Twin Cities MN Part 1

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Coming out of Winona Minnesota, we enter central and northern portions of the state with a series of campgrounds we reserved back in the April timeframe. We suspected there was a lot to see in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St Paul so we had reserved two different county parks in the area. Lebanon Hills Campground is about 15 miles south of downtown and Rice Creek Campground is around the same distance to the north. With a total of 15 nights between the two spots, we should be able to get in many of the sights. Having the nights split between two locations will allow us to bias our journeys based on which side of town we are camped at thus reducing the travel distance versus spending all our time in one spot.

It is a simple drive from Winona to Apple Valley Minnesota where Lebanon Hills Campground is located. There were some road closures from construction that did make the last portion of the drive a bit problematic but we successfully made it to our site. We had booked a full hookup spot which will be nice since it has been over a month since we have had that luxury. This is a very big county park - roughly 4 miles wide and 1.5 miles tall. It is divided up by some major roads and surrounded by large residential neighborhoods but it seems like a very nice section of town.

Lebanon Hills Campground

For our first full day in town, we headed to the Mall of America. A local resident we spoke with later in our stay rolled his eyes at us when we told him our first destination was this place. Admittedly it is sort of a tourist trap and the locals may choose to shop elsewhere but as a visitor to Minneapolis, it would seem like this has to be on the must see list. We had no intention of shopping, we simply wanted to walk around to see what the place is like. The first impression is it’s big - like 5.6 million square feet big! Big enough to hold 7 Yankee Stadiums inside. There is all sorts of parking and from what we saw, there would have been room for us to have stopped by in our motorhome as there was a section of the lot for buses and RVs. At the entrance we arrived at were helmets for all 32 of the NFL teams.

Go Bills!

With over 500 stores and 60 dining options, if you need to buy something or are hungry, you should be able to find what you want. Trying to walk the mall and see it all is probably an impossible task. There are 4 levels and it covers such a large area, it is easy to get turned around and even question where you are.

Overlooking Rides Area

We did have a few stores we wanted to make sure we got to since they aren’t your normal mall stores at least in a typical mall. This first stop was at the Lego Store. I will admit I had Legos as a kid but that was well before they had all sorts of specialty Lego sets. There are many large displays with a tiger, dragon, helicopter and dozens of other things built out of Legos. It was a very busy store and we were amazed at the number of sets of very unique things you can build. Of course the price tags were incredible as well. The $230 space shuttle seems like a bargain compared to the $850 Millennium Falcon! I can safely say that mom and dad wouldn’t be buying me a gift from this store.

Lego Store

Lego Dragon

More Lego Displays

Another store on our list was the M&M Store. I’ve eaten my fair share of these over my lifetime. This too was an impressive store. There are all kinds of gift sets with varying amounts of candies. They also had a huge amount of merchandise from clothing to mugs to pillows. If you just want to buy some M&Ms in bulk, this would be the place - especially if you want a very specific color or flavor. It seemed like you could pick up a bag of the candies cheaper at a grocery store, but there was definitely something about the experience of coming to this store that you don’t get at Walmart.

M&M Store

"Red" Poses

M&M Art

Pick Your Flavor and Color

Of course, the most unique part of the Mall of America would have to amusement rides. There are several roller coasters, a Ferris wheel and merry go round and even a log flume with lots of water

Ferris Wheel

Coaster

Unlike a typical county fair where all the rides are separated, these rides are all intertwined so there seems to always be something to look at regardless of which way you look. There were quite a few people - mostly kids - going on the rides. It was fun to explore it definitely was a loud environment.

Another Coaster

Swing Ride

One last store we searched out was the Crayola Store. This brand has definitely expanded its lineup since I was a kid. I thought getting the 64 pack with built in sharpener was pretty special but nowadays that would be way too to mundane for children. While crayons are still the main item for sale, there are all sorts of colored pencils and markers available as well. Plus there was all the other branded merchandise for sale. Another unique experience at the mall.

Crayola Store

Which Color Do You Want?

Crayon Art

We ended up spending nearly 3 hours wandering around the mall and we came out empty handed which is probably a good thing. One last thing we checked out was some sort of robotics event. We had passed by the massive crowd on the way in but were unable to see what was going on, fortunately on our way out, we were on an upper level that overlooked the event. Turns out it was run by the University of North Dakota for high school robotics teams to compete against one another. From above we had a much better view of the competition.

Robot Event

There were several square tables with two teams of kids competing at each one. We watched the event and tried to understand what the goal was. I was kind of hoping for something like the show BattleBots where the robots try to destroy one another. This was a much more friendly competition where the goal seemed to be to move your colored ping pong balls from one holding area to another all while the other team is attempting to do the same, but it appeared that it was legal to steal the balls from the other team. We watched a round or two but never fully understood the goal or the rules but the kids sure looked like they were having fun and had created some very elaborate robot designs.

My conclusion about the Mall of America - It’s novel and big and has a lot to see. If you’re on a trip and need to get a special present for someone, you’ll likely find it here. If we only were spending a couple of days in the Twin Cities, I probably wouldn’t bother since you’ll find much better places to see in the area.

We haven’t gotten in much hiking recently and since Lebanon Hills Park has 14 miles of hiking trail and a bunch of geocaches, we figure it makes sense to go out and explore some of the park. We investigated our caching options and found a couple of highly favorited ones near the visitor center on the eastern side of the park. Technically we could have hiked from our campsite to that area but it would have added about 6 miles round trip to our route so we drive over so we can spend our time more judiciously. The visitor center is a very big place with a living roof.

Visitor Center at Lebanon Hills Park

Living Roof

One of the most popular geocaches required us to do a little bit of preparation before we headed for it. The name of the cache is Fire and Ice. From the description, we will find some sort of gadget cache that requires us to install a battery to power it up and then be ready to change the temperature of some probe from hot to cold or vice versa. We had made some hot water and brought it along in a thermos as well as our standard hiking bottles with ice water. We found the gizmo and followed the directions in the LCD display which then provided us with the final coordinates for the actual container.

Lily Pads Cover Pond

Fire and Ice Geocache

We enjoyed the rest of the hiking on a beautiful August day. For the most part the trails were in good shape and in the 4 miles of hiking we found 10 geocaches. One area has a makeshift fence and some signs asking us to not feed the goats. Apparently the park brings in goats to help control some of the vegetation. Since Chris really likes goats, we had to take a close look but at no point did we see or hear any of them in the area. One other challenging geocache named “Cache you on the flip side”. We first found a large plastic carboy like used to provide water at a water dispenser. Inside was a section of PVC pipe that was glued in place and had a cutout section. Also inside the carboy were several small containers similar to plastic film holders. The problem is that you must try to flip the containers into the opening in the PVC pipe that would allow them to be removed from the carboy and provide the coordinates for the final container. We stood there in the woods for 15 minutes trying to come up with the technique to perform the task - challenging but unique.

No Goats Found

Challenging Geocache Field Puzzle

We also tried to complete an Adventure Lab that takes you on a tour around McDonough Lake. Most of the ALs we have done usually take you to some location where you need to make some sort of observation, like reading a sign, and then answer a question before having you move on. But this one was unlike any we have done before. At stage 1, we were required to solve a word puzzle and then provide a keyword that would open the next stage a little further around the lake. We sat there for 15 minutes pondering the cryptic wording but nothing we tried helped. I even opened up ChatGPT to see if AI was any smarter than us - it wasn’t.  We would have needed to give up at that point but the person that developed this AL had changed it so that all 5 stages were visible on the map so we could continue the trail around the lake.

The remaining 4 stops had equally challenging puzzles. We were only able to solve a few of them in the field. The others required a bit more thought that evening and even I to the following day before we finally figured out all of the puzzles. This one wasn’t good for a beginner geocacher since the level of difficulty would have perplexed most novices. Although maybe the puzzles were better suited for a fifth grader and we were just overthinking them?

The following day we set off on a little bit of an adventure. The person we met at the Winona Elks Lodge last week had told us the best place to get fresh cheese curds was in Ellsworth Wisconsin. We hadn’t realized that early enough to go there after our stop in Red Wing Minnesota when the drive would have been about 20 minutes. But Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery is only 45 miles east of camp so about an hour drive. We planned out a route that would  get us to a couple more new counties to find geocaches in so it should be a good day.

We had read that they start to set out the morning’s cheese curds around 10AM so we time our departure to get there when the squeaky curds first become available. It’s kind of strange that we have gotten Ellsworth cheese curds in all different parts of the country. It seems that if a place well outside of Wisconsin has cheese curds, they would be from Ellsworth. We simply had never put two and two together. It turns out that this plant is one of the largest producers of curds making about 180,000 pounds per day!

Ellsworth Creamery

This plant doesn’t have any tours or even viewing of the production area but it definitely has a large retail store that was quite busy. They offer over a dozen flavors of curds besides natural ones. The only fresh curds brought out are the unflavored ones, which is fine with me. They do have a table set out with samples of all the flavors and we wandered around and tried just about every one of them. We picked up a couple bags of the fresh ones and a few bags of some of the flavored ones we liked the best. Even the flavored ones were likely way fresher than any we would have found in distant grocery stores.

Retail Store

Pick a Curd, Any Curd

Jack with His Curds

One other thing they sell at the creamery is soft serve ice cream. We hadn’t had lunch yet so getting ice cream seemed like a poor choice but we decide to head a little north of town to do a short hike in Martell County Forest and find a few geocaches. The exercise would make us feel better about coming back for cones later in the day. What should have been a simple 10 mile drive to the park turned out to be a lengthy ordeal. There were several road closures due to bridges being replaced but after a a few detours, we made it to the park.

The trail through the woods was only about a mile long but there were four caches to be found. Only one other person was here when we arrived and he was just on our way out. He informed us about some raspberry bushes along the trail that were starting to ripen. It was a nice walk and the trail was in decent shape.

Farm Field Next to Martell County Forest

Trail in Forest

After we finished our walk, we had lunch in the parking lot and then headed back to Ellsworth for our treat. It was very good ice cream and the serving size was huge. They also have a small stand in the parking lot selling deep fried curds. A few other visitors were eating some and they looked really good but by now we were stuffed so we passed.

Fried Curd Stand

For the drive back to camp, we took a northerly route which would get us the additional counties. We picked a few caches with a high number of favorite points instead of just ones that were easiest to get to. We had also noticed a bison viewing area just as we came back into Minnesota. The Belwin Conservancy has a herd of bison that roam the 130 acre field from May to September. It wasn’t too far off our route so we stopped by. A 100 yard path from the parking lot leads to a viewing platform.

Observation Tower at Belwin Conservancy

When we got up to the viewpoint, we could see signs that the bison sometimes come close based on the large number of cow patties but we weren’t seeing any actual animals. Fortunately Chris had her binoculars along and we spotted maybe 2 dozen of them on the far side of the field at least a quarter mile away. I’m not sure I could have gotten any decent photos even if I had my long telephoto lens along. I guess it’s just a matter of luck whether you get to see them up close.

Bison Behavior Chart

Bison WAY Out There!

We had one last stop for a geocache that has over 1000 favorite points. For those not into geocaching, that is a very high number. We have only found around 50 other caches with a higher number of points and a fair number of them are popular because of how old they are. This one called “The Sword in the Stone” isn’t super old (placed in 2010) so it must be something special. It is located in a small park on the eastern side of side of Saint Paul. It wasn’t clear if there was a parking lot for Cree Park, but we saw there looked to be a pathway into the park between a couple of homes in a residential area. We parked on the street and found the sidewalk leading into the park. It felt a bit odd since the home owners were sitting outside as we walked by, but I suspect they are accustomed to strangers walking by - even more so given the popular geocache hidden nearby.

There is a paved walking path but after a short walk, we needed to bushwhack into the woods. The nice thing about a geocache that is frequently visited is the obvious “geotrail” leading from the path to it. The cache itself did not disappoint. A large stone is sitting in a small clearing in the woods with a sword stuck into the rock. Based on the story about King Arthur, our mission is to pull the sword from the rock. This sword is constructed of PVC pipes. While there is a bit of movement when you first try to pull it out, the sword doesn’t simply pull up. The trick is to figure out how to rotate the sword effectively working it through a maze cut into the pipes. I had actually created a geocache back in Rochester that had a similar solution so it didn’t take long to release the sword and sign the log. It was clear why this cache is so popular.

Sword in Stone

On Monday, we headed into downtown Saint Paul to visit the Minnesota State Capitol building. They offer tours on the hour throughout the day. Parking can be an issue in big cities like this but we discovered that the Minnesota History Center, about a half mile walk from the capitol, is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays and the parking lot is open for free. We know we have other plans in that immediate area so the walk won’t be an issue. We arrive early enough to get in on the 10AM tour.

Minnesota Capitol

Golden Horses From Below

We have a little bit of time to wander around on our own prior to the guide tour. This is a very beautiful building with a lot of detail and ornamentation. My eye tends to notice the woodworking aspects and there are lots of oak benches all around the lobby.

Detailed Ceiling Art

Pretty Oak Bench

Large Domed Stained Glass Ceiling

The dome is particularly beautiful. It’s definitely way up there at around 220 feet tall.

Dome From Below

Main Rotunda from Upper Level

Our 45 minute tour takes us all over the building. The lawmakers are not in session so we don’t have too many areas that are off limits. The senate chamber is impressive and we get to sit in the Minnesota state Supreme Court where we got to sit and hear about the capitol itself as well as all the detailed murals in this room.

Senate Chambers

Minnesota Supreme Court

Detailed Mural in Supreme Court Room

The House Chambers were closed to honor the representative that was killed less than two months ago. There was a memorial sitting just outside the room with a large number of items left to honor Representative Melissa Hortman.

House of Representatives Chamber

Memorial for Melissa Hortman

Possibly the highlight of the tour was being able to go up into the walk around the outside of the dome. You can walk around the perimeter and look over the city in all directions. We had seen the 4 horses pulling the chariot from below but it is much more impressive standing right next to it. It had been restored with gold leaf back in 2016 and looks to be in wonderful condition.

View From Capitol

Cathedral of Saint Paul

Golden Horses and Chariot Up Close

One last stop on the tour was in the governor’s reception room. This was definitely one of the most ornate rooms we have ever visited. Just about every surface was gilded with gold and there are numerous paintings representing different aspects of Minnesota’s past. It seemed a bit excessive for our taste but likely would impress visiting dignitaries.

Reception Room

Large Painting in Reception Room

We spent a some more time after the tour checking out other areas we hadn’t seen as part of the tour. All in all, this is am amazing building and we really enjoyed wandering through it.

Polished Stone

It was a little before lunch so we checked out some of the grounds around the capital. There are lots of statues and memorials in the area. We had an Adventure Lab that toured us around some of the highlights. Our next destination was to the Cathedral of St Paul that was back near where we had parked the car. It worked well for us to come back for lunch we had brought along before we continue touring.

View From Front Stairs of Capitol

Rock Garden

It’s only a quarter mile from the Minnesota History Center to the cathedral so our free parking spot worked out well to visit here as well. This is a huge church that had several other smaller buildings and location in the area before this one was started in 1907.

Cathedral of St Paul

Central Dome

Stained Glass and Organ Pipes

It’s amazing at how many side chapels and vestibules there are inside. We spent close to 30 minutes just walking through the cathedral. I believe they do offer tours where we likely could have learned much more of the history and stories behind St Paul’s but we were more interested in simply seeing the ornate details.

Organist Keyboard

After visiting the cathedral, we had one more nearby destination. Summit Avenue runs southwest from St Paul’s and contains some of the cities most historic buildings. Chris had found a walking tour with map and information about many of the older homes. Plus we had a couple of Adventure Labs that also highlighted some of the sights in this pretty part of town.

Beautiful Butterfly Medallion

1915 Davidson Mansion

While there are several hundred of these old mansions along a 4.5 mile stretch of the road, we limit ourselves to just the first three quarter mile or so since we were already tired from the slow walking in the capitol and cathedral. The oldest homes here date back to the mid 1880’s.

1898 Livingston House

Garden at Summit Lookout Park

 Most of the homes are in excellent condition but are huge. It’s difficult to imagine what it would have been like to be wealthy enough to build and live in one of these homes back in the early 1900’s. A few of the larger mansions have been purchased by historical societies but many of them are still in private ownership which would seem to be a rather daunting challenge to maintain.

1881 Thurston House

1891 Bishop House

We slowly worked out way back after making it to Summit Overlook Park. We enjoyed exploring the various places in this small section of Saint Paul today.

1893 Lightner House

1891 James Hill House