Taylor's Falls - Where the Footing is Dangerous and the Logs Jam

After meeting my mother-in-law (that is not a term I am used to!) for lunch at the tasty Cafe Brenda in the Warehouse District of Minneapolis, checking out the bounties that the Nicollet Mall Farmer's Market had to offer, and spending another fabulous evening with Jerri, I was still only 3 days into my 8 day trip!

On the 4th day, Sally and I took a day trip north to Taylor's Falls, Minnesota and St. Croix, Wisconsin. The main attraction there is the Interstate State Park where there are hiking trails that lead around glacial potholes, along the river and on top of the rocky cliffs.

I should disclose that I get some sort of weird satisfaction from packing efficiently. When I go on trips, my packing goal is to pack exactly what I need. No more and no less. So, when I packed for this trip, the only footwear I brought was a pair of tennis shoes and a pair of flip flops. Well, I forgot to take into account the hike that Sally and I had planned to take. When I got dressed that morning, it was hot so I wore the flip flops. When we got to the park I saw this sign:

Um. Perhaps I should have worn sturdier footwear?!?! Since I am still here to tell my story, you can assume that Sally and I were cautious with our footing near the edge.

We totally lucked out with the weather. It was a beautiful and sunny day.

Apparently, the St. Croix River has a significant enough bend in the river around Taylor's Falls that it caused a big log jam. According to this website:

In 1886 it took two steamboats , two steam engines,
every available team of horses in the area, and over 200 men working with
peevies and dynamite six weeks to break up a log jam at Taylors Falls. Stacked
50 feet high in places, logs choked the river for miles, a spectacle of
sufficient magnitude of sight seers. Jams of 250 million feet of timber
were a common occurrence from 1850 to 1890, as lumberman on the Upper St Croix sent their winter cut of White pine downstream to the mills at Stillwater. To
control the flow of logs that piled up at Taylors Falls where the river made a
sharp right angle bend, The Nevers Dam was built 2 miles upstream in 1890. In
1912 the last log sluiced through its gates, and the colorful days of logging on
the St Croix were over.

Here is one of the glacial potholes. Some of the potholes in the park have yet to be uncovered, while others are cleaned out regularly to preserve them. Some of the holes are filled with gunky green stuff, like this one.

Besides our Interstate State Park hike, we also wandered around town where we stumbled upon a really nice bead store. The owner makes and sells his lampwork beads at his store. They were beautiful and used some techniques that I hadn't seen before. (Dang! I should have taken a picture! Whoops.) I couldn't decide which one/s to buy so I refrained for fear that if I tried to decide, I would have bought all of them. And this girl ain't got that kind of budget.