Biking the Cannon Valley Trail

This summer, I've been seeking out outdoor adventures on Friday afternoons - the kind that sound like fun summer activities but sometimes stay in the wishlist category when the season gets away from you. Once in awhile I had to fight the urge to go straight to the couch and the DVR, but each little adventure has been so worth it: I've loved visiting new places (and favorite places) around the Twin Cities. With summer hours at work wrapping up this week, I wanted to cap off this series of mini-adventures well.

The plan: Check off #19 on my 101 in 1,001 list: Go for a very long bike ride. The destination: the Cannon Valley Trail, a 20-mile point-to-point paved trail that connects Cannon Falls to Red Wing in southeastern Minnesota. (I was deciding between this trail and the Gateway Trail that links St. Paul to Stillwater, so I'm hoping to venture up the Gateway Trail this fall.) The fun thing about the Cannon Valley Trail is that it seems much farther away on the map than it really is: I think it took me about 35 minutes to drive there. I parked in Cannon Falls at the trailhead, then started out on my bike ride.

The trail meanders out of Cannon Falls neighborhoods pretty quickly, and I bought my $4 daily pass at the first mile marker and then settled in for the ride. The whole trail traces a former Chicago Great Western Railroad line, so it's flat - it descends 115 feet into Red Wing, so while there are a few spots on the return trip where I noticed an uphill slope, it was all very gradual. And the trail stretches on and on in a beautiful way:

It also follows the Cannon River, and at several points, I could see people on innertubes and kayaks, floating down the river. The day started out overcast, but the sun was out in full force by the time I got back to my car: a good day to be out on the water.

There are several rest stops along the way, but the main one between Cannon Falls and Red Wing is Welch.

At Welch Station (remember the railroad history!) there are restrooms and a drinking fountain and spots to stretch out for a picnic.

There is also a neat wall depicting the Cannon Valley Trail's route.

My key mistake for the entire trip, I learned after I got home, was not wandering the one-third mile away from the trail to see the town of Welch. One of my hopes going into the bike ride was to find ice cream somewhere along the route, and based on the Trip Advisor reviews I read afterward, it sounds like there is a delightful ice cream shop in Welch that I think I would have enjoyed very much (especially on the return trip).

I continued onward without awareness of this ice cream shop, and the trail got more rural. The well-marked trail included caution signs for every type of intersection, whether it was a road or a mountain bike path.  On my bike rides along the Greenway in Minneapolis and Summit Avenue in St. Paul, I'm used to waiting for lots of cars before I cross these kinds of intersections. Here? Not so much.

I did see other cyclists regularly, though I read it's more crowded on weekends. I also saw some cows.

Most of the trail looked like this post's first photo, cutting through the forest. Some stretches, though, were open prairie. I said "Wow!" out loud when I went through this section.

I wasn't necessarily set on getting all the way to Red Wing, but after Welch, the path had little diversions evenly spaced out (a wetlands overlook, an archeological preserve, etc.) that made the miles pass quickly. Then I was at the end of the trail in Red Wing!

I had kind of figured that the trail would end in downtown Red Wing, a place Josh and I visited a few years back with lots of shops and restaurants. Though the Cannon Valley Trail linked up to other trails quickly, it turned out that downtown Red Wing was still 1.8 miles away. Even though my pace and effort was far from aggressive, I knew 40 miles was going to be pushing it for me, and I didn't want to tack on another four or five miles when I was only at the halfway point. Also, I still tend to estimate bike trip durations by my speed from the days when I used to ride my road bike a lot, and on my mountain bike (and with a few photo stops) the leisurely trip was taking a little longer than I expected. I bought a wonderfully cold can of soda at a machine outside a hardware store and then turned around.

The next few miles flew by, and I stopped only to refill my water bottle at Welch Station (again, utterly unaware of ice cream a stone's throw away). Then I got tired (or more specifically, my quads got tired), and the last few miles were slower. If I were to do this trip again (and I'd like to!), I would probably plan for a full day with a lunch stop in Red Wing and an ice cream stop in Welch - or maybe start from Welch, go to Red Wing and spend time downtown before heading back. By cycling from Cannon Falls to Red Wing, then turning around and coming straight back, I think I missed out a little bit on an element of what makes this destination trail especially fun.

But make no mistake: I definitely understand that this trail is special. Less than an hour away from home, I got to ride my bike along an old railroad corridor for 40 miles without seeing one stoplight. I loved seeing how green the trees framing the trail were, and I hope I can return in the next couple of months to see the fall colors, which must be unbelievable. I was happy to be able to spend a Minnesota summer afternoon on two wheels on the Cannon Valley Trail.

Weekend vacation

Every spring at Dad's birthday celebration up north, a family weekend that has become a great tradition, he tells my brother and sister and me that we're always welcome to visit on our own. Josh and Wish and I took him up on that offer over the weekend, and we are so glad we did.

On Friday afternoon we arrived at the campground where the RV is parked, a few miles away from Mille Lacs Lake. Rain fell on and off for a little while, and I watched it from the comfort of the zero-gravity chair in the gazebo. (More on this chair later, because I could write multiple book-length posts about this chair.) In between two periods of light rain, I walked over to see the clouds over the smaller lake adjacent to the campground. The rain clouds were sparring with bright sunshine, and it was beautiful.

I returned to the gazebo and found Wish watching for me. He'd keep an eye out whenever one of us left for a moment.

Well, he did a lot of napping, too.

If you can imagine Josh in the hammock and me in the zero-gravity chair, or vice versa, you'd have a pretty good idea of how we spent a lot of the weekend. I finished the last part of Americanah and read Dixieland Delight: A Football Season on the Road in the Southeastern Conference. I also google-searched "zero-gravity chair" to see where I might find one for myself. No luck yet.

We grilled hamburgers. I made guacamole and ate a lot of watermelon. At night (and once during the day), Josh built campfires. We roasted marshmallows and listened to Twins games on the radio while we sat by the fire. I ate the red tomatoes off my dad's rainbow tomato plant.

In past trips up north, Wish has been scared of campfires, but he did so well this time and I was so proud. He sat a few feet away from the fire both nights and relaxed - definitely relaxed. It reminded me of how sleepy he was after his first obedience class. The outdoors can be a lot for a pup to process!

Most of the time, though, Wish was within arm's reach of one of us, and that was just fine with him.

On Saturday, we drove over to Mille Lacs Kathio State Park, where Josh and I had camped and canoed several years ago. We had plans to take Wish for a canoe and hike, and in preparation, I'd even purchased a little dog life jacket for him. He loves hikes, but I really had no clue how he'd do in the canoe, since he's not particularly water-loving (contrary to his breed's history as Dutch barge dogs, he steps delicately around sprinklers).

We parked in a lot adjacent to the river access and rental canoes. I saw a magnificent hiking trail right next to the canoes and scampered a few yards in for a better look.

And then I scampered out a lot faster because swarms of mosquitoes had descended on me during my brief photo stop. We scrapped our plans for the hike and will go back in the fall.

Into the canoe we went, me in the front and Josh in the back, with Wish sitting on his own in the middle-back, and we pushed out into the slow-moving Rum River. Wish was getting a feel for the boat and All of The Smells in the river and nearby weeds, and he was shifting his weight back and forth and trying to move around the canoe. These are normal and natural activities for a dog who has never (to our knowledge) been in a boat before, and we weren't in any danger, but I plain old got scared. And my dear husband was patient and kind and paddled back to the boat launch area, and we switched spots so Wish and I could sit in the back of the canoe together while Josh paddled the whole way (from the front, no less).

We were a goofy sight to passersby to say the least, but everybody relaxed, and finally Wish did what I'd thought he'd do all along: lay down in the bottom of the boat. We actually had a wonderful time out on the water (Josh from the start and me as soon as I calmed down).

And then we were back to the campground for dinner and another campfire - and for me, one more peek at the sky over the lake.

We're already planning our next trip to this peaceful spot.

Up north

We're back home, unpacking and preparing for the week ahead, after a few days near Mille Lacs Lake.

More about our little trip tomorrow!

Visiting the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

With a handful of summer Friday afternoons left, I'm brainstorming little outdoors-oriented trips around town to make the most out of the season. One destination on my list for awhile: the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chanhassen. The only other time I remember visiting the arboretum was for our friends' wedding four years ago, and of course, I didn't spend much time that day wandering around the arboretum grounds. (I love this: to celebrate their anniversary, they had returned to their wedding site earlier in the week to take a closer look at the gardens themselves!)

On Friday afternoon, I drove about 40 minutes west to the arboretum and paid the $12 admission fee at the entrance gate. From there, you can park at the main visitor center and walk through many of the arboretum's 32 gardens within a hundred yards of that building—or you can explore, per the website, "more than 1,100 acres of gardens and tree collections, prairie and woods and miles of trails." My plan was somewhere in the middle: I was hoping for a nice long walk, but would also love to come back to run, ski or snowshoe the trails.

I started looking through the first few gardens...




...then wandered into the rose gardens, home to a gazebo I liked...



...and then realized I had almost bypassed the entrance to the Cloistered Herb Garden (and Kitchen Herb Garden!):



The herb gardens were a great example of the arboretum's educational elements. Most plants were identified, of course, but also scattered throughout the garden were tidbits about an herb's history or tips on how to use an herb. This is where the arboretum really started to feel not just like a collection of gardens, but a vibrant outdoor museum. It actually reminded me right away of the Desert Museum in Tucson, which I visited a few years ago and loved!

This little spot was near the Kitchen Herb Garden and was just as refreshing as it looks.



Early in my visit, I was introduced right away to the featured Nature in Glass exhibit, artist Craig Mitchell Smith's striking series of 32 glass sculptures placed all over the gardens. The glass poppies in this picture of the annual garden are part of "Poppies of Oz":



After I browsed the gardens near the visitor center, I decided to venture out onto Three-Mile Drive, a scenic tour more or less around the arboretum's outer perimeter. It's a one-way, one-lane road designed for cars, bikes and pedestrians. See the little pedestrian lane?

Three-Mile Drive winds through both wooded areas and open spaces like the one pictured above. On my Friday afternoon visit, a car passed me every few minutes, and I saw five or six other pedestrians. There are lots of options to cut the loop shorter, and I decided to take a leisurely stroll to see the arboretum's full range of collections. A lot of the shrub and tree collections were along this loop, and I loved the hydrangea collection.

My favorite stop on Three-Mile Drive, though, was the prairie section, with lots of little paths to explore the prairie plants and flowers.




Along Three-Mile Drive, in addition to other collections and a sculpture garden (not pictured), there is also a maze designed for families:



I tried my hand at the maze, took a few quick wrong turns, and left before I spent the rest of my afternoon in it. One dead end:

And soon enough, I was back to the main visitor center. The gardens bloom at different times, of course, and even the ones that aren't in season were pretty. There's a peony walk lined with all kinds of peony bushes, which will likely draw me back to the arboretum earlier in the season next year. And look at the iris garden!



Ready for my tips on visiting the arboretum and walking Three-Mile Drive?

• If you want to walk Three-Mile Drive, dress for it. This advice seems like common sense, but I was dressed for a casual garden stroll in a maxidress and flipflops (Chaco flipflops, but flipflops nonetheless) and pleasantly surprised to find a longer walking tour option. If I were to visit again on my own, I would dress for the activity: I'd probably pretend I was going for a run and wear shorts, a tank top and running shoes (or at least regular Chaco sandals).
• Consider what you want to carry. I carried my purse on my shoulder the whole way, which was okay, but I would probably bring a little drawstring backpack next time.
• Bring refreshments (at least a bottle of water). I would have brought my lunch. There are lots of benches along the way that are perfect for stopping for a little picnic!
• Allow enough time to be leisurely. You could definitely visit the central gardens quickly, but the arboretum is no place to rush through. Wander around and take a closer look at the gardens that pique your interest. Take in your surroundings. I even saw some visitors relaxing on a bench and reading a book, and it looked wonderful.

I loved exploring the arboretum—and I'd welcome the chance to visit again in different seasons.

James J. Hill House tour

Earlier this year, I bought a Minnesota Historical Society membership. I've had wonderful experiences with the organization's museums (including the Mill City Museum and Minnesota History Center) as well as the Summit Avenue neighborhood tour and the F. Scott Fitzgerald-themed walking tour, and I'm excited to support its great work and learn more about history, locally and statewide.

Last week, I visited St. Paul's James J. Hill House for the first time!

James J. Hill was a railroad magnate who built the Great Northern Railway that connected St. Paul to Seattle in 1893. His mansion was finished in 1891, and he lived there with his wife and most of his 10 children. I'm learning more about houses (thanks to lots of HGTV) and one detail that floored me was that this home is not 5,000 square feet or 10,000 square feet, but 36,000 square feet. The tour guide—who also led the Fitzgerald tour I took!—did a delightful job of blending architectural details with stories about how the family used each space. The 75-minute tour surveyed all three floors plus the basement, though there are additional tours that take different angles (such as the Nooks and Crannies tour offered in the summers, which sounds great). Our group of six or seven also paused toward the end for a short video, played in the Hill boys' schoolroom, that provided some context about James J. Hill's work.

I didn't expect this, but knowing I could (and likely will) drop by sometime soon for another tour left me feeling more relaxed. Instead of trying to absorb every tidbit our tour guide told us, I'd think more about a story she had mentioned, imagine the house back in the 1890s, and notice more details that piqued my interest.

And, oh, the details were plentiful:

The end of the tour brought our group to one of the mansion's several porches. I have a soft spot in my heart for porches and I liked wrapping up the tour by visiting one of them.

If you can't already tell, I enjoyed the James J. Hill House tour greatly and highly recommend it. I loved learning some of the stories and history behind a Summit Avenue landmark I've passed by so many times.

On the water

In Minnesota, there are a lot of lakes. (Nearly 12,000!) Because of my running routes, I spend my fair share of time near some of the Twin Cities' prettiest lakes. But there's something especially wonderful about being on a lake up north, especially during the first few weeks of spring and summer. Over the weekend, I spent time with my family near two of the state's lakes: a small lake adjacent to the campground as well as nearby Mille Lacs Lake, Minnesota's second largest lake.

A visit to the dock

On Saturday afternoon, a few of us took a stroll over to the smaller lake. The rainclouds had cleared out completely by the time we made our way over to the dock, and it was so peaceful in the warm sun that I think we all could have napped there. (I think my sister did, actually.)





In the evening

Later that night, my mom and sister and I circled back to the water. The water was more still and I loved the reflections.




In the morning

I don't often see lakes in the early morning light, so as soon as the sunlight woke me up on Sunday morning, I trotted back to the lake. I was so glad I did. The overnight low temperature had dipped down to 44 degrees, and there was steam coming off the water.





To the big lake

On Sunday morning, my dad took most of us over to Mille Lacs for a short boat ride (Josh and Wish stayed back). I haven't been on the big lake in many years, and it was a treat to be out on the lake with my dad, who fishes there often. There were only a few boaters nearby, though the boat launch picked up after we returned.





The weather (and water) was just cool enough to keep me from jumping into either lake, but I'm putting that goal in writing right now to make sure I do that sometime this season, too.