New TCF Bank stadium: Back to the future: Next year the Gophers are moving back on campus, and moving back outside. Just like old times. Also, a preview of the Gophers new stadium, with stadium details, and image gallery of Gopher Stadiums of the past.
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Tricia and I were up at our cabin this weekend for a fairly relaxing weekend, though it ended up being a weekend full of driving around, which I enjoyed. Traffic on our way up was a bear, and stops in Becker and St. Cloud to look at furniture made our normal 3.5 hours drive more like 7 hours.
On Saturday we drove over to Detroit Lakes to visit our friends Jamie and Nell who were vacationing from Portland, Maine. The drive over to DL from our place near Dorset only took an hour, but we took a scenic trip back through the Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge. We were mainly on dirt roads for the first hour of two, driving on the Blackbird Auto Tour Route, where we saw quite a few eagles, an owl, a yellow warbler, and a few others that we couldn’t identify. I’d really like to go back there in the fall, when the leaves are changing and there might be less bugs!
Sunday morning was our relaxing time, with a nice canoe trip through the channel to the neighboring lake, some reading, and a few games of Carcassone. The weather was perfect for an August weekend (80s and sunny), when it could have been hot and muggy.
Sunday night was our drive home, and instead of our usual drive home, we decided to drive over towards Brainerd and then down to Little Falls from there, instead of driving down Hwy 64 and Hwy 10 like we normally do.
The drive from Nevis over to Backus and then down to Pequot Lakes and Nisswa was very nice. It felt like “up north”, with a lot of older looking campgrounds, resorts, and little towns. I very much enjoyed this area, and look forward to driving around there again. But as we passed Gull Lake and came up on the Brainerd/Baxter area, everything changed. All of a sudden, it felt like we were driving through suburban Minneapolis, with large shopping areas full of Starbucks, Caribou, Target, Best Buy, and gigantic Realty companies were everywhere.
So much for being “up north”.
But it was easy to see why it became what it did. With the number of large lakes between Millle Lacs and Leech Lake, and being only a little over two hours away, I can see why that was a popular destination for early resorts and cabins. And as that desire for a cabin grew, that became a prime area.
I’ve heard stories of subdivisions popping up in Brainerd, as it became too expensive to buy a cabin, so people would spend a little less to be three or four lots off the lake. Rental cabins closed up and were developed with huge lake homes. The new Brainerd area full of SUV’s and expensive “fishing” boats wouldn’t have existed without those early station wagons and canoes, and it really made me wonder what it was like 20-30 years ago.
Flickr Photo: Exploring the “seas” of Duluth: The Pride of Baltimore and a few other tall ships sail into Duluth. Also more here and here. (via)
How Tim Pawlenty made his case for VP by wrecking the Minnesota economy: Tim Pawlenty’s main claim to the mantle of GOP vice presidential candidate, when all is said and done, is probably his loyalty to the John McCain campaign in its dark hours of 2007 and McCain’s much-remarked personal affection for Minnesota’s Mr. Nice Guy. Pawlenty’s strategic value to the campaign is another question entirely, but to the extent TP has credentials to bruit around, they consist mainly of his bona fides as an evangelical Christian (previous MnIndy report) and as a fiscal hawk who has held the line on taxes in his state.
You can also listen to Britt Robson on Air America discussing this same topic. It’s an interesting conversation if you care about the economy of this state.
Jesse Ventura To Run for Senate: Ventura, born Jim Janos, tells Welna that the main reason he’s running is because of Coleman’s support for the war in Iraq. “That’s the reason I run,” he says. “I run because it angers me…All you Minnesotans take a good hard look at all three of us. And you decide: if you were in a dark alley which one of the three of us would you want with you? (via)
If I were a Republican, I’d totally vote for Jesse.
UPDATE: Or maybe he isn’t running, sounds like the reporter jumped the gun. Shocking
Land of 1,475 impaired lakes: State agency releases water quality report: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved the Minnesota Pollution Control Authority’s list of impaired waters in Minnesota. The list of “waters that are not meeting one or more water-quality standards” contains 1,475 impairments on 336 rivers and 510 lakes throughout the state, though only a small fraction of Minnesota’s bodies of water have been assessed. A total of 2,575 impaired waters have been identified, but many already have plans for rehabilitation in place and others are naturally impaired.
Oh well, at least the lake my parent’s cabin is on is ok. Find yours at CheckMyLake.org
150 Minnesota moments we’d just as soon forget: Happy Sesquicentennial, Minnesota!
1859
The temperature falls below freezing on July 4.1869
Photographer Charles Zimmerman of St. Paul survives being struck by an icicle weighing several hundred pounds while trying to take photos of the frozen Minnehaha Falls. Bruised and sore — yes. Broken bones — no.1893
Virginia, Minn., is destroyed by fire.1900
Virginia, Minn., is destroyed by fire. Again.1930
A Communist Party-owned bookstore is bombed on Third Avenue in South Minneapolis, after which a mob loots the store and tosses remaining books into a bonfire.1936
St. Paul is named the best place in America to hire a hit man by Fortune Magazine.
“Up North” to become “Heart of the Continent”?: A partnership formed last year between 22 federal agencies from both the United States and Canada and several private organizations would like to promote the five million acres of wilderness in and around Voyageurs National Park, Quetico Provincial Park and the Superior National Forest as the “Heart of the Continent.” The effort seeks to establish the borderland area as an international destination for recreation and adventure, but the marketing plan may have already hit a snag.
There’s Something About St. Mary’s: Hockey’s finest are currently kocking themselves silly chasing the Stanley Cup. But for Sidney Crosby and dozens of other NHL hot shots, the fun really started at a little hockey factory in rural Minnesota.
Today is Hockey Day Minnesota, with events starting at 9:00am and going until 11:00 tonight, with three High School games, a Wild game, and the Gophers all on FSN TV. The first High School game features Eveleth vs Lake of the Woods HS, and will be played outdoors on Baudette Bay up on the US/Canada border as part of a full day of outdoor events, called Baudette Bay Pond Hockey Classic. Current weather up in Baudette, -2° with a -29° windchill.
The second game of the day is in St. Paul between Hill Murray and St. Thomas Academy, followed by another game up at Baudette Bay between Blaine and the top team in the state, the Roseau Rams, featuring future Gopher, Aaron Ness who has scored 56 points in 22 games as a defenseman.
At 5:00 the Wild play the Islanders (without Kyle Okposo) and then the Gophers play in Denver to end a great day of hockey in Minnesota.
The biggest hockey month in St. Paul and all of Minnesota is underway, and it’s been as good as it gets so far. Roseau crushed Woodbury, and Rochester upset Hill Murray. But the game of the tournament is next - Edina vs Grand Rapids - and I can’t wait.
Tricia and I spent the weekend up at the cabin with the family for Fathers Day and for my parent’s 40th Anniversary. And on Sunday, I went biking in Itasca State Park for a hilly bike ride.
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