River Walks – Valerie's Voice

We trapped another squirrel…number 15! So off we went to transport it to the Squirrel Resort, 12 miles from our house.

Then we continued on, driving the back roads to Hastings, Minnesota for a walk.

A beautiful and clever sandstone city sign near the beginning of the River Walk.

Hastings has designed a lovely, paved trail along the Mississippi River. It provides benches, interesting informational signage, and a large picnic pavilion. The trail leads right up to Lock & Dam No. 2.

Saturday was sunny, and not too windy or cold, so we decided to take our daily walk in Hastings. We parked in a lot near the pavilion which provides ample, free parking.

One entrance to the river walk, with steps down to the paved trail.

The trail begins at the pavilion, close to an old working railroad lift bridge that “lifts” to let large boats float underneath, when needed.

River traffic near the railroad bridge, lifted up.

We walked about 1.5 miles to the Lock & Dam and were fortunate enough to be there as they were bringing a large barge through, in two separate maneuvers. We’ve watched this kind of operation before and it is always fascinating.

Looking across the Mississippi River to beautiful houses on the cliffs, with barges in the forground.

A different perspective of first 6 barges. There were 12 in this grouping.

There was river traffic…besides the barges there were boats with fishermen fishing, and a couple of tug boats. There was both pedestrian and bicycle traffic along the paved River Walk trail, and two trains rambled by across the river on the tracks. There was a lot of activity to watch…which is cheap entertainment in this time of pandemic.

A view of the beautiful Hastings bridge, opened November 2013

Boat traffic going under the high vehicle bridge.

Hastings is a county seat with a historic downtown and about 38 miles from Northfield if you drive the direct route (which is also picturesque). We drove through downtown and noticed several antique stores were open but we didn’t stop this time. We did stop however, to get a hot, caramel mocha for our ride back home! Yum.

We’ve always enjoyed going for drives in the country and exploring small towns…I’m sure we’ll be going for a lot more this fall and winter.

A marker for flood levels…looks like 1965 is the record. (photo taken June 2020)

My friend and I celebrated our 30^thannual “girls get-away” this week. We were more like girls when we took our first trip together in 1989, to Seattle. We didn’t know then that this tradition would continue thirty years, without missing a year.

A rabbit sculpture on a river walk along the Mississippi.

She lives in Indiana, I live in Minnesota and at least once a year we get together to catch up on life. We always have a great time; we share stories of our sons (and now grandchildren) and bring each other up to date on our lives, while shopping thrift stores and antique shops, strolling along a river (or being near some type of water), and visiting botanical gardens and/or garden centers. Those activities make up our criteria for where we meet.

A wonderful flower pot in a store front.

We met 37 years ago at church during greeting time (she lived in Minnesota at that time.) I had an infant and she was pregnant with her first child. After her son was born I offered to bring her lunch. I brought tuna fish sandwiches in a brown paper bag! But, it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. On almost every trip someone asks if we are sisters…and we have begun to say yes.

May 2019. The Mississippi is to the left.

We were near the Mississippi River this year and the spring greens and blooming trees were spectacular.

Tag: River Walks

Hastings, MN

Thirty Years