Stillwater ~ Revisited

Stillwater is located on the MN side of the St. Croix River that divides MN and WI. OFD took us to Stillwater YEARS ago to maybe visit wineries, or artsy shops. I just remember all the walking, all the people, and sore, tired feet. On our revisit during our MN camping and caching excursion, geocaching was the focus of the first revisit.

now a restaurant, but originally a depot for the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad

in its heyday, it handled as many as 70 rail cars a day plus the telegraph office

it closed in 1970 as a depot and freight center

a sawmill in it's first life; now funky shops and businesses

built in 1853

the MN Territorial Prison (1853-1914) housed the Younger Brother who

attempted to rob the First National Bank in Northfield 

the Warden House; one of the oldest houses in MN

first bridge in Stillwater over the St. Croix opened in 1876

this lift bridge was completed in 1931

called a Waddell and Harrington vertical lift

"The span is raised and lowered by steel cables passing over sheaths at the top of steel towers mounted on the span's piers." Now it is used mostly for foot and non-motorized traffic since a new bridge has been recently built over the St. Croix, connecting MN and WI.

views of church steeples and one of several hot air balloons that late afternoon

view of the riverboat from a city park on a city bluff

five stops in downtown Stillwater completed

great walking tour

We went back to Stillwater on Saturday with OFD to spend a little social distancing time with her and so she could be out and about, which she has not done very often since covid began. We checked out some of the art work...

...went back to the Freight House for lunch and some adult beverage on the large patio...

...and did some shopping to support the economy of MN and Stillwater...

this German shop was one OFD and I visited on our trip to Munich

the shop is in Rothenburg

Rothenburg ob der Tauber  blog post 2017

I did not buy a tree ornament at that time but did buy this one in Stillwater

I felt it was very reminiscent of our trip to Germany

I have become very fond of German beer ~ Radlers

and had some fun with store signage

Seing Purple

 One of my goals during our recent camping and caching adventure in the Minneapolis area was to complete this Adventure Lab: 

It was one of the very first permanent Adventure Labs to be released in Minnesota by a geocacher,  not a geocaching organization or in conjunction with a community organization. It was released in November 2019 by a well known geocaching vlogger, Joshua. I have watched Joshua Johnson travel the world and release little videos about his caching experiences. I just knew this adventure lab would be special, even though I probably could not recognize a Prince song other than a few of his 'most popular.' Luckily, Sherry & Jon were also willing to complete this little adventure.

Stage one was the gate to Prince's former home. His purple house is no longer there. The new owners have agreed to kept the gates, as they are Prince fans. My photo of the gate was not a good one.

heading to stage two ~ the tunnels

Prince Tunnel of Graffiti

just one of many tunnel art works

a tunnel ceiling mural painted with the Prince's symbol; the one in the photo of the four of us

shades of purple string tied to the 'chicken wire' above the space between the two tunnels

sidewalk tributes and fence tributes to Prince on the way to Paisley Park

even the fire hydrant is painted purple

The four of us stood along the fence trying to take photos of the Paisley Park Studio through the wire fence and the trees and bushes. A security guard walked over and told us we could come in the the area if we walked along the sidewalk. He invited us to check out the gift shop and the museum. Not all of us had our masks with us, but he said if we put our shirts over our mouth and nose, it would be okay. There were very few people in the building at the time. So we walked along the street, past two guard houses, and were able to enter the hallowed grounds of Paisley Park.

and we are in

Sherry getting a photo of the sign

the huge complex, now museum and gift shop and probably recording studio

the sign in the bathroom os Paisley Park Museum

the guard took our photo

messages and artwork tributes to a beloved musician

heading on to stage three

one of many murals in the Twin Cities, this one on the side of Chanhassen Cinema

and stage four ~ a short walk in the woods to find this ammo can

Thanks Jon & Sherry for a fun first MN Adventure Lab that day! Well worth the drive and the walks.

Iowa Day Trip

 We took one day in late August to do a day trip to Iowa to collect geocaches in a few more counties in the northwest corner of the state. This is how our Iowa geocaching map looked when we left that morning:

Hubby had the highways and communities planned. My job was to navigate us to the geocaches, and look for anything really interesting along the way.

We stopped in a community that boasted of 3 light houses. Three?! Actually only one of them was located near the lake. It wasn't a working light house, but built in memory of someone in the community.

Spirit Lake

there was some human activity on the lake

but more bird activity

the topper on the lighthouse

the lighthouse at the community's resort

and the one at the Welcome to Spirit Lake

The other interesting stop was in Pocahontas County. The county seat had structures to honor her and her ancestors. The information board was the best part of the stop, and finding the geocache!

an 'Indian' weather rock

take the time to read the info

especially her legacy info

I found this especially interesting

and how she came to be in Iowa

a long way from Virginia!

the home of the geocache

 some mural paintings in another community

and location of a geocache

dinner at one of the very few remaining A & Ws

drive thru only, but tasty at the end of the day

the IA map after the road trip

we just might get all 99 counties...