Coffee Day and Funerals

 Tuesday is a coffee day, so I am coming to you fully espresso'd. Wooo.

One of the reasons we chose Tuesday is because when Mason was much younger and we were all doing that thing where we pile into the car every morning at some ungodly hour, drop Shawn off at work, and then take Mason to school, we decided that Tuesdays are actually stealth Mondays, and sometimes worse because you're kind of expecting Mondays to suck?  To mitigate the surprise suckage of Tuesdays, we started stopping for bagels on Tuesday morning. Of course, ironically, this often made Tuesday even more frantic, because we'd have to get up even earlier to accommodate this stop (important point of information, Mason's school had a start time of 7:20 AM.)  Despite this hassle, we doggedly continued the tradition and do so even now that school is over.  I suspect Shawn and I will keep this up long after Mason is gone off to college.

Today has been posited as a road trip day. Mason is not yet awake, but when he gets up, we'll decide if he's still up for it. In the meantime, I have made a list of state parks (and other attractions) within two hours of home (St. Paul, MN.) We could go further, since Shawn is home and so the only restrictions on our time is park closing time, but I have no idea if what Mason wants is the time on the road or the destination.  We'll see. If we go, I'll either post a second journal tonight with pictures or tomorrow.

Tomorrow is going to be busy because I have a critique client that I had to reschedule at 1:45 pm and a funeral at 3 pm over at the band shelter at Lake Harriet. I really wish I still lived on Girard. I could have walked!  But, as it is, I'll have to zip across town and then try to find parking. 

There have been a lot of funerals lately. Oddly, neither this one, nor the previous one (Saturday) were COVID related. Cancer took both of my friends--one of whom was only a year older than me. (FUCK CANCER.)  ( Read more... CW: death and funerals )

My friend had a giveaway table and I was instantly drawn to the postcards. As many of you know, I've been sending out postcards during the pandemic, including having started to reconnect with this friend through letters and such. That felt exactly right. So, I brought them home.


Image: An array of all sorts of colorful postcards.

I suppose all this is rather morbid? I blame being a Scorpio for my inability to be circumspect about death and dying. I have placed all the talk about the funeral under a cut, probably unnecessarily? But, because I have no idea, I'd rather err on the side of caution. 

ANYWAY.

I may poke Mason to see if he's up for a hike or not today. At least it doesn't feel like it should be too hot. 

Second Passport Stamp!

 
Image: My second stamp in my passport club booklet

When Mason was still very sleepy, but awake I asked him how he felt about a road trip today. He said, in a very Mason way: "I would not mind that."  And, so one espresso drink later we were on our way to Taylor's Falls and Interstate State Park. The weather has been kind of gross here, if I'm honest? And our car's air-conditioning has stopped fully functioning, so it was a HOT hour to the State Park. However, I stopped in at the ranger station and got myself my second passport stamp. Whoo!  Only 73 more left to go!

I had to laugh, however, when we found the trail head:

Image: Ah, my old enemy... STAIRS!

There were, in point of fact, a lot of stairs on this hike. Many of them were actually wooden. There were several boardwalks and bridges built-in along the trail, too, which I found quite lovely. A number of the scenic overlooks also had fully built-up decks with park benches.  That part was quite lovely, as the terrain was very reminiscent of Magnetic Rock.... lots of rock and uneven ups and downs.

The views were quite lovely, however.


Image: The view from one of the many overlooks on the official Minnesota Hiking Club trail at Interstate State Park.

For my non-local friends, Minnesota is under a heavy haze thanks to the wildfire just above us in Canada that is threatening the boundary waters as WELL as the Bootleg fire in Oregon (at least I'd be surprised if we're not, given the size of that fire.)  The view, despite the fire haze, was fairly spectacular. We are also in a drought, so the trail was dusty and, in places, a bit dreary. There's one long section (maybe 800 feet) where we walked directly alongside the highway.

In fact, I was rather surprised how much highway noise we could hear during the entire hike. 

I would say I was disappointed, but that wasn't at all true. Once we made it to the campground area, we were able to get closer to the river. We found a way down to the shoreline and did a bit of exploring. 


Image: Our big little Last Child in the Woods in the woods, looking for signs of life in the water (specifically crawdads.)

Mason never found crawdads, but he did spot an adorable baby turtle just in the water-side of the shoreline, which we watch scoot around for awhile. He also surprised a chipmunk on the trail. I didn't get to see her, but he did.  The riverbank was lovely, honestly. I stuck my hot feet in the water and we sat for a long time on the sand in the shade and watched a couple of raptors circling overhead.


Image: Minnesota Native wildflower, the Tall Bellflower, growing along the banks of the St. Croix.


Image: The Saint Croix from its banks.

I was able to log my miles on the official Minnesota Hiking Club booklet, and I got my passport stamp (and I wrote in the TRAVEL LOG!!) So, I would say that despite the sweaty heat, this was well worth it. If you are wondering why there are no pictures of the potholes, it's because this was our second trip to this state park and we already had seen all the funky cool geological features. (See: Our Road Trip to Michigan. If you follow this link to my previous DW entry, you will also get the Concrete Park of Wisconsin, which is... terrifying, but also awesome?)