But if you decide to stick around, I will reward your interest with the first stop of our destination: Stillwater, MN. After SFS and I arrived at the airport, my family picked us up and whisked us away to Stillwater.
Stillwater is a city in Washington County, Minnesota, directly across the St. Croix River from the state of Wisconsin, with a population of 15,143.Of course we took a QUICK trip across the Historic Lift Bridge into Wisconsin, which meant that SFS and I were in 4 states in less than 7 hours. Impressive, no? On our way BACK to Stillwater, the bridge opened to allow a boat to pass. Since we were stopped, the boys and I got out of the car and walked back to Minnesota (don't worry, my Mom was willing to drive the car across and pick us up). Here is a shot of the shores of Wisconsin
There's SBV, looking out over the St. Croix river.
Here are SFS and I, only a LITTLE tired at this point (our car had picked us up at 4 am that morning)...
And the boys: SFS, BCV and SBV.
There's my Mom, driving the car back over the river to meet us.
Just another attempt at 'artistry'... I thought the barrier looked cool!!
The bridge, built in 1931, still looks pretty good to me!
And here's a shot of Stillwater... isn't it picturesque?
Once we got to back to town, we headed over to the Mad Capper Saloon & Eatery. It's a saloon with tons of beer on tap, a big menu, and free popcorn... what's not to love? Plus, SFS got to try his first White Cheddar Curds (they were deep fried, of course). After that, we did a little shopping around Stillwater, including tons of antique stores and The Chef's Gallery. Following that, SFS and I decided to be adventurous, and we tackled a bunch of stairs we saw on Main Street- we didn't know where they were headed, but we figured it would be interesting. This is what drew our attention:
Here's a shot on the way up...
And here we are- the summit! Except, turns out that there's a road that leads up to the same place, and people could just have easily driven their cars up here... oh well! I have a feeling the view is better during the cold season (when there aren't as many weeds to block my shot)... :)
This shot is a little better, and you can see the Lift Bridge pretty well!
Just a shot of some creeping foliage.
And some pretty pink blossoms...
We finally started our decent back down the stairs (you can see SFS down there, too).
After that and a little more antique shopping/perusing, we headed over to Dock Cafe. It's a restaurant right on the St. Croix, where we could rest for a bit, enjoy an iced tea or lemonade, and chat. Here are my folks- I'm pretty sure they're laughing at something funny SFS said!
After that, we headed back to our hotel before catching a performance of Caroline, or Change at the Guthrie. They're doing a whole series of Tony Kushner works, and since I never caught this show on Broadway and had never been inside the Guthrie, I was pretty excited. We had second and third row seats, and the show was amazing- it was a great first night in Minneapolis!That's all for today- check back tomorrow to see our lake adventures! Have a great Wednesday!
