MINNESOTA OFF THE BEATEN PATH® TENTH EDITION

While most visitors to the Twin Cities area will not notice or care much about its geography, this part of Minnesota offers some striking contrasts. In a distance of about 50 miles, the landscape changes from rolling prairie now covered with subdivisions to shady ravines that cut through the steep, forested hills along the St. Croix River bordering Wisconsin.

In a state blessed with an abundance of lakes and rivers, it’s no surprise that the Twin Cities owes much of its existence to water. Both Minneapolis (known as the City of Lakes) and St. Paul sit on the Mississippi and evolved as grain-and-lumber milling centers. Between the two cities, the Minnesota River ends its journey from the South Dakota border and meets the Mississippi at historic Fort Snelling. Southeast of the Twin Cities the third major river of this region, the scenic St. Croix, joins the others near Hastings.

The rivers offer many options both in and away from the mainstream. In a day you could visit Fort Snelling, stroll or cycle along the popular River Road trails, and leave the cities behind to enjoy a quiet afternoon in the St. Croix River towns of Afton, Stillwater, Marine-on-St. Croix, or Taylors Falls.

The St. Croix River National Scenic Waterway lies only 25 miles from the Twin Cities. The lower section of the St. Croix, from Stillwater to its junction with the Mississippi River, is by far the busiest section of the river, especially on weekends when it seems as if every oversized yacht in the area is cruising the river. North of Stillwater the river is much shallower, and canoes outnumber powerboats by a large margin. The river flows through a varied landscape on its journey south, with the most spectacular features starting with a narrow canyon at Taylors Falls and continuing through tall, thickly forested bluffs to the Mississippi. After you spend some time visiting the lakes and rivers of the Twin Cities area, you’ll quickly understand why residents have such an affinity with water.

Washington County

As the skinniest county in Minnesota, Washington County borders the St. Croix River for about 40 miles, from the mouth at the Mississippi north to near Taylors Falls. Although the county is filling up as the Twin Cities expand eastward, it’s still easy to find peaceful areas to visit, especially along the river. From St. Paul and Minneapolis, I-94 and MN 36 provide the most direct routes to the St. Croix, while MN 95 follows the river from its mouth at the Mississippi to Taylors Falls.

Afton, a quiet little river town only about thirty minutes from the Twin Cities, at times feels as if it’s several hours removed from the city. If you’re hungry while in Afton, The Swirl is the place to go for a quick bite. It’s located on the main street through town and a pleasant place to stop for a snack or lunch.

If you haven’t stuffed yourself at The Swirl, walk the half block to Selma’s Ice Cream Shop, which occupies the site of a Civil War arsenal. Selma’s features exotic flavors for ice-cream connoisseurs and a wide variety of candy and other assorted sweets. The wood floor creaks as you walk about perusing the sugary treats and hasn’t received a coat of paint lately; the gaps in the planks make it look as if it hasn’t changed in one hundred years. You may wish the walk was longer between the two eateries so you would have a chance of wearing off your lunch before tackling a double rocky road ice-cream cone.

Afton State Park
(651) 436-5391

Historic Fort Snelling
St. Paul
(612) 726-1171

St. Croix River National Scenic Waterway
(Twin Cities region section runs from Taylors Falls to near Hastings)

During the summer, Afton is a popular destination for boaters who ply the river and bicyclists who cruise the quiet county roads. Although this area is scenic during the summer, it shows off its beauty during autumn, when the oaks and maples put on their best colors. The hills of Europe may have been alive with the sound of music, but the hills of the St. Croix Valley come alive with spectacular colors in the fall. Climbing south out of town, scenic CR 21 takes you to Afton State Park and the last section of the St. Croix River before it joins the Mississippi. Although it’s only 20 miles from the Twin Cities, Afton State Park feels as if it’s a hundred miles away from any metropolitan area. Located atop a bluff along the St. Croix River, the park has miles of hiking trails that wind and climb through thick stands of hardwood trees divided up by ravines and prairie. When the snow falls, the park grooms several miles of some of the most challenging cross-country ski trails in the area.

Driving north from Afton on MN 95 brings you to the historic river town of Stillwater, which hugs the St. Croix as it hangs from the steep hillsides and marks the line between the quiet upper and the busy lower St. Croix River. Although on summer weekends Stillwater may not seem off the beaten path, the scenic downtown has a totally different feel on quieter days. And compared to the suburban sprawl along MN 36 on the west side of town, the downtown is a step back in time.

We Speak for the Trees

The residents of Afton have a reputation for being protective of their turf. While some may call it a case of “not in my backyard,” residents have passed tough zoning laws pertaining to residential and commercial development.

In a case that epitomizes their protectiveness, many years ago Washington County wanted to rebuild CR 21 south of Afton. While the narrow, winding road was due for some improvements, the county wanted to eliminate the curves and run it nearly ruler-straight from town to the state park. They also wanted to remove hundreds of gorgeous hardwoods that form a dense green canopy over the road.

Outsiders joined residents who lived along the road and those who didn’t to fight the county. Hand-painted signs accusing county planners of a variety of sins, most to do with cutting down trees and ruining the character of the St. Croix Valley, appeared along the road. Eventually the county backed down, and though they widened the road and softened some of the sharpest curves, it retained much of its scenic quality. In this case the residents of Afton proved that sometimes you can fight city hall.

Turkey Sighting

Several years ago, while bicycling with friends along peaceful CR 21 near Afton, we saw a large dark object moving slowly across the road. Thinking it was a large cat or dog, we kept riding along.

As we closed in on the animal, it suddenly became apparent that this was no domesticated pet. In fact, it was a huge wild turkey ambling across the road, the first any of us had ever seen in the area. It surprised us to see one of these reclusive birds within minutes of the busy eastern suburbs of the Twin Cities.

Since that first sighting, I’ve found a small flock near Afton State Park and a large one in the northern part of the county. And every year I see more flocks of wild turkeys closer to populated areas. All my encounters with wild turkeys have come from the seat of a bicycle, reason enough to park the car and pedal along the quiet roads of eastern Washington County.

They say that Minnesota was born at the charming Washington County seat of Stillwater, where in 1848 a cadre of visionary pioneer settlers gathered to proclaim Minnesota’s territorial status. Out of the wilderness they dispatched a fur trader named Henry Hastings Sibley to convince the U.S. Congress of their legitimacy. The following year Sibley won official recognition on behalf of his group, and Minnesota was on the map.

More than a century and a half later, Stillwater persists as a living museum of 19th-century history and architecture that is blessed with one of the loveliest settings imaginable. Nestled in a pocket formed in the bluffs of the St. Croix River on the outside of a bend, the town centers on a commercial district of antiques shops, boutiques, and restaurants in historic buildings that line an attractive riverside park. The waterfront is alive with boat traffic spring through autumn, when, across the river, Wisconsin’s undeveloped wooded shoreline explodes in fall color. Any one of the steep streets leading uphill from the center of town passes well-preserved residences, churches, and buildings representing numerous Victorian architectural styles. Call the chamber of commerce at (651) 439-4001 for information on walking and auto tours of Stillwater’s historic buildings.

For those wishing to learn more about Stillwater’s history, a visit is in order to the residence of the former warden’s territorial prison, which now serves as the Washington County Historical Society. You’ll find this 1850s-era stone structure at 602 North Main St., in a little canyon known as Battle Hollow; legend has it that two warring Dakota and Ojibway chiefs fought a duel to the death at this spot. Guides at the museum will lead you through a variety of exhibits concerning Stillwater’s early prominence as a lumber town, life in the penitentiary, and other aspects of county history. A small fee is charged for admission to the museum, which is open Tues, Thurs, Sat, and Sun, May through Oct, or by special arrangement. Call (651) 439-5956 for more information or visit wchsmn.org.

As MN 95 runs north out of Stillwater, it climbs a deep wooded ravine and follows the edge of the St. Croix Valley to the quiet little village of Marine-on-St. Croix. Like most towns along the river, Marine enjoyed early prosperity from the logging boom of the last half of the 19th century, resulting in the construction of a number of stately historic homes. Among them is one outstanding example of the Greek Revival style, a former bed-and-breakfast establishment named after its builder, Asa Parker, a founder of one of Marine’s lumber mills. (Though now closed, you can still see the house on a hill from the road at 17500 St. Croix Trail North. For those looking for a bed-and-breakfast to stay in, Stillwater (10 miles south of Marine) has a number of excellent options.

If you’re driving through Marine and get a hunger knock or just want to stop at a unique place, you should visit the Historic Marine General Store at 101 Judd St. It’s the oldest general store in Minnesota, a full-service grocery store with a made-from-scratch deli, and is the heart and soul of the town.

Chisago County

From Stillwater, if you follow MN 95 north you’ll gradually climb from the banks of the St. Croix and cross into Chisago County. Although the highway follows the St. Croix River to Taylors Falls, you won’t see it until you’re on US 8 and dropping back into the river valley. When you do see the St. Croix again, you will know that it was worth the wait. The road hugs a cliff high above the valley, and you’ll have a spectacular view of the river and the impressive hills across the border in Wisconsin.

In the Company of Eagles

One winter while driving along CR 16 north of Taylors Falls to Wild Mountain ski area early on a Sunday morning, for some reason I looked up and found myself rewarded with a clear view of a bald eagle perched near the top of a tree a few yards from the road. My tired brain suddenly sprang to life as the sight of the spectacular bird woke me up more than the cup of strong coffee I was working on. As usual I didn’t have my camera, but the image of this majestic bird stayed with me as if I had snapped a photo of it. Upon reaching the ski area, my mood had brightened considerably from earlier in the morning as I shared my experience with some skiing companions. Although bald eagle sightings along the St. Croix River have become more common in recent years, seeing one in person still gets this city boy’s adrenaline pumping.

Although Chisago County is close to the Twin Cities, it shares characteristics with northern and southern Minnesota. Lakes dot the farmland that covers most of the county, and these pastoral scenes could pass for almost any county to the south. But this gently rolling landscape gives way to thick forest, steep hills, and exposed rock cliffs along the St. Croix River, giving the area a much more northern feel.

Minnesota’s logging boom came early to the St. Croix River Valley. The grand bluffs and the valleys of the St. Croix’s tributaries, thick with giant white and red pine, were the first areas in the state to suffer the effects of the sawyer’s blade. By the mid-1850s, with each spring runoff the river became a highway of logs, each stamped with the distinctive mark of the company whose workers had felled it, all bound for the sawmills of Stillwater.

When these huge log booms reached Taylors Falls, however, they often ran into trouble. The river here enters the St. Croix Dalles, a constricted, steep-walled basalt canyon with a sharp ninety-degree bend at its center. The Dalles was the site of some truly spectacular logjams (check out the pictures on the walls of Taylors Falls’s Chisago House Restaurant) that kept river workers busy for weeks as they sought to keep the logs moving by whatever means was necessary—including, at times, large charges of dynamite.

In an accommodating gesture to the boisterous loggers who frequented Taylors Falls each spring, the community erected a jail as one of the early public buildings. Built in 1856, this stone structure afforded an easy escape to anyone sober enough to climb over the top of the cell wall. The fact that it apparently served its function for twenty-nine years may be a testament to the sorry state of its occupants, but for whatever reason, in 1885 the town finally decided to invest $311 in the construction of a newer and more secure facility. It is this building, the Historic Taylors Falls Jail, that now houses a more genteel breed of inmate as one of the state’s most unusual bed-and-breakfast establishments, the Old Jail Bed and Breakfast.

The jail was tastefully restored in keeping with its original two-by-four cribbing construction, in which the exterior walls were formed by securing the boards sandwich-style on top of one another. The building rents for moderate to expensive rates (guests cook their own breakfasts) and, with the sofa bed in the living area, can sleep four. Call (651) 465-3112 for reservations or visit oldjail.com.

If you can swing a pass from the warden, you’ll find plenty of engaging distractions in and around Taylors Falls. Just a block away from the jail is the entrance to Interstate State Park, where there are hiking trails through the Dalles, with its fantastic water-sculpted rock formations. Rock climbers from the Twin Cities frequent this area, as do kayakers who come to frolic in the rapids just downstream of the US 8 bridge. An excursion boat offers rides downstream in summer, and the park has a canoe rental facility as well.

To get a feel for the world inhabited by the town’s early residents, you can tour the historic W. H. C. Folsom House, located just a block up Government Street from the jail. This 1855 Greek Revival home of a local logger, general-store owner, and state politician is the most significant building in the town’s Angel Hill District, which has been listed in its entirety on the National Register of Historic Places. Almost all the furnishings in the house are original. The half-hour guided tour reveals many day-to-day details of the family’s life while at the same time providing a glimpse into a particular point in history. The family was touched by the Civil War, as is evidenced by the blue-and-gray uniform on display that was worn by William Folsom’s son, Wyman. A local newspaper on a desk in the library interprets the significance of the assassination of President Lincoln. Tours are given daily, for a modest fee, from Memorial Day to mid-Oct; for more information contact (651) 465-3125 or folsomhouse@mnhs.org. contact (651) 465-3125 or folsomhouse@mnhs.org.

If you find yourself thirsty or craving a good cup of coffee after roaming around Taylors Falls, you won’t have to go far. Coffee Talk, 479 Bench St., (651) 465-6700, is a beautifully restored Victorian house on the main street on the northern edge of downtown. This cozy shop serves a wide variety of coffee drinks, from flavored lattes to a good strong cup of java, and has small tables strategically placed on both floors of this grand old house. It’s a great place to kick back and read a book, talk, or just relax and stare out at the St. Croix River Valley. Just be sure you have cash, because they don’t take credit cards.

Lava Flows and Glaciers Melt

Long before humans arrived in Chisago County, glacial activity shaped the landscape, leaving behind morainal hills, glacial outwash, and depressions that eventually became lakes. While the glaciers melted, the Glacial St. Croix River flowed through the region as it drained glacial lakes in the Lake Superior Basin. These torrents of meltwater carved out the St. Croix Dalles, now the site of Interstate State Park, the second Minnesota state park. As impressive a feat as this was, it’s hard to imagine the event that preceded it.

Eons ago, a large fracture in the earth’s crust developed across the central United States, stretching from Kansas, through southeastern Minnesota, to Lake Superior and beyond. Thousands of individual flows of basalt lava streamed from this large crack to form a layer of rock more than 20,000 feet thick. Today visitors can see a few of these lava flows at Interstate State Park, courtesy of the rivers that poured from the melting glaciers. For casual observers, it’s easier to see the terraces carved into the cliffs by the ancient river and the abundant potholes scoured into the rock floor by pebbles and sand grains carried in the strong current.

Swedish Heritage

In a state known for its Scandinavian heritage, the Chisago Lakes towns of Lindstrom and Center City owe a large portion of their history to emigrants from Sweden. This area is the site of the first permanent Swedish settlement in Minnesota (Norbergsholmen, now known by the prosaic name of Center City) and the setting for several historical novels. The emigrants traveled by boat up the St. Croix River to Taylors Falls and walked the final 10 miles west to the lake district, where most started farming.

When historian and author Vilhelm Moberg used this region as a setting in four novels about Swedish migration to America, the area became famous in his homeland. His book, The Emigrants, created the local heroes Karl Oskar and Kristina Nilsson, and today these fictional characters stand as statues in downtown Lindstrom.

Other reminders of the area’s Swedish ties include historical Glader Cemetery, the fictional burial place of Karl and Kristina, and their fictional home, the Nya Duvemala House. Both sites lie 3 miles south of Lindstrom off CR 25 on the shore of South Center Lake. The first pioneer was buried in Glader Cemetery in 1855, the last in 1916.

As you drive west on US 8 and leave the St. Croix River Valley, you’ll come to a group of small towns that sit on a chain of lakes. One large lake called Ki Chi Saga (now Chisago) by Ojibway Indians originally covered this area, but railroad companies filled in some of the narrow and shallow places in the lake for rail beds, thereby forming the current group of lakes.

Today Center City stands out as perhaps the most historic of the Chisago Lakes towns. It is home to Chisago Lake Lutheran Church, which was organized as a congregation in 1854, and is one of the three oldest Lutheran churches in Minnesota. The congregation built the current church in 1889, and it sits on the site of the original one, which was built in 1856. From the church you can stroll along the Summit Avenue National Historic District, 2 blocks of distinctive late 19th-and early 20th-century homes overlooking North Center Lake.

Center City doesn’t have much of a downtown, but neighboring Lindstrom and Chisago City have more shops and restaurants. Chisago City, the smaller of the two, has several antiques shops and a mall area that contains, among other businesses, a coffee shop and a unique gift shop. Lindstrom has a more vibrant downtown and consequently a wider array of shops. Lake Boulevard, the main street through the heart of town, has enough shops to keep most power shoppers and browsers happy for several hours; included art galleries, a gift shop, and a bookstore. Lindstrom’s water tower, painted to look like a giant teakettle, has become a tourist attraction. It’s easy to find, and, of course, there’s no charge for viewing it. For more information call the chamber of commerce at (651) 257-0620 or visit cityoflindstrom.us.

Ramsey County

St. Paul had its start as a ragged frontier settlement clustered about a tavern on the banks of the Mississippi. The proprietor of this saloon was a notoriously uncouth and licentious sixty-year-old ex-voyageur known as Pig’s Eye Parrant. After one of his customers successfully used “Pig’s Eye” as a return mailing address on a letter, this flattering name fell into use in reference to the settlement as a whole. Then in 1840 the Catholic Church sent a missionary to serve the needs of the area’s settlers and the soldiers at nearby Fort Snelling. Father Lucian Galtier built a log chapel in honor of St. Paul near Parrant’s saloon and eventually succeeded in promoting the use of this Christian name instead of the decidedly heathen one already in service.

From these humble beginnings, St. Paul’s location at the head of navigation on the Mississippi River resulted in decades of explosive growth, as huge numbers of settlers streamed upriver from St. Louis to stake their claims on the northern frontier. Territorial status was achieved a mere nine years after Galtier’s arrival, and Minnesota found itself under the leadership of a young Pennsylvanian named Alexander Ramsey, who served as Minnesota’s first territorial governor and second state governor. Today the Alexander Ramsey House, at 265 South Exchange St., provides some fascinating glimpses into this remarkable era of St. Paul’s and Minnesota’s infancy.

Your tour of the fifteen-room French Second Empire–style limestone mansion begins in the carriage house/gift shop with a video program on the governor’s career. Then a costumed guide leads you into the outer parlor, where, had you been a female acquaintance of Mrs. (Anna) Ramsey and of proper standing, you might have paid a highly ritualized “call.” Staying no more than fifteen to twenty minutes and being careful to discuss only the appropriate topics (politics and religion were taboo), you would then have been free to proceed to your next stop confident that Minnesota’s first lady was obliged to return the favor of your visit. The governor, however, dispensed with this formality by ushering his male guests via a side door to his second-floor office, where you can bet that discussions of politics and other contentious subjects were the rule.

The exquisitely preserved house, which remained within the family until it was willed to the Minnesota Historical Society in the 1960s, retains almost all of its original furnishings and many of the innovations (such as running hot water upstairs) that made it a noteworthy structure in its time. Tours last an hour and are given for a small fee daily, except for Sun and Mon, Apr through Dec. A special Victorian Christmas celebration is held each year from Thanksgiving to New Year’s. For more information call (651) 296-8760.

To preserve the Victorian spell cast by the atmosphere of the Ramsey House, you need do no more than cross the street to 276 South Exchange St., where the elegant Forepaugh’s Restaurant serves fine French cuisine in the former home of one of the Ramseys’ acquaintances. The grand two-story Italianate structure has been lavishly decorated in the spirit of the late 1800s, when it was built for Joseph Forepaugh, owner of the largest wholesale dry goods dealership in the Northwest. Prices are moderate to expensive. For reservations call (651) 224-5606 or go to forepaughs.com.

In the very early 1900s, St. Paul police chief John O’Connor set up a system that provided a safe haven for criminals of all types, provided they obeyed the laws while in the city. Though O’Connor stepped down from his post in 1920, his system remained in place. The result was that, from the late ’20s to mid-’30s, during the heyday of Prohibition and the Depression, St. Paul served as “home safe home” to some of the most notorious gangsters of the 20th century.

The Wabasha Street Caves/Down in History Tours at 215 Wabasha St. South (651-292-1220, wabashastreetcaves.com) is located on the site of the famous underground nightclub, The Castle Royal. This event center offers Down in History Tours (the St. Paul Gangster Tours, the Historic Cave Tour, the Ghosts and Graves Tour, Mill City Mobs Tour, Twin Town Tacky Tour, and the Rivers and Roots Tour), swing dance music nights, and seasonal theater.

As one of the more popular activities, St. Paul Gangster Tours provide an outstanding way to learn about this era. A couple of costumed guides host the two-hour tour to the city’s most famous gangster hangouts and hideaways. You’ll see the apartment complex where John Dillinger shot it out with St. Paul’s finest and the sites of the Hamm and Bremer kidnappings. You’ll also visit the post office where the Barker Gang pulled off the Swift Payroll Robbery. All the while your guides will regale you with stories about the likes of “Baby Face” Nelson, “Machine Gun” Kelly, and Alvin “Creepy” Karpis.

The Memorial Concourse of the St. Paul City Hall and Ramsey County Courthouse has been well preserved as an art deco masterpiece and as one of the capital city’s most noted architectural landmarks. Entering the narrow three-story room feels a little like entering a hallowed chamber in the city of Oz. Very dark blue Belgian marble on the walls creates a mysteriously somber atmosphere. A mirrored ceiling reflects your every move and lends even greater apparent stature to the Vision of Peace statue that stands at the far end of the room. Made of sixty tons of luminous white onyx by Swedish sculptor Carl Milles, the 36-foot statue depicts five Native Americans in a spiritual ceremony, with a common godlike vision—of Peace—rising among them. The St. Paul City Hall and Ramsey County Courthouse, 15 West Kellogg Ave. in downtown St. Paul, is open to the public, free of charge.

Learning through hands-on exploration of some of the most unlikely objects is the key to fun at the Children’s Museum, situated in downtown St. Paul. Don’t be fooled by the name of this place, either—many adults, as well as kids, will enjoy filming one another in a television studio with real video cameras or operating a large electromagnetic crane.

The Children’s Museum regularly holds special events involving its own theatrical troupe and in cooperation with other arts and educational programs in the Twin Cities. There is also a gift shop full of creative surprises. The museum is open Tues through Sun year-round, plus Mon from Memorial Day through Labor Day only, for a modest admission fee. It is located at 10 West Seventh St., St. Paul. For information on special events, call (651) 225-6000 or visit mcm.org.

If you had a model railroad as a child, or even if you didn’t, the Twin City Model Railroad Museum should make it on your list of sites to visit in St. Paul. Visitors will find a 3,000-square-foot O-scale operating model of railroads in Minnesota during the 1930s to 1950s, a collection of railroad art, and a history wall. The museum is located at 668 Transfer Road, Suite 8 (651-647-9628, tcmrm.org).

For those who like their trains life-size as well as pint-size, the Minnesota Transportation Museum, 193 Pennsylvania Ave. East (651-228-0263, mt museum.org), is another fun place to visit. Besides a restored roundhouse at this location, the museum also has steam-and diesel-powered trains in Osceola, Wisconsin (35 miles northeast of St. Paul), and vintage streetcars at Lake Harriet in Minneapolis.

Traffic on University Avenue—one of the first roadways to connect Minneapolis and St. Paul—has always run thick and fast, which is a pity, because many people zip by the Russian Piroshki and Teahouse never knowing what they’ve missed. When Nikolai Alenov opened this modest take-out place in 1978, it was one of the first Russian fast-food restaurants in the country. Since then, his mother’s recipe for piroshki, or Russian hamburgers—heavenly dumplings filled with ground beef, rice, and spices that are either deep-fried or baked—has attracted a loyal clientele of office workers and neighbors. Nikolai also serves borscht, stuffed cabbage rolls, and, of course, Russian tea, all at very inexpensive prices. A couple of tables are available if you’d prefer to eat in. To find this humble establishment, which is open Tues through Fri for lunch and early dinners, keep your eyes peeled for the sign at 1758 University Ave., on the south side of the street, just east of Fairview. Call (651) 646-4144.

JANUARY
St. Paul Winter Carnival
St. Paul, late Jan
(651) 223-7400
wintercarnival.com

JUNE
Grand Old Day
St. Paul, early June
(651) 699-0029
grandave.com

Wannigan Days
Taylors Falls, early June
(651) 465-4405

JULY
Karl Oskar Days
Lindstrom, early July
(651) 257-0620
cityoflindstrom.us

Rivertown Days
Hastings, mid-July
(651) 437-6775
hastingsmn.org

Aquatennial
Minneapolis, late July
(612) 376-7669
aquatennial.com

Lumberjack Days
Stillwater, late July
(651) 439-7700
lumberjackdays.com

Another slice of regional history has been well preserved on the grounds of the Luther Seminary in the quiet neighborhood of St. Anthony Park. Here, tucked behind several classroom and administration buildings on top of a hill, is an attractive log building, the Old Muskego Church, which stands as a living monument to the first organized Norwegian Lutheran congregation in the New World.

As the door to the lovely old church swings open, there is an aroma of aged red oak and walnut that is as strong as frankincense. One’s attention is drawn immediately to the front of the chancel, where, in simplicity and grace, a solid walnut five-sided altar sits below a turret-shaped pulpit, whose prominence in the building reflects the importance of the spoken Word in the worship of the day. The straight-backed pews, the rough-hewn benches on the balcony, and the grim portraits of some of the early pastors convey something of the life these settlers led. Having chosen a swampy site for their community near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the settlers experienced a staggering incidence of death by cholera during the first few years (1843 to 1847). But the settlement finally prospered, producing the country’s first two Norwegian newspapers, the first elected officials of Norwegian descent, and even a Civil War hero. The church was moved to its present site in 1904 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. The building is open for self-guided tours daily, requiring only that you check in at the Seminary Information Desk in the Olson Campus Center on the southeast corner of Hendon Avenue and Fulham Street. For Olson Campus Center hours call (651) 641-3456.

The St. Paul campus of the University of Minnesota was developed originally as a “farm school,” and the study of agricultural science is still a primary activity there. But within the School of Home Economics in the attractive McNeal Hall, 1985 Buford Ave., is an unusual exhibition dedicated to common objects of human design—clothing, textiles, household items, and decorative arts. Exhibits at the small Goldstein Gallery change every two to three months and cover a broad range of themes, from underwear making to the history of inventions by women. The gallery is open daily, free of charge; for information on current exhibits, call (612) 624-7434 or visit http://goldstein.design.umn.edu.

As the expanding populations of the Twin Cities pushed the city limits ever closer to each other around the turn of the 20th century, the Herman Gibbs family on the northern perimeter of this “interurban zone” adapted their farming practices to the growing urban market. By planting a greater variety of fruits and vegetables and by rushing their fresh produce to the farmers’ market each day, they joined ranks with a little-known agricultural tradition called the urban-fringe farm. The farmhouse, with its original furnishings, and the out-buildings used by the Gibbs family have been preserved as the Gibbs Farm Museum, located at Larpenteur and Cleveland Avenues in Falcon Heights, where the clock has been set back to 1901.

Guided tours of the farm begin with a short slide show and then lead through a one-room schoolhouse, two barns, and the house, where something’s frequently cooking on the woodstove in the summer kitchen. On Sun staff and volunteers in period dress provide demonstrations of such tasks as candle dipping, butter churning, doll making, and quilting, to name only a few. The educational practices of the time are explained by a teacher holding forth at the blackboard. And during special festivals it’s not unheard of for staff and volunteers to kick up their heels and dance or to compete in such contests as seeing who can produce the most attractive shawl starting with a mass of uncarded wool. The museum charges a small fee and is open Tues through Sun, planting time through harvest. Call (651) 646-8629 for more information or go to rchs.com/gibbs-farm.

“From Urban Places to Country Spaces” is the motto of the Gateway Trail, an old “rail trail” that connects St. Paul to Stillwater, and it couldn’t be more accurate. The trail runs for 17.1 miles from Arlington Avenue in St. Paul to Pine Point Park, 5 miles north of Stillwater. For its first few miles, the trail provides a nice alternative to busy highways as it passes through the communities of East St. Paul, Maplewood, and North St. Paul.

healthyrivalry

Although Minneapolis can easily lay claim to being the bigger and more cosmopolitan of the Twin Cities, it still takes every opportunity to kick sand in the face of St. Paul. When St. Paul received a pro hockey franchise, it didn’t take long for Minneapolis to try to lure the team across the river to play in their arena. If the capital city lures a business away from Minneapolis, the bigger city cries foul and carries on about how perpetual underdog St. Paul stole the company.

Then, after passing beneath I-694, the Gateway Trail becomes decidedly pastoral as it meanders past many ponds, barns, and marshes in a gently rolling landscape. The primary trail is paved, providing an ideal surface for bicycles and in-line skates. A gravel trail, which can be used by horses and mountain bikes, runs beside it. Steep grades are few and access points many, making the Gateway Trail quite user-friendly. For maps and more information, contact the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Information Center; (888) 646-6367; dnr.state.mn.us.

If you are one of the many poor souls allergic to domed stadiums and plastic grass, a visit to a St. Paul Saints baseball game could be just what the doctor ordered. The Saints, who play forty home games a year at CHS Stadium (in the lowertown area of St. Paul), are members of the Northern League, a six-team independent league whose teams aren’t affiliated with Major League parent clubs. The play is not quite of Major League caliber, but the games are fast paced, and the between-innings entertainment is at least half the fun. Tickets are inexpensively to moderately priced. For reservations or information call (651) 644-6659 or visit saints baseball.com.

Dakota County

The same glacial river that carved out the impressive river valleys of the Twin Cities region also shaped the landscape of Dakota County. Outwash, layers of sand and gravel deposited by glacial meltwater, formed the gentle hills of this fertile county that sits south of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The glacial streams deposited mostly sand to the west, forming the Anoka Sandplain, an area of dunes and sparse vegetation. The difference in terrain between the two counties provides evidence of the unbelievable power of ice and water.

The geographical hub around which much of Minnesota’s history has revolved is the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. In 1805, two years after the Louisiana Purchase gave the United States access to the Mississippi watershed, the territory surrounding this strategic junction of Minnesota’s two largest rivers was obtained through treaty from the Dakota Indians for sixty gallons of whiskey and $2,000 worth of trade goods. The land wasn’t occupied by its new owners, however, until fourteen years later, when 200 soldiers spent a miserable winter (40 of them died of scurvy) camped near the site of what was to become Fort Snelling, Minnesota’s first military outpost and the Northwest’s remotest fort for thirty years (see Hennepin County later in this chapter).

Eventually the Twin Cities sprang up in proximity to this spot—St. Paul a few miles downstream, at the head of navigation on the Mississippi, and Minneapolis at a roughly equal distance upstream on the same river, where the once-magnificent St. Anthony Falls produced waterpower for early industry. But well before either city was established, Minnesota’s first permanent white settlement took root in Fort Snelling’s protective shadow on the southern banks of the Minnesota–Mississippi confluence.

Mendota (from the Dakota Indian word for “where the waters mingle”), as the town is called now, grew around a fur trading post run by Henry Hastings Sibley of the American Fur Company. A visit to the Sibley House, a historic site operated by the Daughters of the American Revolution, reveals much about this pioneer statesman and the era in which he lived.

A year after his arrival in 1834, Sibley and a group of fellow traders and local Indians built the handsome limestone dwelling as a home and business center. As you step into its large entry, a glass wall panel reveals an innovative building process: The interior walls combined river mud, sand, and clay with a latticework of grass and woven willow branches. But despite the primitive materials used in its construction, the Sibley House was an oasis of civility on the frontier. Tasteful period furnishings in every room suggest how lucrative the fur trade was, while providing insight into the lifestyle of the Victorian society to which the Sibleys aspired. A “fainting couch” placed at the top of the stairs was available for tightly corseted ladies who may have arrived upstairs short of breath. In Mrs. Sibley’s bedroom a bootjack features a decorative panel positioned so as to have prevented anyone present from glimpsing her emerging ankle.

The Sibley House is adjacent to the Faribault House, built by the fur trader Jean Baptiste Faribault and operated now as a museum, with exhibits on the fur trade and the Dakota and Ojibway Indian cultures.

Both houses are open Tues through Sun for a small fee from May through Oct; they are also open weekends in Oct, when they are decorated for Christmas. Living-history demonstrations are scheduled occasionally. Both are located along MN 13 on the west end of the town of Mendota. For more information call (651) 452-1596.

Hastings —located about 20 miles downstream of Mendota at the junction of the Mississippi, St. Croix, and Vermillion Rivers—is another community that owes its early existence to the flowing waters at its doorstep. This Dakota County seat of 16,000 retains much charm from its heyday in the second half of the 19th century, when water-powered grain mills made the city one of the greatest wheat markets of the Northwest. A drive down the old main street, Second Avenue, reveals many original storefronts still intact.

Another way to enjoy Hastings’s rich architectural heritage is to take a self-guided front-porch tour of the historic district, following directions in a brochure available from the chamber of commerce at 427 Vermillion St. In fact the town has become so enthralled by its eclectic porches that on a weekend in early May an annual Front Porch Festival is held to rekindle memories of the time when front porches were a focal point of neighborhood social life in America. The festival features house and porch tours, clinics on porch and home reconstruction, horse-and-buggy rides, and historic games. Call (651) 437-6775 for more information.

One of Hastings’s gracious older homes opens its doors to visitors with two gorgeous condominiums operated by Pam and Dick Thorsen. Formerly a bed-and-breakfast, the award-winning Queen Anne–style Rosewood dates from 1880. The Thorsens have tastefully renovated the house in keeping with the original design while retaining some features that recall its original incarnation as a small hospital.

The condominiums have full gourmet kitchens, the Penthouse has a rooftop solarium, and the Lumber Baron has several elegant parlors. Rates are expensive. For more information or reservations, call (651) 235-4802 or (651) 757-7343 or visit thorwoodinn.com.

What else is there to do in Hastings? The LeDuc–Simmons Mansion, one of the few remaining 19th-century Hudson River Gothic Revival dwellings in the country, is worth a stroll by its address at 1629 Vermillion St. Farther south on Vermillion Street, you will cross the Vermillion River, where just to the east is the beginning of a lovely park around a dramatic waterfall. The ruins of the Ramsey Mill can be explored downstream where the river rounds a bend.

Continuing out of town south on US 61, in 1 mile you’ll see signs for Minnesota’s first full-fledged vineyard, planted in 1973. The approach to the production facilities of Alexis Bailly Vineyard is through a field of more than 6,000 hybrid grapevines that are especially well-suited to Minnesota’s harsh winter climate. The wine these grapes produce has received national recognition for its excellence. Visitors are welcome to taste the Bailly wines and to observe the fermenting process. The vineyard is open free of charge from June through Oct, Fri through Sun afternoons. For more information call (651) 437-1413 or visit abvwines.com.

As you continue south along US 61 past the vineyard, you’ll come to the small town of Miesville, population 126. Though barely a blip along the busy highway, Miesville has an outsized reputation for great baseball and amazing burgers. The local amateur baseball team, the Miesville Mudhens, play in Class B of the Minnesota Baseball Association. They are a six-time Class B champion team. Home games are at Jack Ruhr Stadium, which is regarded as one of the best ballparks in Minnesota. For more information go to miesvillemudhens.com.

After watching a game, or if you’re just hungry for a great hamburger, you can either walk across the highway to King’s Bar and Grill, or stop while passing through. Built in 1874, King’s began as a saloon, restaurant, and boardinghouse to serve people traveling between Hastings and Red Wing by horse and buggy. In 1888 the building became a grocery, saloon, and post office, and has withstood two floods and two tornadoes before the current owners bought the business in 1984. The restaurant features over fifty burgers and is always coming up with new combinations. Prices at this family friendly establishment are reasonable, the service is friendly, and the burgers are well worth the drive. For more information call (651) 437-1418 or visit kingsplacebar.com.

Hennepin County

By the late 19th century, Minneapolis’s flour mills had earned the city a reputation as the flour capital of the world, a reputation dependent on the tremendous waterpower generated by the Falls of St. Anthony. By far the largest drop in the Mississippi’s 2,348-mile run to the sea, the falls, with their unstable limestone base, have precipitated some extensive engineering projects over the years. Today they are covered with concrete, and two locks—one 50 and the other 25 feet deep—provide passage for barges, pleasure boats, and an occasional canoe. An observation deck at the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam, with displays and brochures explaining the operation of the lock and the history of the falls area, is open daily from Apr through Nov (a parking area is located near the corner of Portland and Washington Avenues). For information call (651) 293-0200.

Art on Ice

Unique to any part of the county where lakes freeze over for a few months a year, ice shanties (or icehouses, shelters, etc.) allow die-hard anglers to keep fishing year-round. Shanties vary in size from the most basic two-person models that only offer shelter from the elements to elaborate models with TVs (satellite nonetheless), stoves, refrigerators, beds, and most of the comforts of home.

In what has to be an “only in Minnesota” occurrence, ice shanties have also become the centerpiece of a type of art gallery on ice. Art Shanty Projects is a display of decorated ice shanties that runs for three weeks every year from the middle of January to early February. Artists set up their shanties on Medicine Lake in the Minneapolis suburb of Plymouth for this celebration of winter, and designs change each year. You may find a taxi shanty, a library shanty, or a science shanty among the approximately twenty different shanties on the ice. For more information go to art shantyprojects.org.

the“minneapple”

While Minneapolis has many attributes, including several beautiful urban lakes surrounded by parks and a vibrant downtown, for some reason certain residents and city government officials seem to harbor feelings of insecurity. In an attempt to align their city with New York City, Minneapolis advertised itself in the early 1990s as the “Minne Apple,” apparently in an attempt to be recognized as the Midwest version of the Big Apple. Go figure. In staying its usual steady course, St. Paul responded by calling itself St.Paul.

Built between 1819 and 1825 as Minnesota’s first permanent structure, Historic Fort Snelling still dominates the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers from a prominent bluff several miles downstream of St. Anthony Falls. The fort has been restored to its original appearance and is superbly managed by the Minnesota Historical Society as a popular interpretive center and living-history site. Daily, from May through Oct, a contingent of soldiers in heavy wool uniforms reenacts with humor and robust spirit the highly regimented and often tedious life led by the early occupants of this military outpost, which, for all its apparent might, has never seen a moment of fighting. Look for the fort at the junction of MN 5 and MN 55 (there are signs on both highways, but don’t confuse the historic fort with Fort Snelling State Park, also close by). A small fee is charged for admission to the fort but not to the adjacent interpretive center, where an excellent exhibit space, film-viewing area, and gift shop are open whenever the fort is and on weekdays the rest of the year. For more information, call (612) 726-1171 or visit mnhs.org.

Though he never traveled to the northwestern wilderness, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow helped create in the nation’s imagination a highly romantic impression of the Minnesota frontier through his epic 1855 poem, The Song of Hiawatha. In particular the story of Hiawatha’s courtship of Minnehaha endowed two landmarks with mythical significance: the “shining Big-Sea-Water” of “Gitche Gumee” (Lake Superior) and a waterfall along a small Minneapolis creek from which the lovely maiden received her identity. “From the waterfall he named her, / Minnehaha, Laughing Water,” wrote Longfellow, and Minnehaha Falls hasn’t been the same since. Visitors to the burgeoning metropolis during Longfellow’s time flocked to see Minnehaha’s laughing waters, which are just as inspiring today, as you can discover for yourself by heading a couple of blocks east on Minnehaha Parkway from the intersection of (what else?) Hiawatha Avenue.

Given what you can see of the Minneapolis skyline from afar, you might easily suspect that the entire city has been built since 1980. While it’s true that most buildings with enough stature to be seen from any distance away are new and reflect an innovative variety of current architectural tastes, there is still one remnant of earlier times that now reaches only chest height of its taller neighbors. This is the Foshay Tower, an obelisk design inspired by the Washington Monument and built as an ostentatious monument to prosperity on the verge of the stock market crash of 1929 by one of the city’s more interesting public figures.

Wilber Foshay, a newly rich utility company owner, spent almost $4 million in the construction of this first skyscraper west of Chicago and then took the trouble to seek two patents on its design so that it would never be duplicated elsewhere. He planned to install himself in a lavish penthouse suite that complemented the building’s art deco styling with a vaulted entry, rich woodwork, and gold-plated faucets.

For the grand opening of his tower, Foshay invited President Hoover (the war secretary came in his stead), along with every state governor in the country. He also commissioned John Philip Sousa to write a march in honor of the occasion, a work the celebrated composer directed in person.

Two months later Foshay’s entire dream crumbled around him in the wake of Black Thursday’s stock market plunge. Not only was he unable to pay the bills for the lavish party he had thrown; he was also indicted for mail fraud by the federal government. Foshay spent some time in Leavenworth Prison before being pardoned by President Roosevelt in 1935. He died in a Twin Cities nursing home in 1957, leaving his monument behind for us to visit today. Self-guided tours of the observation deck, which has outstanding views of the cityscape and surrounding countryside, and a small museum devoted to the building’s history are available during business hours and on Sat for a small fee. You’ll find the Foshay Tower by tracing its unmistakable shape to its foundation at 821 Marquette Ave. Call (612) 215-3700 for more information.

Another less-celebrated monument to posterity is found in Minneapolis’s American Swedish Institute at 2600 Park Ave., which helped to inspire a movement to preserve Swedish culture that was initiated by the building’s first owner, Swan J. Turnblad. This Swedish-born businessman built a thirty-three-room Romanesque château–style castle for himself that was financed by his success as a publisher of America’s largest Swedish newspaper, the Svenska Amerikanska Posten. He lived in his early 20th-century mansion only a relatively short time, donating the building and his collection of Swedish art and historic artifacts to the institute in 1929.

It is an amazing building. The elaborate turrets and carvings of the limestone exterior only half prepare you for the incredible woodwork and rich ornamentation found inside. Eighteen craftspeople worked for two years to complete the intricately carved statues, panels, and banisters—all made of exotic woods—that you continue to discover throughout your tour. There are eleven unique kakelugnar Swedish stoves made of porcelain tile. And at the first-floor stair landing is a grand stained-glass window based on a historic painting that depicts, of all things, the ransom of a Swedish community by a Danish king.

Rooms on three floors of the institute are dedicated to exhibits on contemporary and historic Swedish artists and to the immigration experience. Perhaps the most unusual item on display is a pre-Viking glass beaker dating from the fifth century and believed to be among the earliest glass objects in the world. The institute also frequently shows films and has public programs related to Swedish culture. The building is open for tours Tues through Sun, year-round, for a small fee. For more information call (612) 871-4907 or visit asimn.org.

On an obscure side street near the western shore of Lake Calhoun, one of Minneapolis’s lovely urban lakes, is a singularly fascinating museum and library dedicated to the role electricity has played in our science and culture. Upon entering the 1920s English Tudor–style mansion that houses the Bakken Library and Museum, you are confronted immediately with several aquariums of electricity-producing fish. Such fish were used by the Romans as early as the first century in the treatment of arthritis. The afflicted patient was directed to go to the ocean shore and stand with one foot in the water and the other on top of one of these slithering fish, whose sensible response was to blast the offending foot with as much juice as it could muster.

The Bakken self-guided tour moves quickly from ancient times to displays of 18th-century devices and procedural drawings that illustrate the first widespread use of electricity for public entertainment and in medicine. Electric “showers,” in which a simple static generator produced a mild current, or “fluid,” which was allowed to flow through the body, were thought to have an invigorating influence on the subject’s health. More powerful localized applications via the “method of sparks” or, stronger still, the often painful “electric commotions” were used to cure anything from “hysteria” and other complaints thought to afflict only women to states of “suspended animation” resulting from drowning or heart failure.

Twin Cities Gorge?

Most visitors to the Twin Cities don’t know about it, and for that matter, most residents probably don’t either. But thanks to a soft layer of St. Peter sandstone lying beneath hard Platteville limestone and a torrent of meltwater from Glacial Lake Agassiz, the only gorge on the Mississippi River sits between St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Although this gorge isn’t in the same league as the great canyons of the western United States, it is still impressive. Unlike the other canyons, however, the Mississippi River gorge lies right in the middle of a metropolitan area of more than two million people. This landmark is ringed by two scenic parkways and pedestrian paths that offer great views of this large gash in the Midwest landscape.

Unlike the bluffs south of the Twin Cities that overlook the Mississippi across an often-broad floodplain, the river runs close to the base of the cliffs through this canyon. The gorge is beautiful any time of year, but autumn is the best time to visit when the thick stands of hardwood trees that line the edge explode into a mix of red, yellow, and orange.

You can view the gorge and access the paths from any overlook along East River Road in St. Paul, or from West River Road in Minneapolis. You can also see it from the Ford Parkway bridge or the Lake Street/Marshall Avenue bridge.

In another room a series of 19th-century photographs reveals the results of an experiment in which the electrical stimulation of specific facial muscles was shown to produce in the same subject strained expressions covering the full spectrum of human emotion. A number of early X-ray machines are displayed, as is a picture of Alexander Graham Bell using an early electric metal detector to find a bullet in the body of President Garfield. If you feel the need, you can even get a charge yourself and watch your hair stand on end by placing a hand on an 18th-century Ramsden generator. One of its exhibits, Frankenstein: Mary Shelley’s Dream, is a multimedia exploration of the history and science of Frankenstein. The exhibit includes artifact photos with links to information about the science, literature, and life experiences that inspired Mary Shelley to write Frankenstein.

The Bakken Museum and 12,000-volume reference library were established in 1976 by Earl Bakken, the inventor of the first wearable cardiac pacemaker. The Bakken has switched from guided to self-guided tours. Contact the museum at (612) 926-3878 or thebakken.org.

The invention of the telegraph by Samuel Morse in 1835 portended great things for human communication. With the telegraph, for the first time in the history of the planet, people could send messages halfway across the country in a matter of seconds. The only problem was that if the wires that carried these signals became damaged—as they frequently did in wild expanses of the largely unsettled North American continent—no message could be sent. So in 1895, after a series of experiments, Thomas Edison applied for a patent for his “wireless telegraph.” With this device messages could be sent through the air via radio waves, and thus the age of radio was born.

From these forgotten beginnings the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting in suburban St. Louis Park traces the growth of radio and broadcasting in a most delightful manner. Founded by radio collector and enthusiast Joseph Pavek in 1988, the museum houses an impressive collection of radios, phonographs, tape recorders, and other equipment. Bing Crosby sounds remarkably good crooning on a recording made on one of the very first tape recorders. The museum also has a working ham-radio center and a 1960s-vintage recording studio, often used by schoolchildren on field trips to write and produce their own radio program.

The whole place takes you back to a simpler time, when families used to gather in living rooms—Mom and Dad in their favorite chairs, the kids lying on the floor with their heads propped on their hands—to listen to the radio. Nowhere is this innocence better illustrated than in the Minnesota Room’s collection of paraphernalia from the state’s radio past. Hidden in one of the display cases is a membership card to the Cowboy Bill Club (Cowboy Bill hosted a children’s radio program in the 1930s and 1940s). Printed on the card are Cowboy Bill’s Rules for Success:

The Pavek Museum of Broadcasting, 3517 Raleigh Ave., St. Louis Park, is open Tues through Sat, year-round. Admission is inexpensive. Call (952) 926-8198 for group reservations, or check out their website at pavekmuseum.org.

Are you someone who was convinced at one time or another that being a firefighter is life’s highest calling? If so, you might enjoy a visit to the Firefighters Hall and Museum, in northeast Minneapolis near the northwest corner of Broadway and Central, where you can indulge in the fantasy once again. From a 1796-vintage hand-drawn water pump to the 1940s engine that roars in and out of the building, siren wailing, loaded with kids for a ride through the neighborhood, there are dozens of fire engines and plenty of firefighting memorabilia to spark your childhood recollections or generate some new ones. Modern trucks from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s dominate one part of the museum, whereas a second area is dedicated to horse-and hand-drawn pumps. There are big-billed firefighters’ hard hats and rubberized coats to try on for photographs (bring your own camera), pictures of historic Twin Cities fires in progress, and models of various firehouses. The museum is open on Sat and charges a small fee. It is located at 664 Twenty-Second Ave. NE. If you get lost, listen for sirens or call (612) 623-3817. The website is firehallmuseum.org.

If you escaped childhood without ever having dreamed of being a fire-fighter, then perhaps the Wings of the North Air Museum, the successor to the Planes of Fame War Birds Air Museum, would be to your liking. Occupying space at Flying Cloud Airport in Eden Prairie, Wings of the North Air Museum is a much smaller version of the previous museum, but in a few years it’s possible that they’ll have a larger collection of airplanes to view. There is a modest admission charge at the museum, which is open limited hours on weekends and is located at 10100 Flying Cloud Dr. Go to wotn.org for more information.

There’s no better way to soothe your shattered nerves than to stroll at a leisurely pace through the Normandale Japanese Gardens at Normandale Community College in Bloomington. Created by Tokyo designer Takao Watanabe, the garden’s large waterfall and creek, three arch bridges, lagoon, and shrine exude serenity. A self-guided tour booklet is available for a small fee, and guided tours can be arranged for groups of ten or more. To find the garden, look for signs at the entrance to the college at 9700 France Ave. South, Bloomington, or call (952) 358-8200. The garden is always open, though the waterfall is turned off Oct through May. Sunsets are lovely.

Comfort Inn
Bloomington Airport
1321 East Seventy-eighth St.
Bloomington
(952) 854-3400

Emily’s Bakery & Deli
(sandwiches)
1212 Vermillion St.
Midtown Center
(651) 437-3338

Karl’s Red Rock Cafe & Espresso Company
(American)
119 East Second St.
(651) 437-5002

Brit’s Pub & Eating Establishment
(eclectic)
1110 Nicollet Mall
(612) 332-8011

Chisago Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce
(651) 257-0260
chisagolakeschamber.com

Hastings Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Bureau
(651) 437-6775
hastingsmn.org

Minneapolis Convention and Visitors Association
(888) 676-6757
minneapolis.org

Stillwater Area Chamber of Commerce
(651) 439-7700
discoverstillwatercom

St. Paul Convention and Visitors Bureau
(800) 627-6101
visitstpaul.com

Taylors Falls Chamber of Commerce
(715) 483-3580
taylorsfallschamber.org