July 4, 2007 211 mi.

The rain had stopped shortly before we turned in and it was fairly clear in the morning. Nevertheless, we enthusiastically left camp and headed north to Minneapolis. The Great River Road followed the river closely for quite a way, providing great views of locks, dams, islands, and the wide spots they call “lakes.”

At Alma, we drove up a steep county road to Buena Vista City Park, a beautiful spot affording spectacular views of the river from high above. We dried out our tent, ground cloth, chairs, and raingear there. Down in town, we had brunch at a wonderful café, Kate & Gracie’s, in an outdoor courtyard complete with cascading rock fountain and flower garden. It was a wonderful place, a due reward for enduring all the rain the day before. We listened to jazz and Lucinda Williams.

A little after 2:00 pm, we arrived at Nan’s B&B in the Kenwood neighborhood of Minneapolis, a little south of downtown. It was incredibly hot and humid. Nevertheless, we took off on a long bike trip exploring the Chain of Lakes bike trail and points beyond. We marveled at the huge gorgeous houses along Lake of the Isles, and how we could travel seamlessly from lake to lake on the bike trail. Needless to say, the parks and beaches surrounding the lakes were crowded on this hot holiday – everyone was having a great time, including us! After cruising around Lake of the Isles, Lake Calhoun, and Lake Harriett, we headed east on the Minnehaha Parkway all the way to the Mississippi River, all on bike trails. This place is amazing!

Nearing exhaustion, we took a shorter, less scenic, route back, along Hiawatha, then on the Midtown Greenway, an amazing superhighway for bikes and pedestrians that travels below grade on an old railroad bed, with exits ramps up to the streets. You could easily use this to commute and people obviously do.

We rested awhile, then biked again, to the Uptown neighborhood, a hip place of cool restaurants and shops. We ate outside at Chino Latino, specializing in “street foods from the hot zone.” We had large and delicious mojitos, popocatape (French fry-based concoction with guacamole, sour cream, black beans, etc.), elote (grilled corn with queso fria), chicken satay, and an artistic-appearing sushi dish called “The Weed Eater,” arranged to look like a giant green insect. Everything was delicious and reasonable too, which would explain the young crowd! We biked home in semi-darkness along Hennepin Avenue, and slept like the dead.