Last week, on one of those gorgeous Minnesota summer days, Gary and I decided to head to Minneapolis with our bikes and take off on the terrific trail system called the Grand Rounds.
The Grand Rounds has over 100 miles of paved walking and biking trails that meander through urban areas connecting different city parks and lakes.
This system has been around a long time. It was conceived by Horace W. S. Cleveland in the early days of the Minneapolis park system and has been well maintained. It has been nominated for the National Register of Historic Places.
We started our tour at Minnehaha Falls and rode our bikes along Minnehaha Creek, past Lake Nokomis, then along one side of Lake Harriet, continuing around the loop of Lake Bde Maka Ska…..(formerly known as Lake Calhoun).
We stopped for lunch back at the Bread and Pickle on Lake Harriet. We ate a delicious egg salad sandwich, which we were surprised to see on the menu, and then surprised at how tasty it was. It was lovely setting: looking out on the lake, seeing sailboats, and watching people.
After lunch we finished the Lake Harriet loop, rode past Lake Hiawatha and back to Minnehaha Falls. We treated ourselves to ice cream at the pavilion in the park, after clocking 20 miles.
We viewed Minnehaha Falls – the falls were full and beautiful – encompassed by lush green trees and shrubs. There were many folks out enjoying the gorgeous scenery, and weather, on this weekday afternoon.
I had a great time riding my pedal-assist bicycle. We did stop at one garden…because… well, it’s just hard to resist gardens.
It is also fun looking at all the houses along the Parkway and the lakes. There are so many charming homes and biking past them is a great way to see them.
