Cycled on a rail trail from Hopkins to Excelsior on Lake Minnetonka with a friend. At 318 Cafe in Excelsior, we refueled with coffee and the best ever apple coffee cake, warm from the oven. Energized, we cycled back to Hopkins.
Category: Twin Cities
Raindrops and runners and crisp social commentary
On my walk, I was distracted by the sound of raindrops on corrugated iron coming from the ruins of what was once the world’s largest flour mill. Behind me, a Halloween fun run was underway, following the Mississippi before crossing Stone Arch Bridge. Some runners were wearing fanciful costumes, and a bystander carried a handwritten sign: “You’re running better than the government.”
Velocity and the void
Waiting for the train to pass on my way to my Friday gig, I used a slow shutter to contrast the train’s dynamic streak against the huge, immobile mass of the stadium and the static, cloudless sky.
Relaxed and spontaneous at the Dakota
Tonight, two accomplished artists we’ve seen before at the Dakota: Dee Dee Bridgewater accompanied by Bill Charlap. Their performances were relaxed, low-key, and wonderfully spontaneous. They focused on The American Songbook with no set list, leaning heavily on scat and improvisation.
Reaching for the sky
The rain decided it was a day for a skyway walk. With almost 10 miles of these elevated pathways, I find it best not to plan a specific route. Instead, I set a target: today, the convention center. But the circuitous skyway system had other plans, offering me my city from many different angles.
No kings
Joined a huge crowd in downtown Minneapolis to assert government is for the people and must adhere to the law. (Over 100,000 attended the Minneapolis rally. Nationwide there were more than 2,700 rallies with over 7 million attendees.)
Luce Line State Trail ride
Cycled part of the Luce Line with a friend, starting at Theodore Wirth Park and going to Medicine Lake. A circumnavigation of Medicine Lake added more mileage than we bargained for. Here, we’re cycling a boardwalk across wetland. The rail track is on a trestle. Later, my friend sent me a map showing we covered significantly more ground on a similar ride back in 2021. I guess we’re not exactly spring chickens anymore!
A modest home with a story
Cycled through South Minneapolis with a friend on a route loosely themed around racial justice, stopping here at the former home of Harry Davis, Sr. He was a civil rights advocate in a racially divided Minneapolis from the 1940s and throughout the turmoil of the 1960s, and in 1971 became the city’s first Black mayoral candidate. The city is applying to have this house added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Dakota Rail Trail ride
Both my friend and I felt the last few miles of this year’s longest bike ride: a round trip on the Dakota Rail Trail from Wayzata to St. Bonifacius. We earned our lunch of coffee and salted caramel cheesecake, which we enjoyed in St. Bonifacius before burning it off on the ride back.
Finding anti-fascism in a Minneapolis park
After giving up on finding a local or national Antifa office, I cycled in search of something tangible about the anti-fascist cause. Flags were at full staff at Sheridan Memorial Park when I paused at this sign commemorating American anti-fascist fighters of World War II. I appreciate how this park honors ordinary, working-class people, like Howard Weller (mask, complete with oxygen tubes) from Northeast Minneapolis, without glorifying war.