Friday after work, Lauren and I traveled northeast to William O’Brien State Park to meet up with Walsh and Sarah for a weekend of camping fun. This particular state park is located along the St. Croix River, which separates Minnesota from Wisconsin.
After seemingly over-packing and spending a ton on groceries, we arrived and set up camp. The first night, we cooked dinner over the campfire and celebrated Walsh’s golden birthday.
When we woke up Saturday morning, Lauren cooked breakfast. Turned out we would need our energy that day! We packed into a shuttle bus and headed up to Interstate State Park to canoe down the St. Croix River. We ventured 17 miles south down the St. Croix River. Lauren and I kept falling well behind Walsh, Sarah, and Roscoe. I don’t think I was the best at steering the canoe. We stopped off a number of times at various shores and islands to rest and grab a bite to eat. The first 7 or 8 miles weren’t too bad, but the last 10 got more and more difficult. One of the things that kept me going was my amusement over the fact that we were canoeing right down the MN/WI border. If we got a little further to the left, I’d say “hey, we’re in Wisconsin!” and when we veered a little more to the right, it was clear we were back in Minnesota. State borders really amuse me.
We made it back to camp, completely exhausted around 7pm that night, and headed back to our campsite for dinner. I think it was a good workout, plus we got a ton of sun. If we were to do it again, I’d probably not go the full 17 miles.
We woke up Sunday morning and drove to Stillwater for breakfast before heading back home. We spent Sunday lounging around and making sure to stay out of the sun for a while.
Monday, Lauren and I were up for something inexpensive but out of the apartment that we hadn’t done before, so we called Patchy Lynch and met up for an afternoon of Minneapolis history at the Mill City Museum. There, we discovered the wonders of flour milling, as well as some tidbits of fun Minneapolis city history. By the time we were finished, we were too pooped out to do anything else fun for the weekend.
Here are some photos. I hope you find them enthralling.
Ryan Glanzer Blog 