St. Paul, MN: Charles Schulz, Cathedral, Mickey's Diner, Quadriga, Capitol, Part 1 - Thurs., July 12, 2018

Warning: This is our favorite day on the trip so far. Be prepared for multiple blogs to cover it. This is Part 1.

As I was getting ready for breakfast, the news and weather forecasters on TV in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area were blathering on about flash flood warnings and the possibility of thunderstorms. 

Upon checking "My Radar" app on my SmartPhone, I did not see any impending significant storms. Susan pooh-poohed the TV weather reports because she was looking at her iPhone which showed hot, humid weather for the morning. Our capital Volksmarch is a go for this morning (but I took my umbrella "just in case"). 

From Eagan, Minnesota, it was a short drive to St. Paul. We found the Super America gas station on Grand Ave. from whence our walk would start. After signing in and picking up the State Capital Walk instructions, we needed to find on-street parking nearby. Within 1-1/2 blocks, we found a shady spot to leave the Escape Pod (my name for my Ford Escape) for a few hours. The car was on our return route, so that worked out splendidly. 

After walking back to the start point, we started our walk on Grand Ave. in the Historic Hill neighborhood. Definitely an older section of St. Paul, the businesses in this area reflect a different era. 

Victoria East's dragon

The building below used to be a Studebaker dealership. Big picture windows used to let potential buyers see the car of their dreams as they drove by. Now, this building houses Bonfire Wood Fire Cooking which, according to Google, has been there for 15 years. (However, by the time I wrote this blog, this business, too, had closed. Its owners say they will reopen in another part of town. Time marches on.)

Bonfire Wood Fire Cooking (now closed)

Maybe a gas/service station originally?

Below is a sweet tribute sculpture to William Francis Skally, an old beat cop in the Rondo neighborhood who would buy winter boots for children who did not have any.

It never ceases to amaze me, what can be learned from walking in a city I've never been to before. Did you know Charles Schulz, the Peanuts cartoonist, was born in Minneapolis and spent most of his life in St. Paul? His very first cartoon was published in Ripley's Believe it or Not. He was 15 when it was printed. What a great start for the richest cartoonist of all time. 

His last original comic strip was published the day after he died in February 2000. For five years after his death, artists put up sculptures around St. Paul in his honor. The large sculptures that people flocked to see funded permanent bronze sculptures at Landmark Plaza and Rice Park in St. Paul. 

Found this on Grand Ave., others are
scattered throughout St. Paul.

Schroeder and Lucy at Landmark Plaza

Charlie Brown and Snoopy at Landmark Plaza

Sally Brown and Linus Van Pelt at Landmark Plaza

The back view of Linus and Sally 

Besides the art deco buildings and Charles Schulz "shultziana" (as one writer referred to the nostalgic pieces), Susan and I loved the architecturally beautiful old apartments and homes in the Historic and Capitol Hill neighborhoods we entered next. Here we go...

Apartment building

Tudor style home

Photo below: Rowhouse where F. Scott Fitzgerald lived with his parents while writing This Side of Paradise.

F. Scott Fitzgerald House, 599 Summit Ave., St. Paul

Our favorite Victorian home.

Love the rock around the windows
and along the edges of the home.

On Summit Ave., after we followed the turn in the road to the left, we came upon Summit Outlook Park. This was originally the site of Carpenter's Hotel. The 1850's Victorian building was a towering wooden structure. It had three stories above ground and a two-story basement with windows cut into the stone retaining wall along Ramsey Hill. It is believed the hotel was destroyed by fire. By the mid-1880s, it had been demolished. Since 1887, the property has been a public park.

View of the Mississippi River Valley from the park.
No view of the river, only a tennis court and trees.

[As an aside, we never did see the Mississippi River when we were in St. Paul. That will be reserved for another trip.]

The history of the New York Life Eagle sculpture in Summit Outlook Park (taken from the historical marker in the park): 

In 1890, the commission for the New York Life Eagle sculpture was given to Augustus Saint-Guadens on behalf of the New York Life insurance Company. Augustus sketched the conceptual form and the sculpture was carved in marble by his brother Louis St. Gaudens which was to be cast in an edition of three for New York Life's frontier expansion buildings in Kansas City, Omaha, and St. Paul. 

In the heart of downtown St. Paul, the New York Life building's three-story main entrance was topped by this powerful allegory of protection. The majestic bird is poised on a rock ledge, wings spread to shelter its eaglets, its talons grasping a threatening serpent. 

In 1967, preservationists saved the sculpture when the building was demolished and installed it outside the Pioneer Building parking lot. Public Art Saint Paul secured the title to the sculpture in 1999 and restored it. In June 2004, the sculpture was raised to this perch overlooking the Mississippi River Valley where bald eagles abound along the bluffs and palisades.

New York Life Eagle sculpture

New York Life Eagle sculpture

Colonial 

James J. Hill's Summit Avenue home
(now a museum)

James J. Hill's Summit Avenue home
(now a museum)

Railroad & shipping magnate & related
businesses -- one of the wealthiest and
most powerful men of America's gilded age

 Across the street from James Hill's estate sits the Cathedral of St. Paul. The cathedral is like a beautiful woman: from her perch high atop Cathedral Hill she dominates the view, you can't stop looking at her, and you want to see her from every angle. (Well, maybe you don't, but I did.)

Cathedral of St. Paul as seen from James Hill Estate

Entrance to Cathedral of St. Paul

Cathedral of St. Paul as seen from The Quadriga
on the Capitol building (zoomed in).

Cathedral of St. Paul from the bottom of the hill.

Cathedral of St. Paul

The side of Cathedral of St. Paul

From the James Hill estate, we walked a few feet down Summit Avenue and then turned right down some stairs on our way to the historic marker for the Selby Streetcar Tunnel.

(To be continued in Part 2.)

Chert Glades, Part 2 of the Start of Our Trip - Tues., July 11, 2018

(Continued from Part 1...)
Susan and I had already signed in for our walk in Joplin, Missouri. As we drove from the check-in point to our hotel, we discussed whether it would be better to walk in the evening or the next morning. If we walked in the evening, we could head north earlier in the morning. And that's what we did. However, we did miss out on the Visitor Center.

Our walk started at the Wildcat Glades Conservation Park just down the freeway from our motel. Because my knee is still healing, we did a 6k walk (3.7 miles) instead of our usual 10k. That's good because we got a late start and we'd lose daylight by the end of the walk.

Wildcat Glades is a very unique natural area. It protects some of the only remaining chert beds in the world. Our walk information did not include any information on the chert beds, so I looked it up on Wikipedia. My, oh, my, what a special spot! Here's what Wikipedia taught me:

"Chert glades are a habitat which only exists in [the] southern Missouri area. They are described as a near desert-like environment. This is due to the hard chert bedrock underneath the soil, which has eroded and been exposed to the surface. Plants characteristic of arid areas, including cacti, grow here. Other plants had to adapt to the environment, resulting in some species having stunted growth."

The geologic area is called the Grand Falls Formation. The chert beds are over six feet thick here. Chert glades are only found along Shoal Creek and its tributaries in Joplin, Missouri (a two-square-mile area).

Picnic area in a chert glade

Our Volksmarch followed a short portion of the trails in the park. It did not go up on the ridge or through Mother Nature's Gap. We started at a parking lot and walked a short distance on the trail before crossing a single-lane bridge over Shoal Creek and then walking along a road to Grand Falls, Missouri's largest continuously running waterfall at 12' tall and 163' wide.

Shoal Creek

Susan enjoying the view at Shoal Creek

The I-44 bridge

Shoal Creek as seen from the low-water bridge

We felt like we were way out in the country, even though Grand Falls was only about 1-1/2 miles from I-35. Susan and I thought it would have been a nicer walk if we didn't have to walk on the narrow road most of the way. 

Gorgeous daylilies in a yard

It was quite humid and I kept trying to keep sweat, laced with mosquito repellent, from running in my eyes. The sleeve of my T-shirt had to do because I forgot to bring a towel. 

Even though the road followed Shoal Creek, we rarely saw it, so when we came to the parking area for Grand Falls, it was a pleasant surprise. The chert beds are quite obvious here. 

If you look closely at the top center of the photo below, you will see two people sitting in lawn chairs. You can see what erosion has done over the years.

Grand Falls is quite the local cooling-off spot. People were hanging out in the water and others were in the water fishing.

Grand Falls

There is a small dam on top of and to
the side of the falls.

Grand Falls

Grand Falls is one of the largest falls in Missouri

A nice swimming hole below the falls

Fishing at the falls

Proof I made it

It was getting late so we had to high-tail it back to the car. The road we were walking on did not have streetlights and it was dusk. Cars drove pretty cautiously, for the most part.

We are definitely out in the country here!
This is a horse farm.

I was able to capture one last shot of Shoal Creek from the low-water crossing bridge. A car was waiting for me to get across so I had to hurry and take the photo.

The very last portion of the trail back through the chert glades was pretty dark when we returned. But we were able to see enough and the path was paved, so no rocks or roots under our feet. 

It was a pleasant walk and I'd like to come back sometime and do the 10k walk. I wonder if it goes on more of the trails in the park. Thank you to the Dogwood Trailblazers Club for hosting this walk! We appreciate your hard work.

We were tired and made a beeline back to our motel. We left San Antonio at 6:10 am and got back to our rooms at about 9:30 pm Time to get some rest!

Tomorrow is a driving day to Eagan, Minnesota. Dinner tomorrow will be with my friends, Dave and Jyl Navarro. They live in Mankato Lake and plan to drive 45 minutes to meet us. That will be a nice visit.

It's hard to believe how far we've traveled today. Over and out.