Walking in Rochester

On Sunday I woke up about 6 AM so with a head start on the day, it seemed like a good day to do the walk in Rochester. I must admit this is not on my list of favorite Minnesota cities and this walk didn't change that. I needed Rochester for the R spot in my Walking Minnesota Cities A-Z and also for the Olmsted in the Walking the Minnesota Counties.

I arrived in Rochester a bit after 8 AM and found the walk box in the Guest House Inn on 16th Avenue. The temperature was in the high 60s and the skies, unfortunately cloudy for much of this walk.

The walk first took me along the Cascade Creek, a pleasant area.

Even though the temperatures have been very hot, the plants of autumn are appearing.

Above is an example. A bit more walking brought me to a place where I walked across a bridge and then started walking on the opposite side of the creek and along a housing area.

I continued to walk along the creek for awhile but couldn't find the place to move to another part of the walk --and also Google Maps couldn't show me the street mentioned in the route map. I took off trying my best to get back on the route. This took me along a busy road and in a light industrial area. I finally found myself in Central Park, but the poor little park seemed dwarfed by the office towers surrounding it.

The Mayo Clinic is the obvious giant in this town, and in the years since I've visited Rochester it has gotten even larger. This presence is what I don't like about Rochester. It seems everything is associated with hospital and clinic services, or services that support the clinic.

At last I got on 2nd Street SE and started walking back to the start place.This street is very pleasant as well, but the support of health services continues.

Examples of what I mean:

The above is part of an outpatient housing area for persons who have or need transplants.

The above is the Ronald McDonald House.

My walk also took me by St. Mary's Hospital, one of the two hospitals in the city, the other being Rochester Methodist.

Above is the North Tower of this five building hospital complex.

I was glad when the route took me back to the Cascade Creek area. A Perkins restaurant is across the street from the start/finish for this walk. I stopped there for what might be called "second breakfast" in Poland. By 1:00 PM I was home and resting.

Later in the afternoon I attended the 4:30 PM service at my church. The second Sunday of September is traditionally the Merging of Waters service. This is one of my favorites. Members bring water from places they have been over the summer, whether it's from grandma's kitchen faucet just down the street or from hundreds or thousands of miles away. I brought water from Jamaica, Poland, the Netherlands, and Nebraska.

The gathered waters are filtered and boiled and then used during the baby dedication services as well are for anointing the sick.

A very busy Sunday.