From the bluffs to the banks

This morning the baby and I took a little motoring excursion.  We took Kellogg Blvd. out of downtown St. Paul, heading NE to Mounds Blvd, where we headed toward Indian Mounds Park. I haven't spent anytime here before and the topography is stunning.  Through the swirling snow we climbed up steep hills that would fool you into thinking that you had left the state.  To our east, the hills were dotted with lovely older homes and to the west a commanding view of the river, skyline, and the banks below.  As we drove further east/south, the view became more surreal--with the wide expanse of railyards and the curve of the river making me feel far from home.  We flipped back around on CR10 to Warner/Shepard/Great River Road.  We descended down to the river flats, traveling alongside the gorgeous beige limestone bluffs encrusted with ice waterfalls. All the while I thought that this would be a ride more appreciated at a bicycle's pace than at 45mph.

images: Mounds Park, from the Margaret Marriott Collection. Shepard Road, from Twin Cities Daily Photo.

A place for the arts

Minneapolis and St. Paul are really great places if you are an artist. There's great foundation support out there (McKnight and Jerome in particular) and plenty of affordable studio space. There are also lots of opportunities to find places where you can live affordably and while also having studio space to do your art. In my neck of the woods, the Carleton Place Lofts on University Avenue near Raymond, are home to a couple hundred units where artists can live and work. I was also thrilled to discover a couple of years back that Artspace, a non-profit real estate development organization with projects all over the country, was a Minneapolis creation. Artspace creates affordable live/work units for artists, usually by reusing older buildings that once served some other function. They've got lots of properties here in the Cities, from the Grain Belt Studios in Minneapolis to the Northern Warehouse Artist Cooperative in St. Paul. It's great to live in a place that shows its support for the arts in such fundamental, but often overlooked, ways.

image: grain belt brewery, mississippi river field guide.

Another Electoral Aside

Just as my post on the lack of voting rights in DC was a bit off topic for this blog, this post too wavers from my blog's purpose. But as someone who truly cherishes her right to vote, I feel compelled to say that the caucus system here in Minnesota blows. While I love the idea of a caucus being a grass roots way to get motivated citizens involved in the affairs of their political parties, I hate the fact that it makes it impossible for everyone to attend (or even meaningfully participate.) Take our household, someone has to stay home with the child (whose bedtime falls at the caucus start). So the lucky individual heading over to our caucus site found that it was so crowded and there wasn't enough space at the site to even hear what was being said, so straw poll votes were cast and no caucusing took place. Since I can't even claim to understand what exactly happens re: the nomination of our candidate for U.S. Senate, that too seems to be a problem. C'mon folks, a straight up primary (one now for Presidential races and one later for our Congressional seats), is the easiest way to allow everyone who wants to vote a better chance at making it to the polls.

MK's What Makes for A Great Neighborhood Now.

1. Sidewalks
2. Mature trees
3. Homes that greet the street, rather than garages
4. Proximity to the following:
• a park
• a library
• a "third place" (e.g. coffee shop, book store, other hang out)
• a place to buy milk in a pinch

5. Easy opportunities to meet your neighbors
6. Calm enough streets so that an older child can safely cross them
7. Houses in many different architectural styles
8. Feeling of safety and pride in the neighborhood
9. Ability to use transit if I want/need to.

While I think these features will always be hallmarks of a great neighborhood in my book, I can also see how at different stages of life, new characteristics will rise on the list.

City of Lakes & Lights

Last night we got a sitter and headed to Uptown to do the Caribou Coffee Luminary Loppet. It's a ski tour around Lake of the Isles, illuminated by ice globes filled with candles. It was positively festive. The next best part of the evening was seeing people all decked out in their XC ski gear, carrying skis and poles, crossing Hennepin Avenue at Lake Street. What a mix of Saturday night party people and skiers. The event is part of the larger City of Lakes Loppet weekend--with races, skijoring (skiing with dogs), and kids events.

I love this town!






Images: left, City of Lakes Loppet. right, skinnyskis.com.

Don't let the chain link fool you...

It is true, the best croissants in Minneapolis St.Paul are at Trung Nam French Bakery at 739 University Avenue (housed in a former Popeye's Chicken restaurant.) Get there before noon or else you will miss out on the flakiest, loveliest croissant this side of the Seine. Delish.


Image: from Cool on the Hill (you should start blogging again!)

The best things in life are free

I always figured that no place could compare with DC when it came to free admission to tons of interesting places--all of the Smithsonian Museums, the National Building Museum, all of the monuments, jazz in the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden...

Then I started paying attention here. You can always go to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts or the Weisman for free. Then there's the free Thursday night and first Saturday at the Walker. Of course there's Como Zoo and Conservatory. Then there is my most favorite thing of all, the Museum Adventure Pass that you can check out from any Metro area library.

You don't have to have kids to take advantage of this either. We're talking free admission for anywhere between 2-4 people to places like the Minnesota Zoo, the Walker, the Minnesota History Center, the Bell Museum of Natural History, and others. It's such a steal that you can use it, go to a place for 30 minutes, and not feel guilty. Thank you to all of the generous corporate sponsors out there and the venues who are opening themselves up to freeloaders like myself!