Sunshine For an Hour

I decided perhaps part of my walking difficulty is due to improper shoes, so today I went to a special, high-end shoe store and got a new pair of walking shoes, with a feature that hopefully will help me prevent any future black toe nail problems  and also provide me with better cushioning to prevent more damage to my knee.

I realized around 6 PM the sun was actually shining. (Later in the evening I heard on TV that we have had a whole 6 hours of sunshine in the first 7 days of June, so that's why seeing sun became important!) I was out the door with the new shoes to take a walk along the river.

Here's are some river views. All the rain has produced beautiful greens everywhere.

Harriett Island Park

Tour Boats Along Harriett Island

University of Minnesota Show Boat

Due to high water downstream a number of barges are being stored here at Upper Landing.

The light for reflection was so perfect that one can see the barge number both ways.

Buildings from downtown St. Paul are being reflected. To the left is the now vacant Ramsey County Jail. For sometime the view along the river was not prized. Prisoners had a view that probably some day will cost a hotel guest $500/day. This jail is now located elsewhere and a developer is being sought for this property.

In the center is the First National Bank building. It has a different name now, but that's the name that I'll always use.  The Wabasha Avenue bridge is also reflected in the river.

Today the floats along the observation platform are floating level.

Above is how the floats looked as the result of the 2012 summer drought.

I found the fountain at Upper Landing Park in operation. The video below show the fountain as I climbed up from the river level to the plaza. I've never seen an official description of this fountain, but to my mind, it represents the grain that was moved and loaded from the nearby elevator tower for many years.

(Sorry, I forgot I had the camera turned vertical. This video will look better if you turn your computer on a right angle.)

Up on the plaza grandparents and a child were having fun.

Katyn Exhibit in Minnesota

Readers of my blog know that I experienced a bit of knee injury while walking earlier this week in Moorhead. On Thursday I felt good enough to take my gimpy knee to the State Capitol to see the Katyn exhibit. (If Katyn is new to you, click here to learn more.)

While wandering to the North Corridor I took a couple of photos that put architectural features together in an interesting way.

From my stays in Poland I have heard much about Katyn, particularly after the film about this was released in 2007. Others may remember the plane crash in 2010 associated with a Polish delegation going to Russia regarding a Katyn remembrance.

The first part of the exhibit explains how Nazi and Soviet governments colluded during the 1939 invasion of Poland.

 I was startled to see the Zakopane train station decorated like this. I have walked by this station many times and have also bought train tickets there. In my wildest dreams I didn't think of such an image for the station during World War II.

What became apparent from viewing the exhibit is that Katyn was not an isolated incident. There were many other similar efforts going on.

The controversy associated with Katyn is that the Soviets were reponsible, but from the end of World War II to 1989 the official Soviet message is that the Nazis were responsible. This was easy to believe because the Nazis were also undertaking such initiatives. The exhibit includes a quote from Himmler advocating first the extinction of the Kashubians (the ethnic group from Poland who came to Minnesota), the Jews, and also the Ukrainians and Belorussians, the Gorale (Tatra Mountain People), and the Lemkos, and then finally anyone else in Poland.

The descriptions of what happened and the numbers of persons who were killed is overwhelming. To put human faces onto this event, the exhibit includes stories of three groups related to each other somehow.

Here is Janina Dowbor-Muscinka. It is easy to see why an invading government would be threatened by this person. Both she and her sister, Agnieska, were caught up in the murders of the Polish intelligentsia.

After thinking about such a sobering topic is was good for the soul to walk out to some beauty and peace.

Here is a view of the capitol mall seen from the south door of the Capitol building.

And it was good, too, to glimpse  the St. Paul Cathedral through the trees.

Walking in Moorhead

This is a walk that I will remember for a long time. Readers will need to get to almost the end to learn why.

I started this morning at C.J's Kitchen. This little restaurant gets high ratings on Trip Advisor, too. I never would have found it without first the review and then secondly Google Maps. One could drive down the street and never notice it.

It is almost like a diner.

 

At a few minutes after 7 AM, I was the only customer, but the smells of cinnamon rolls was wonderful. I elected, however, for a basic Midwest breakfast. 

Soon I was off to the start of the Moorhead walk. This means I crossed from North Dakota back into Minnesota. Moorhead is another location named again after a director of a railroad company.

The walk directions told me to park in the lot associated with a shopping center and then walk towards the bridge across the Red River. First I saw a classic old building. 

The etching on the top says it was constructed in 1898. Soon I was on the bridge over Red River, looking very calm and quiet on this June morning.

About midway across the bridge I saw pillars.

Each has a plaque for one of the branches of the United States military. 

I choose to show the Coast Guard marker, because the Coast Guard is often overlooked -- and it's also one of the forerunners of public health services in the United States. 

Embedded within the sidewalk are granite circles with maps illustrating the flow of the Red River of the North. This one does a good job of showing how this river moves like a snake. 

And this one says, "The Red River Valley is one of the flattest landscapes on Earth." That landscape is what causes all the trouble! 

The route then took me 10 blocks through a pleasant residential area with many interesting houses, both large and small.

 The photos above were taken a few minutes after 8 AM with the early morning sunlight dappling through the trees.

I arrived at the campus for Concordia College. 

It has a very pleasant campus. It was fun to walk through it.  The route map directs walkers to the bell tower, both to see it and also to count the bells in the tower as evidence that one actually was in this place. 

By the time I had completed the wander through the campus I had back-tracked 5 blocks of the walk. My next goal was to get back to Main Street and then turn right and the left to find the Usher's House. This didn't happen as planned for I got all messed up and detoured around by sidewalk construction. I was really hoping seeing the Usher's House was worth the extra walk. 

This building is located within a city park set along the banks of the Red River. It was built in 1936 by the WPA(Works Progress Administration), a program operated in Great Depression to employ primarily young men. Much of the work was done in public parks. We owe a great debt to the WPA for the infrastructure we still enjoy in public parks throughout the United States. Click here to read more about Usher's House.

Now I had only about three blocks to walk to return to my car. Suddenly my left knee began to burn and really hurt. Many years ago I badly broke my left leg, and it was left about 1/4 inch shorter than my right leg. Over time I've had lots of extra wear and tear on that knee joint. It had begun to ache over night and that's why I elected only to only do a 5K walk in Moorhead. But I've never had quite so much pain before. I was very glad to see the car. 

I asked Google Maps to help me find the freeway back to the Twin Cities. When I was taken by a McDonald's I hobbled in and got a glass of water and a coffee. Shortly thereafter I saw a gas station for which I have a discount card, so I got gas. Then I headed back to the Twin Cities, a 3.5 hour drive. 

Once in the garage, I gritted my teeth and unloaded my luggage and got up to my apartment. I found the ibuoprofen and took a double dose, propped my knee up with a pillow and went to sleep. 

Today as I write I'm able to walk again without too much difficulty. I'll surely remember the Moorhead walk and I'm very glad I decided to do 5K and had only 3 blocks left to walk when my knee blew out!

Walking in Fargo

I came to Fargo to do the walk in order to mark off F in my Walking the USA A-Z book. This turned out to be a great walk. The walk box is held at a Howard Johnson hotel. When I asked for it, the desk clerk cautioned me that it was a very heavy box. She was right, for it holds details for three walks: two walks in Fargo and one in Moorhead, MN. I picked up all the things needed to do the Fargo North walk today and for the Moorhead walk tomorrow.

 A history of Fargo explains it was named for the Northern Pacific Railroad director and director of Wells Fargo Express. Duh! Why didn't that thought ever come to my mind!

All I had to do to begin was walk across the street to a trail along the Red River. 

The river looks very benign in this photo but it is responsible for many major floods -- or rather some strange topography is responsible for many floods. This river begins in the area where Minnesota makes a bulge to the west, on the border of North Dakota and South Dakota. A continental divide is located here. Water on the south side flows into the Minnesota River and then into the Mississippi. Water on the north flows in the Red River and dumps into Lake Winnipeg. That's right, this river flows north. And spring comes from the south. Melted water hits ice and ice dams on the river in areas where spring has not arrived and either goes out of bank or zips down a tributary and suddenly a town 20 miles away has a major flood.

The trail continued along the river for perhaps two kilometers. Part of this area is a wildflower garden, but all I saw was dandelions!

To be fair, this area has been subject to floods this year and then continued rain and shown below by mud.

It was simply a joy to be walking this morning. The temperature was around 50 degrees and sun was shining.

Soon I walked into a city park and made a loop around the park. The park has a horse shoe court and it was fun to hear the clunk of the horse shoes. The only other sound seemed to be happy robins!

I followed some twists and turns and soon was in the area of another city park. Here I was to find a trail and use the name of trail as a checkpoint to prove I was actually at this point. Never found the trail, but did find a cement footing that might hold a sign. I am wondering if either it was damaged by the recent flood or there is park renovation going on. Thankfully the walk manager had provided a map and I found my way to the next point on the route with a bit of an alternate route. This took me by the city golf course. By now I was looking for a place to rest, having been walking continuously for a bit more than an hour. I was glad to find a school playground.

Back walking, I was soon entering into the very northern edge of the North Dakota State University campus, principally an area holding athletic facilities.

I found the Fargo Dome and

the Curling Club. The Curling Club was right next to the Ice Hockey arena. That tells us what the climate is!

Then I entered into the campus proper. I particularly enjoyed seeing some of  the very oldest buildings.

The walk route turned out of the campus and there I saw the Sigma Nu fraternity house.

I laughed, remembering a song we women sang when I was a young university student that begin this way:

"Never trust a Sigma Nu an inch above your knee."

I'll just leave it there, but I'd been interested to know if any blog readers have ever heard this song, too.

The route turned south past hospital and medical complexes. The map advised me to looked for Josie's Cafe and I surely was, but alas found it was closed on Sunday.

I did notice in the same area St. Mary's Cathedral.

And then soon with a few blocks to the east I was back to my car. This is a great walk and I did manage to do all 10K!

Eating in Fargo

I arrived in Fargo, ND, late on Saturday afternoon. I checked into a hotel and rested for awhile and then went out looking for the Passage to India restaurant. Trip Advisor rates this as the best restaurant in Fargo, and it's not often a restaurant serving Indian food gets such a high rating.I found the restaurant in a strip mall area next to a travel agency for trips to India.

When I arrived, in the back of the restaurant, there was a large party of people who looked as if they had come from India. By the time I left the rest of the restaurant was nearly full. The TV in the very upper left corner was of course playing a Bollywood movie.

I didn't try the Taj beer since I was driving, rather I enjoyed a mango lassi. For my entree I chose Murg Malai Kabab.

A very nice evening at the restaurant. Afterwards I went to Hobby Lobby looking for things associated with a craft idea I want to try at language camps in Poland.

Who would have guessed one could find a great Indian restaurant in Fargo?!?

Walking in Wadena

I decided that if I waited for dry spring or summer weather to do things outdoors, I might miss the spring and summer seasons altogether. So I took myself to the sporting goods area of Target on Friday and got a good rain jacket.

Then Saturday morning I was up early and on my way to Wadena, MN. The forecast was for the rain that seems to have been here forever to move on east and for a dry weekend to emerge.

I stopped for coffee after about one hour of driving. In about another hour I arrived at Staples, MN. Having worked public health in Minnesota for many years, I know where all the counties are and also know many, many towns, but this is the first time I've been in Staples. The sign for the department store caught my eye, so I turned off the highway for a photo.

Glad I did. Click here to learn more about the interesting history of this building.

 Staples also has a great train depot, and it's active. This is one of the stops on the Amtrak as it goes from St. Paul to Seattle. The depot is actually owned by the Staples Historical Society which has raised a great deal of money to restore and maintain the building.

Right now I'm guessing Staples is named for a railroad official. At one time 400 people lived in Staples and worked for the railroad.

In only about twenty more minutes I arrived in Wadena. I do not travel with my Minnesota Geographical Names book, so I appreciated that the route map explained that Wadena is named after a trading post established when this area of present day northern Minnesota was a territory. The trading post was located about 11 miles east of present day Wadena. It was abandoned for some reason and when people returned they found all the buildings gone, only the foundations. The town was relocated in its present location, as part of railroad building.

I found spring delayed, even accounting for the fact I had traveled north. The fruit trees were in glorious bloom. I'm sorry you can't get the beautiful smell through the computer.

The trees were at the same stage that I found them when visiting in Lincoln and York NE three weeks earlier.

The walk took me through a residential area and then into a city park. This park contained some interesting sculptures such as the one pictured below, but lacking any explanation or names of the artist.

It also contained a small bandstand.

And a depot.

 This depot is no longer active, but it was obvious something was going to happen there. Later I saw a bride and groom posing for pictures in the doorway, so it was a wedding reception being held in the space.

Wadena is one of those Minnesota towns with a railroad track right through the middle. It carries the same trains that pass by my apartment every day, but oh my! the speed is quite different. By my apartment the train creeps by at about 20 mph; if one has to wait for a 70 car train it takes a bit of time. But I saw one roar through Wadena, blowing the horns loudly as it should, for the speed was about 60 mph -- it was really moving!
 
Then I was in "downtown" Wadena. The weather was cool and cloudy and the cloudy sky made the street lamps show out quite nicely.

I found the Boondocks Diner and since it was now about 11:45, I decided to stop for lunch. While waiting for lunch I looked and studied my map and decided I had somehow missed a turn. So after lunch I backtracked only two blocks, turned left and then into an alley to see the historical murals. What a marvelous collection. These appeared to all have been done by community groups and service locations.

The next one required two photos for someone had parked a pick-up truck in front of it and I had to wiggle around that.

The left hand side of the mural shows the Split Rock Lighthouse north of Duluth on Lake Superior

The right hand side of the mural is a boat in Lake Superior

 Next came two with Civil War themes.

The mural above commemorates the First Minnesota Regiment. On Thursday I went to the Civil War exhibition at the Minnesota History Center and learned Minnesota offered the first troops to the Union side because the governor of Minnesota happened to be in Washington, D.C. and so his letter could arrive to President Lincoln before that of any other governor.

The mural above puzzled me for just a bit until I figured out it shows movie and TV stars who were born in Minnesota.

Judy Garland is an obvious example.

The walk continued past the veterans' monument and courthouse.

By now a light rain began. I was so glad I had elected to do only a 5K walk. I wandered through residential areas and then back back to my starting place. I was warm in my coat but had done this walk with my flip-flops! My feet were glad to find the warm car in the parking lot!

Then I hit the road for Fargo, ND, arriving there about 4 PM with plans for a 10 K walk. I was very glad to see bright sunshine appear finally about 7 PM with a weather forecast of clear and cool. Cool, I guess-- only around 40 (4C) degrees!