from Mendota Heights to Pine Point Park north of Stillwater, May 21, 57 miles.
The biggest challange on this ride is making my way from the suburb of Mendota Heights, across downtown St. Paul, to the Gateway State Trail trailhead. Due to overcast skies and a lack of mountains, by the time I decide to consult my map I'm 90 degrees disoriented and it takes me 10 minutes of consciousness alteration to find my location on the map. Then, it's turn-by-turn navigation since I still feel that I'm headed in the wrong direction. 2 miles and 50 minutes after I start I'm on the right track.
The Gateway is a beautiful, well kept and relentlessly level trail that will take me from St. Paul to Pine Point Park, about 20 miles northeast, with a side trip to Stillwater.
My primary destination is Stillwater because, from there, I can cross the St. Croix River on this perfect, little, lift bridge and be in Wisconsin, thus a multi-state bike ride. The white car is parked in a spot reserved for the "bridgekeeper". I immediately resolve that since my retirement jobs of sheepherder and cabooseman are pretty much obsolete and if I don't get the lockkeeper's job in Scotland, I'd be happy to be a bridgekeeper. (A day later I read that they are breaking ground for a new bridge in Stillwater).
From the Wisconsin side, the old town of Stillwater spreads along the Minnesota shore.
Yes, it is that quaint...and green.
The Gateway is a seamless ride from the middle of St. Paul through farmland, forests and back again for a casual, short day ride.
Central Lakes Trail
Out and back from Fergus Falls, May 22, 10 miles
Rails to Trails!
Minnesota biking in May!
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