Minnesota - 2008 - Minneapolis

Minneapolis

Friday, July 11

Ken, Ed and Jay flew to Minneapolis. Flight uneventful, including the half-hour we spent on the ground in Philly waiting for takeoff. We still landed in Minneapolis on time. We were picked up by Janet and Mary Beth, and drove to our hotel, the Residence Inn downtown at the Depot. Ken had a single; Jay and Ed shared a suite - Ed had the bedroom, and Jay slept on the hide-a-bed.

For dinner, we walked across the Mississippi on the Stone Arch Bridge to Kikugawa at Riverplace, a Japanese restaurant. During and after dinner, there was a tremendous amount of thunder, lightning and rain. Mary Kay arrived at the hotel during dinner, but , according to Ed’s notes. “…wouldn’t pick us up – didn’t care if we lived or died!” So we walked back to the hotel over the 8th Avenue bridge. Mary Kay was in the hotel room, reading and waiting for us. Carney arrived later that night.

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The Mighty Mississippi	The Guthrie	Aline (Ed's wife)

Saturday, July 12

After breakfast in the hotel, we picked up our rental bikes from Penn Cycle in Bloomington, near the airport and the Mall of America. We actually started riding at about noontime, going over the Stone Arch Bridge to the University of Minnesota. We passed two law schools and enjoyed the Summit Ave. ride in St. Paul (magnificent old homes on the parkway), on the way to W.H.Frost’s for lunch. Carney had a to attend a shower in the morning, and met us at Frost’s for lunch, ready to ride. Ken had broken a rear spoke on the way to lunch, so he took Carney’s car to a bike shop to get it repaired. After lunch, the rest of us stopped at St. Paul Cathedral, and then back down Summit Ave. We saw the 35W bridge that collapsed last August, and the repairs that were continuing. Total mileage – approximately 20 miles. We walked to dinner at Murray’s Steak House.


Picking up our rental bikes	Ready to go	Across the Mississippi


Museum at U Minnesota	Lunch at W.H.Frost	Scenic Overview


Bike Trail	Hospital across the Mississippi	Rebuilding the 35W Bridge


Another view of the 35W bridge	Downtown sculpture	Downtown buildings

Sunday, July 13

After the 9:30 Mass at the Basilica of St. Mary’s, those of us who didn’t go to Church (Ken, Mary Kay, and Jay) rode to breakfast on the roof at Joe’s Garage, on the edge of the park next to the Walker Art Institute. ,After breakfast, we saw the outdoor sculpture garden at the Walker, then took the marvelous bike trails around Minneapolis’ lakes (Lake of the Isles, Lake Calhoun, Lake Harriet and its rose garden, and Cedar Lake). At the beach area at Lake Nokomis we met up with Jeanne, which then completed our group of eight for the rest of the week. We then went to Minnehaha Falls, and biked home along the river. Dinner was at Brit’s Pub, in downtown Minneapolis.


Breakfast at Joe's Garage	Group picture	Dan Graham's Two-way Mirror Punched Steel Hedge Labyrinth


Mark di Suvero's Arikidea	Claes Oldenburg's Spoonbridge and Cherry	Trail next to lake


Riding and walking trail	Rose Garden at Lake Harriet	Lake Nokomis


Minnehaha Falls	Mary Tyler Moore