The best interpretive center EVER.

People, a little excursion to North Minneapolis' Webber-Camden neighborhood is in order. Just east of I-94, along the Mississippi River, you'll find North Mississippi Regional Park (there are actually lots of entry points via trails and roads.) While the natural surroundings and trails are great, the thing you cannot miss-especially if you are an urbanist-is the Carl W. Kroening Interpretive Center.

Really, how often can you go into a park's visitor center and learn about the effects a freeway has had on neighborhoods and city development (as well as the natural environment)? Old newspaper stories, aerial photos, & a 1973 Barracuda tell the story of I-94's impact on North Minneapolis and the surrounding suburbs. It's a rarity to find a park that both celebrates natural resources and gives visitors an important lesson in urban history. Visit today!

image: http://ecobirder.blogspot.com

To the moon

If you head west on Lake Street and turn right at the Blue Moon coffee shop...and then go a few blocks til' the street dead ends, you'll hit one of my favorite, little neighborhood parks. Brackett Park is in the Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis and is home to a gorgeous rec. center, a kiddie pool, mature trees, a playground, and this awesome rocket sculpture. Ahhh, summer awaits.

Home to the Nation's 2nd Oldest Rose Garden

Random piece of Minneapolis trivia. Lyndale Park Rose Garden near Lake Harriet is the second oldest public rose garden in the US. It was constructed 100 years ago in 1907/1908 and is outseated by a garden in Connecticut that was built 4 years earlier. The garden has 3000 plants, representing 100 different varieties. Ah sweeet spring...just around the corner.

Two Great Things that Go Great Together = Art + Parks

Back in the tepid fall, we took a little trip to the suburbs, Eagan to be exact, to visit the Caponi Art Park. The park is located on retired Macalester College arts professor and accomplished sculptor Anthony Caponi's property (along with his home and his studio.) There are wonderful sculptures tucked into the woods and along hillsides that turn a walk into a surprise scavenger hunt. In a 2006 interview with MPR, Professor Caponi sums up quite nicely what is so wonderful about this combination:

"I believe that's what's missing in most exhibits is the sense of discovery," Caponi says.

We haven't visited Western Sculpture Park the lesser-known sculpture garden of the Twin Cities. I've driven by it many times, amazed that it is there, and wonder how many other people never knew that it existed. It's just west of the State Capitol complex, off of Marion Avenue, in St. Paul. This link will take you to a handy guide to the park.

Image: http://www.mnsinfonia.org/images/camponi.jpg