Minneapolis Rocks!

Before I got stuck!

Downtown Minneapolis

A great day of visiting with Cathy and Jeff and making my first visit to Minneapolis!

I couldn't quite make it to the top of the intermediate wall at the REI store today, but maybe tomorrow will try again.

A tour of downtown Minneapolis and the Stone Arch Bridge Festival was more relaxing!  There was an amazing little wild bit of park down by the river right downtown that we explored when we got tired of looking at the art-vendors' stalls.

The Stone Arch Bridge

The Wood Lake Nature Center had tons of wildlife visible even in the middle of the afternoon on a lovely 2-mile loop of a trail.  This marsh used to be more of a regular lake until in the 1960's they accidentally partially drained it while constructing a highway--it was later designated as a nature preserve and has a beautifully restored area of various habitats including woods, wetlands and prairies.

Wood Lake Nature Center

Painted Turtle on Log at Wood Lake

Mall of America

After all that outdoors stuff, I felt that my first visit to Minneapolis would not be complete without a trip to the Mall of America.  It was incredible, especially the amusement park in the center and the Lego store!


Besides all this, we went to the food co-op and I stocked up on groceries in preparation for my departure on Monday.