Places

I love Rice Park

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

 Rice Park is a public park located in downtown St. Paul.  It is one square block right next to the Landmark Center and across the street from the public Library.  There are wedding in the park and it is a popular place to eat lunch at Joe’s Hot Dogs or at one of the food trucks like the famous ngon bistro made from a VW micro bus. 

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Joe’s Hotdogs
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Ngon Bistro

You might also find ice sculptures in the park in the winter and a children’s art festival in the spring and last week there were classic cars in the park.  Lets not forget the holiday lights or the fountain in this award winning park.  I like to think of it as St. Paul’s town square.

Places to go and things to do

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

 Last weekend we went to Hot Sam’s Antiques in beautiful Lakeville MN.   I don’t like to buy “stuff”, but they let me take photographs and I had the best time so I made a small donation and I am writing this in an attempt to send some business their way.  They have some mighty unusual items at Hot Sam’s that I promise you will not find any place else.

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VW Van

I have been to Haight and Ashbury in San Francisco.  The streets are lined with places to buy anything that can be tie-dyed.  

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Taxi!

I like the way they stage these old cars.  Kind of like staging a home.  The taxi looks like it is going places and the van looks like it is going no where so that it can be used for camping.  

Did I mention this place is a photographers paradise and they accept donations?

What LRT will look like

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

 I try to take pictures of light rail construction on a regular basis.  Here are some photographs of completed light rail in downtown Minneapolis.  It will be well worth the road construction and the mess.  Have you ever ridden the light rail?  Easy to do and not very expensive.  A single ticket is good for two hours which makes it possible to go to and from a destination on one ticket.  The trains are fast and clean and there are bike racks on board and at the stations. 

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LRT Station Minneapolis
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LRT Station Minneapolis

The Park with the bricks

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

There is a lot of park land here in St. Paul, MN.  There are city parks, county parks, regional parks, state parks and national parks.    

Last weekend I spent some time hiking in Lilydale regional park which is a national park along the Mississippi river south and west of downtown.  There is a public boat landing on the river, woods, pickerel lake and the remnants of the Twin Cities brick factory.  There are kilns in the woods and of course bricks.  Motorized boats are not allowed on the lake but people fish from the shore. 

Some of the trails in the park are paved and others are not.  I took a bike trail most of the way and walked the rest.  The trail system connects Lilydale park to Harriet Island Regional park and Raspberry Island park, and to downtown via the Wabasha Bridge. There used to be homes in Lilydale along the river but parkland is a much better use for the land because it floods. You can find cement slabs and pieces of foundations along the trail and a lot of wildflowers and native plants and song birds. 

Here are a couple of photos I took in the park.  The woods are fairly dense and the photograph of the lake just shows a small part of it that I took from the woods. 

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Lilydale Regional Park 
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Pickerel Lake

camping

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

One of the best things about living in the Twin Cities is that we don’t have to drive very far to get out of the city.  Last weekend I went camping at William O’Brien state park.  It is about an hour away from the twin cities and it is a gorgeous park right on the St. Croix river.   The campground was the perfect place to enjoy last weekends full moon.  If you have never been camping the state parks have a program to teach people how to camp. 

Flour Mill

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

I sometimes post photographs of flowers but today I have a photograph of the ruins of the Gold Medal flour mill in Minneapolis.  If you have never been to the Mill district you really ought to go especially if you live in the area.  It is located near St. Anthony falls on the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis.  There is a lot to see in the area.  I could go on and on but as a St. Paulite I don’t want to get too carried away.

Mill Ruins
Mill Ruins
Have a great day and attend as many open houses as you can.