Welkom in Amsterdam

Date Traveled: December 4, 2011



I left Glasgow on Saturday morning (the 3rd) and shortly landed at the KLM/Delta European hub, the Schipol Airport near Amsterdam. My flight schedule had me on a 24-hour layover in Amsterdam (my choice) and I fully intended to enjoy some time in the city. Before I left for Glasgow, I booked a bed at a hostel on the outside of the city center, but right next to the museum campus. I was hoping to find something closer to the city center, but many hostels won't let you book a single bed over a weekend for just one night; instead, you have to book a minimum of 2-3 nights. Getting to the hostel wasn't bad, though. Once I got through customs, it was pretty easy for me to find a ticket agent and buy a round-trip train ticket, though the woman behind the counter gave me a look of disdain when I started speaking in English.


The train system was familiar since I spent so much time in Berlin earlier this year, and no more than twenty minutes later, I arrived at the main train station in downtown Amsterdam. It's a beautiful building, architecturally, though much of it was covered in scaffolding and being refurbished. I bought a street map of the city from the Tourist Information center just across the street from Centraal Station. Though it was early in the afternoon, the sky was getting a little cloudy and started to rain a little bit, but it didn't bother me as I started wandering through the streets of Amsterdam.


I didn't take too much time to get lost in the city because I wanted to get to my hostel and check in, making sure I had a bed for that night. A number of trams and buses run throughout the city and there is a subway system set up, though it doesn't really get you many places in the city, but I decided to walk. Afterall, it didn't look far, and I was short on change. I did find out before I went about the I Amsterdam card, which give you total access to any public transportation system as well as access to dozens of museums around the city. I thought about purchasing this card, but even for the 1-day offer, it was going to be more expensive than walking and buying my entrance to the one museum I had time for.

Amsterdam is one of those fantastically cool, walkable, friendly, cheery, beautiful cities. It is of course famous for its extensive series of canals, which were recently added to the UNESCO list of culturally significant sites. One of the other things that immediately stands out as being unique among European cities is the architecture of the houses, the majority of which can't be more than 15-feet wide. Though skinny, each building is deep and rises 4-5 stories above street-level, and is crowned by a little ornamental façade. Naturally, this design made it difficult to move large pieces of furniture up and down stairs, so many of the houses have a pulley system in place near the roof line so that you could hoist large items up and through windows. And of course there are the canals - beautifully lined with trees along the sidewalk and boats in the water. I've never been to Venice, and while I imagine it is more austere, Amsterdam's canals just seemed inviting and quaint.

Tree-lined canal in Amsterdam

I got to my hostel, the Hotel Annemarie, and had a little problem checking in because I thought I paid for everything online at www.hostelworld.com, but it turns out they only take the deposit and you have to pay the rest upon arrival - but the hostel may or may not take credit cards. Such was the case and I had to run around the corner to find an geldautomat (ATM) and get some money. Wasn't too big of a deal, but I also had to put to a refundable deposit for my key, which was just slightly annoying. But the host at the hostel was a very cheery man with a more than friendly disposition and every time I saw him he asked me by name, "Eric, how is your stay? Eric, how are the rooms? Eric, is there anything I can do for you?" And to be fair to the 75% rating on hostelworld.com, Hotel Annemarie was very nice - definitely not a party hostel.

I went up to my bed - one of eight in the room - and took advantage of the free wifi and tried calling home with my computer. But it turns out that voice calling from the Gmail chat window has been modified and it is no longer free to call the US internationally... So I checked my email, made my bed, and then put my things in my backpack and headed out to check out a museum while they were still open. Most close at 6pm on a daily basis, so I didn't have much time. Luckily, Hotel Annemarie is adjacent to the museum campus where the Van Gogh Museum and Rijksmuseum are located.

My first instinct was to go to the Van Gogh Museum and get my fill of the renowned artist, but I ran into another snafu because I didn't have much cash and the minimum to use a card was 25-euro... Luckily, the Rijksmuseum is just down the street and I was easily able to get in. The Rijksmuseum is a clearinghouse for all things Dutch. It covers aspects of Dutch history, culture, and art and has many fascinating displays. The museum has been undergoing a series of renovations so the majority of the museum is inaccessible; instead, they've had to condense their art and artifacts down to the most popular.

I had to go through fairly quickly, but was able to learn that the Netherlands gained its independence from Spain in the 1500s and refers to various autonomous regions within the political confines of what we recognize today. Holland, though synonymous with the Netherlands, is really just one of those autonomous regions. Anyway, the Netherlands quickly became a powerhouse of sea-trading and exploration, colonizing parts of North America (New Amsterdam became New York City), South America (Suriname), Africa (parts of South Africa), and southeast Asia (Indonesia). Somewhere along the way, the Netherlands transitioned into being governed by a monarchy...I missed that transition, though - or maybe that display was in the closed-off portion of the museum?

The tour then brought me through a few rooms complete with jewelery, gems, and other fancy accoutrements of the rich and famous and a room full of delftware, a type of blue and white ceramic in which pictures of Dutch life, designs, flowers, and landscapes are depicted.

But the main attraction at the Rijksmuseum is the vast artwork collection with pieces by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals, and Steen. I am not an art historian and don't really understand the intricacies of the various media or techniques used, but I can appreciate the talent that goes into portraying the Dutch landscapes, the symbolism represented in various party scenes, the detail in portraits, and the sheer magnitude of the museum's most famous piece, Rembrandt's "The Night Watch" - a huge 12-by-14 foot mural of guardsmen from Amsterdam's upper-crust. It's a beautifully detailed painting that is somehow still around today after being trimmed down on three sides when it was moved to a secondary location that wasn't as big as its original and then more recently being ripped apart in places after a deranged man slashed through the painting in many places with a knife.

Rembrandt's The Night Watch in the Rijksmuseum (photo: Rijksmuseum.nl)

I left the museum right around closing time at 6pm, and didn't really feel like walking all the way back into town for a night out by myself, so I grabbed some food from a nearby grocery store and went back to my hostel to eat. Back in my room, three girls from Spain were getting ready for their night out on the town, but the other beds were empty. This was good news because it meant that our room was maybe not going to be too crowded. Sure, I might have to deal with them coming back late that night, but I could put up with that. I finished reading my book and checked emails until my battery ran out, but by that time, a giggly and talkative group of French students (and one Swede) came into the room speaking the whole time in French. I tried to just ignore them, but one of the guys and I chatted for a little bit. They were confused why I was staying at a hostel in Amsterdam but wasn't going out for the night. I tried explaining that I was on business (of sorts) and just here during a layover. I don't think they understood. They continued to get ready while I, running out of things to do, pretended to study a map of the city.

They eventually left, apologizing in advance for when they came back later that night, and I tried to get as much sleep as possible because I knew that later on, when everyone returned, I'd be woken up again. Well, the Spanish girls did not return, which I thought was weird, but it was good because there weren't enough beds for me, the three of them, and the five french students, and when the students returned they were loud, but not obnoxiously and I prepared for the light by putting my airplane eye-shades on. Wasn't too bad.

I wanted to wear ear plugs, too, but I wouldn't have heard my alarms go off on my iPhone, which I had tucked into the hood of my jacket hanging off the post of my bunk bed. I ended up waking up before my alarm went off and decided to be nice to my roommates and turned my alarms off before hopping in the shower so they wouldn't be woken up either. I took my shower and started packing my bag in the dark so I wouldn't bother them by turning on a light, and nearly had everything together when I went to put my iPhone in my pocket...but it wasn't there in my jacket's hood where I left it. I felt through all the pockets in my jacket to see if I just misplaced it. But I was positive it had been in my hood because that's where I put it when I turned my alarms off so my roommates wouldn't be woken by it. It just wasn't there. I thought maybe I left it in the pockets in my shorts, so I emptied my backpack and checked everywhere. Couldn't be found. I checked my jacket again, and then shook my sheets, and then my backpack again. Jacket. Backpack. Jacket. Backpack. It was nowhere to be found. I started getting really psyched out that someone, again, had stolen my iPhone, exactly like what happened when I was on my way to the Berlin airport earlier this year.

I started to freak out and I turned on one of the lights, which woke up one of the French girls, so I muttered, "Désolé. J'ai perdu mon mobile." She asked me to let the cat out of the room because it was bothering her. When did a cat come into the room? So I let it out and continued my search. Maybe it fell into the sheets of one of the two beds below? I couldn't quite justify rummaging my hands through the beds where a girl in one and a guy in the other were sleeping, so I flattened myself on the floor and rechecked under the beds. There, with the light on, I could see a little box-like thing near the wall under the bed. It was my phone! I grabbed it just to make sure, let out a big sigh of relief, and stuffed everything back into my backpack and headed downstairs for a meager breakfast of toast and jam.

It wasn't that late and I was going to make my flight, no worries, but I quickly left the hostel and started my way back to Centraal Station. But what good is a stay in Amsterdam without a visit to the Red Light District? The district is famous for its provocative nightlife and adult entertainment, but is also home to museums, art galleries, family houses, churches, cafés, and shops. Of course, being Sunday morning, nothing was open, but it made my visit even cooler because it was like walking through a ghost town...or at least like walking down Bourbon Street in New Orleans the morning after during Mardi Gras!

The famous I amsterdam statue outside the Rijksmuseum. They were filling the fountain in front of it with water for an ice rink, so I couldn't get a head-on shot. Seems like 8am on a Sunday is the only time when it's not covered in tourists!

Old mansions lining the outermost of the concentric canals, separating the main downtown area and the museum district.

The National Monument commemorating WWII

The Oude Kerk, the oldest Gothic monument in Amsterdam, dates back to the 1200s, though it has undergone many enlargements since. It is an island of sanctity in the heart of the Red Light district :)

Typical façades lining the canal in the Red Light District

Amsterdam's Centraal Station. BEAUTIFUL train station.

Amsterdam was such a beautiful city, I am sorry I only had such a little amount of time to spend there, but it is definitely worth going back to with friends or family - someone else to enjoy it with me and experience all it has to offer.

Glasgow and the Necropolis

Dates Traveled: November 28 - December 3, 2011
Part 2 of 3

The next few days were uneventful in the sense that I did not really do a whole lot. I did meet with students from Uni Glasgow and chatted about student life at the University as well as with colleagues to discuss the project I'd potentially be working on. I thought about trying to get downtown on the 30th, but public workers were all on strike, so trains were shut down and buses were limited, so I decided to stay near the West End of Glasgow, near campus. I grabbed a sandwich for lunch from a grocery store and wandered into the Botanical Gardens nearby. Though the main building was closed due to the strike, a secondary greenhouse (or glass house) was open and I found a bench and just relaxed for a bit.

Inside one of the glass houses at the Glasgow Botanical Gardens

 

 

 

 

 

That afternoon, I met with a bunch of current students who really gave me a feel for what living in Glasgow and working at the University was like. They were great and answered a lot of questions I had. And then later in the evening, I got more of a tour of the department by two students who then also took me out for a brew and more chatting at a local eat-and-drinkery in an old theater that has since been converted into a very spacious restaurant and bar. Very cool little alley off the main road called Ashton Lane with lots of little restaurants, bars, and a movie theater - clearly a local hang-out for anyone in the West End.

Ashton Lane at night

It was back to the hotel for me after that and I worked on my presentation for a little bit before nodding off to sleep. The next day (Thursday) was more open for me, schedule-wise, and since the strike was over, I decided to make my way downtown. The weather cleared up, so it was sunny, albeit chilly. I walked to the downtown area from campus. It's kind of hard to get a feel for a city with such little time, but Glasgow definitely seemed to be a lively city. I didn't really see a whole lot, but I at least walked through the main shopping area, past the city hall and plaza, and then up and over to the Glasgow Cathedral, which is a site! The Cathedral is formerly a Catholic church and is one of the few churches to have survived the Protestant Reformation. When reformers came to the church, wanting to tear it down because of what it stood for, the citizens of Glasgow protested and successfully saved the grand structure. Across from the Cathedral is the Glasgow Necropolis - one of the most unique cemeteries I've ever seen. In Glasgow's heyday, this was the burial place for the wealthy entrepreneurs and merchants and other Glaswegians in high-standing. The Necropolis is famous for its Victorian architecture in the numerous and marvelous tombs, crypts, and mausoleums. Originally planned as a park and garden that would "improve the morals and tastes of Glaswegians" (according to an information placard), the Necropolis still exhibits its original grandeur.

Kelvingrove Museum

University of Glasgow Main Building up on the hill

Clever speed sign. Couldn't find any for other speeds, so I don't know if they also rhyme

Glasgow city hall

George Square, the plaza in front of the city hall, is getting all prepped for Christmas festivities

Glasgow Cathedral

In the Necropolis, this is the grave of the author of the nursery rhyme, Wee Willie Winky!

View of Glasgow and the Cathedral from the Necropolis

Grave markers up on the Necropolis

Mausoleums on the Necropolis

More of the Necropolis

Main window of the Cathedral

Glasgow Cathedral from the front

The sun began setting and I needed to get back to the hotel so I could finish working on my presentation, so I hopped on the Glasgow Underground to get back to the West End. Down in the tunnel, waiting for the train, I was expecting to see an industrially boxy train come rolling into the station or maybe even a newer, sleeker train slide up next to the platform. But when the train did come through, the first words that came to my mind were, "Oh, that's cute."

Refurbished in the late 1970s, the Glasgow Underground hasn't changed much. Very small cars that you really have to duck to get into. It's a fun little ride that gets you from Point A to Point B.

Friday was my last day in Glasgow, and it was full of meetings, tours, interviews, and my presentation, which went really well, considering I haven't really presented my research since I was in Australia earlier this year! Saturday morning came early and I took the Underground back into town and hopped a bus to get out to the airport to return home. It was a short trip to Glasgow, but it was so positive that I'm really looking forward to potentially being able to spend more time there in the future! So much to do and see and I really didn't have the time to do it all. I'll be coming back for sure someday - and it may be sooner rather than later, but that decision has yet to be made.

Before actually getting home to Michigan, my flight dropped me off back in Amsterdam where I had a 24-hour layover and will write more about that tomorrow!

Welcome to the Land of Bagpipes

Dates Traveled: November 28 - December 3, 2011
Part 1 of 3

Any recent graduate knows that this is not a fun time to be on the job-hunt. After applying and applying all summer and fall, moving to Chicago for a few weeks, and going to conferences to network, I finally experienced a little bit of forward motion in my otherwise stagnant life. After I went to the Geological Society of America's annual conference in Minneapolis in October, my former advisor from Vermont emailed me to inform me of a very unique opportunity to get my Ph.D. Dylan, one of our colleagues who went with us to Greenland, mentioned a project he was going to be a co-supervisor on when he completed his move to a job at a lab facility near Glasgow, in Scotland. Working with colleagues at the University of Glasgow, they were all looking for Ph.D candidates to work on a project, jointly funded by Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia - where I gave a talk earlier this year while on my Australian adventures.

Anyway, after much consideration, I decided to apply to the Ph.D position and opened lines off communication to those involved. And with luck (and a good application package), I was invited to Glasgow to learn more about the project, meet my potential supervisors, tour the University, the town, and other facilities, give a presentation on my research, and meet students in the Geology program there. Not being one to pass up an opportunity like that, I quickly agreed and shortly after Thanksgiving, was gearing to go.

Now, when I was looking for flights, the cheapest I could find were out of Chicago O'Hare, and so I planned on doing my usual hop, skip, and jump to get to the airport which involves driving to Michigan City, taking the commuter train into Millennium Station, and then taking the Blue Line all the way out to O'Hare. It's complicated and you have to get the timing just right, but with free parking at the train station in Michigan City, what better way to get in and out of the city! Well, since I packed last minute, I woke up on Monday morning and was late getting on the road because I had to pick up my power adapter from my brother's house, which took me an extra twenty minutes, and by that time I was running late for the train - like half an hour late! Speeding down the highway, trying to keep a sharp eye out for police, I barely parked my car and bought my ticket when the train pulled up. I was safe!

The flight to Amsterdam from Chicago was uneventful. I was reading a good book (Room by Emma Donoghue) and watched a few movies - like I said, it was uneventful. We landed at 6-something in the morning on Tuesday and I had a three-hour layover in Amsterdam. I got to my departure gate and once again dove into my book. All of a sudden, a Dutch accent came over the PA system saying, "Passenger, Eric Portenga, traveling to Glasgow, you are delaying the flight. Please report immediately to gate D41 or we will remove your luggage." Well, that caught me off guard (and I was slightly appalled since the Dutch person totally butchered the pronunciation of my Dutch last name) and I bolted from my current gate to D41. I apparently missed the announcement that our flight had a gate change... Once at gate D41, I quickly stripped down to get through the metal detector, chugged the water that was in my Nalgene, splattering it all over myself, gave my passport and boarding pass to the gate agent, and got on the plane. Phew! I made it!

When we landed in Glasgow, it was rainy, and cloudy, and cold, but I got through customs just fine and met with Paul, my potential advisor, who drove me into the city to my hotel where I left my luggage, and then up to the University.

The University of Glasgow is the fourth oldest university in the English-speaking world (behind the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and St. Andrew's), founded in 1451. It has since maintained a reputation of producing high-end research in many scientific fields. In fact, the chemist and Nobel Laureate Frederick Soddy, who "discovered" the isotope, was a lecturer at the University. It was at a dinner party at a house across the street from campus where he put forth his ideas of isotopes and a woman at the party (Margaret Todd) suggested he called them isotopes - Latin for "same place." Credit has been given to Margaret Todd for her nomenclative skills, but the Nobel Prize went to Soddy for his recognition of these particles.

The campus was beautiful, though completely drenched, and after chatting with Paul in his office for a little while, I took a stroll around campus until my socks got soaked, went back to my hotel to change, before meeting with him once more in the afternoon. During the afternoon visit, the rain cleared up a bit and I heard a familiar drone which clarified that I was truly in Scotland: Bagpipes! That Tuesday and Wednesday, there would be a number of small graduation ceremonies and graduates in their gowns taking photos in the Quad, all led, of course, by that ever-haunting instrument. I loved it!! Dylan and his wife Daisy, flew in that afternoon as well for one last visit before their final move to Glasgow, and we met up for dinner that evening in the West End at a fantastic Indian restaurant (because Glasgow is known for their curries for some odd reason). After one last drink at a pub inside a refurbished church - complete with theater and club upstairs, we headed back to our hotel and I fell asleep immediately! Jetlag was not nice to me today.

The tower of the Main Building of the University of Glasgow lit up at night

Effigy Mounds National Monument

Trip Date: October 14, 2011

My time in Minneapolis came to a close early this morning. It was a Friday and my friends Jojo and Abe and I finished our breakfast at Mickey's Diner in St. Paul. My things were all packed in my car and as soon as we got back into Minneapolis, I dropped them off and got right back on the highway heading back to west Michigan. Already on my trip I checked off two more of the official 395 National Park units in the system (the Mississippi and St. Croix National Rivers), and I decided that on the way home I would take a different route, through Iowa, and check off one more park: Effigy Mounds National Monument.

Effigy Mounds NM is located on the bluffs of the Mississippi River in northeast Iowa. The park protects earthen mounds erected by the local native people between the years 700-1300 (roughly). These people were spread across the Mississippi River region of eastern Iowa, northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin, and southeastern Minnesota. The video at the National Park's visitor center suggested that before white settlers moved westward, there were more than 10,000 of these mounds in northeast Iowa alone; however, since these mounds were often in the middle of pristine farming and range land, most of these mound structures were destroyed. Those that remain are of a variety of types. Some of the mounds are simple round dome-structures, while others are more conical, or elongated, yet geometrically simple. The mounds that I was most interested to see, however, were in the shapes of bears and eagles. Archaeologists have discovered that in the center of these mounds are the remains of coals from fires and human remains, suggesting that these mounds were sacred burial sites. And what makes the animal mounds more impressive is that these burial sites lie beneath the brains and the hearts of the animals, suggesting a spiritual connection to these vital organs. The Park preserves 81 mounds total; the northern unit has more conical and elongated lobe mounds while the southern unit has the majority of the animal mounds.

The park is not a huge park, but there is a lot of ground to cover if you want to see everything, and it's all done on foot! The visitor center is the obvious place to stop and they have a nice video (though dated) and a great museum which illustrates a glimpse into the lives of the mound builders. While it was a beautiful day on my visit (low 50s, though windy with gusts up to 40 mph!), I was told that the best time of year to see the mounds was in the winter or the spring. The reason for this is that in the summer and the fall, the undergrowth of blackberry brambles, grasses, and weeds grows on the mounds and makes it difficult to see how tall are the mounds. In the winter and spring, none of the growth has started yet, so you can get a better idea of the height of the mounds. The grass is cut around each mound, but out of respect for the mound builders plants are allowed to grow. Back in the 70s and 80s, each mound was outlined and you could clearly see the shape of each, though they were much easier to see from aerial photography. Nowadays, the only outline of the mounds is where the grass is or is not cut.

I didn't have that much time to spend at the park, but I was coerced by the friendly staff and the nice weather to make the 7-mile hike from the visitor center to the Hanging Rock overlook at the very northern edge of the park. It was a good two hour hike there and back and well worth it. The weather was just stunning and it was fun seeing families with their kids or dogs (or both) enjoying the outdoors. Once at the Hanging Rock overlook, I stayed there for a few minutes and savored the isolation and scenery of boats and barges chugging up and down the Mississippi while a vulture made lazy circles below me. The trek was great, but I didn't see the majority of the animal mounds I wanted to see, so I said, to heck with it, and parked my car at the southern unit and spent the next hour hiking up to the Marching Bear Group of mounds - a stunning collection of 10 bear and 3 eagle mounds.

Boats on the Mississippi River seen from Hanging Rock Point

Mounds out near Hanging Rock

A line of smaller circular mounds seen through the trees

I had to stand on a fence in an attempt to get the full shape of this Bear mound on camera. You can see where the grass is mowed and where it is not. This is the Bear. It's head is facing to the left and the two "lobes" you can see in the photo are the Bear's front legs (left) and back legs (right).

Aerial photo of the Marching Bear Group of mounds in the park's southern unit, seen outlined in chalk (which I'm not sure if they still do), but it makes them easier to see. (Photo: National Park Service)

Beautiful fall day

Mounds out near Hanging Rock

Just a vulture doing his thing

It was cool to see, every now and then, the gusty wind hurl a pile of leaves into the air and carry them out, across the Mississippi River

Within each the northern and southern units of the park are two large swaths of Tallgrass Prairie, a landscape that once covered the entire region from the Great Lakes to the Rocky Mountains

Clouds marching over the fall colors in the southern unit

I tried getting another overhead shot of one of the Eagle Mounds, but it wasn't the greatest

Wildlife in the park was small, butterflies, chipmunks, squirrels, songbirds, etc., but there. I was hoping to see some whitetail deer, but I was out of luck.

 

All in all, I was at the park for no more than three and a half hours, yet managed to log 11 miles of hiking. I knew it meant I would have a very late night of driving ahead of me, but I think this excursion illustrates exactly what is my travel philosophy: You never know when you will be back to a place, so you might as well enjoy it for what it's worth while you're there. I usually also leave something out on purpose so that I have incentive to return, and while I saw everything this particular park has to offer, it seems like such a spiritual, peaceful place, that I would love to return and just lay out in the tallgrass, watching the clouds march across the sky and let the wind blow all my worries away.

Mississippi and St. Croix National Rivers

Travel Dates: October 12 and 13, 2011

Last week, after my geology conference in Minneapolis came to a close, I stuck around for one more whole free day to check out some "local" sites. My primary goal was to get out of the city and see all I could of two National Parks: Mississippi National River and Recreation Area and the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway. Both are river parks and the main activities are river-based: canoeing, boating, kayaking, etc. But during this time of year not many people are out canoeing, and you surely cannot experience much of the river by canoe in one day. This brings up the biggest internal struggle I have as I try and visit each of the National Parks: What counts as "being to" a specific park? My dad thinks that just driving through one of the parks counts as visiting it, but I tend to be of the mind that says you have to do something in the park that you cannot do anywhere else. So my challenge in visiting these two river parks was finding enough to do at each of the parks to experience part of the nature and culture they protect while remaining on land. Success was not far away.

The Mississippi National River and Recreation Area protects 72 miles of the upper reaches of the famous waterway. Luckily the city of Minneapolis is situated right on the river and has parks within its boundaries that have neat things to see all along its length. On Wednesday night, Jojo and I returned to the city's waterfront to the Mill Ruins Park, two blocks away from her apartment. These are the ruins of some of Minneapolis's oldest mills, including the ruins of the old Gold Medal Flour mill. Spanning the width of the Mississippi River at this park is the Stone Arch Bridge, an old railway bridge that has now been converted to a bike path and pedestrian bridge. Wednesday was a rainy, rainy day in the Twin Cities and though the rain stopped for a little bit, the clouds hung low over the Minneapolis skyline. Jojo and I walked across the bridge, and then re-explored the ruins down below the locks on the Mississippi.

The old Gold Medal Flour building along the Mississippi Riverfront. The ruins next to it have been preserved and now provide the walls of a back courtyard to the Mill City Museum, where the Minneapolis Historical Society is based.

The North Star Blankets mill sign lights up the forefront of the Minneapolis Skyline

Looking back to Minneapolis from the middle of the Stone Arch Bridge

Big locks along the Mississippi. Because these locks are within the confines of the National River, you can go canoeing through the lock free of charge, courtesy of the National Park Service!

Stone Arch Bridge

Looking over into one of the old underground waterways beneath the city. The river was diverted through these waterways to power the mills and now there is a huge network of them under the city.

Old mill structures at the base of the Stone Arch Bridge

 

Old girders at Mill Ruins Park with the new I-35W bridge illuminated in the background. The new I-35W bridge is the replacement bridge for the one that collapsed back in 2007.

Jojo and I decided to take some pictures together, but with my DSLR camera, it was tricky.

We managed to get the obligatory jumping shots, though.

We got the one closer to the wall, but I thought it would be cool to come up a little bit and get a jumping shot with our shadows in the background. Our timing was less than optimal.

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, Jojo had to work the next day and left me to explore more of the Mississippi National River by myself. So after she left for work, I put a few things together, got in my car, and was on my way. I knew I had a lot of ground to cover but I didn't really know where I was going, so the first place I stopped was at the Coon Rapids Dam on the north side of Minneapolis. I drove across and parked on the east side of the river to check it out. Too bad for me, the visitor center there was closed and knowing this might be my only chance to get my National Park Passport Stamp for the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, I grabbed my jacket and camera and hoofed it on over across the dam. The dam was built in 1913 at this location because the river was wide and shallow. Early settlers were known to have seen racoons scurrying out into the river to catch food - hence, the name: Coon Rapids Dam. There are very few places where you can actually walk across dams of this magnitude, so I was sure to give it a go. The dam flooded the river behind it, creating a 9-foot fall over the dam, which was used to harness the water to create power. Though the dam itself is no longer producing power, it sure is using power to remain in a functioning condition. While the dam was initially controlled by Tainter Gates (see below), all but one of these gates have been replaced by rubber inflatable walls that control the flow of water over the dam.

Coon Rapids Dam. The gate closest to the forefront of the photo is the one remaining Tainter Gate, the rest are inflated rubber walls.

 

Some fall colors were in peak season on the west side of the dam

One of the Tainter Gates was on display on the east side of the dam. The gate rotates on the pin seen in the forefront and the big curved metal surface would face upstream. Lumber was a big trade in the area when these dams were built, so blocking the river with a dam while still allowing logs to freely flow through was tricky. The Tainter Gates would pivot up and down to allow water to flow underneath of it and allow logs to pass through the dam, too. The curved surface allowed the pressure of the water to help raise and lower the gate with minimal human effort. Nevertheless, humans still had to crank the gates open and shut by hand and 100 rotations of the crank only opened the gate one inch!

Osprey nest perched on top of a power tower outside the west dam's Visitor Center. I learned that while ospreys and eagles are competitors, they have a mutual agreement to stay out of the others' territories.

 

To ensure I paid my dues and did something in the park, I took a little stroll through a grassy field under a stand of maple trees along the west bank of the river and you could see the robins flying all over the place, gathering materials to make their nests, or bathing in puddles, or pulling worms, or whatever else robins do. It was fun to see such activity!

Looking down the mighty Mississippi River from the middle of Coon Rapids Dam. A heron rookery was established on the downstream end of the island in the middle of the photo here after a tornado struck the northern suburbs of Minneapolis in May of this year. A rescue effort moved the disturbed nests to this island, but many of the young herons were abandoned. Earlier in the season, though, herons could be seen actively coming to and going from their nests on the island.

So, back in my car, I trended northwest from Minneapolis toward the small town of St. Croix Falls. The St. Croix National Scenic Riverway was the first river to be protected by Congress and placed under the umbrella of the National Park Service. Again, being a river park, I wasn't sure what exactly there was to do if I wasn't going to spend time on the river, so I thought the best place to find out would be the park's main visitor center at St. Croix Falls. The drive out there was beautiful and the road wound around all sorts of small lakes with houses built up all around them (not unlike the movie, Fargo - minus the woodchipper!). But once you get to the rim of the St. Croix River, you immediately descend into the gorge to St. Croix Falls. The namesake of the town is unfortunately drowned beneath a hydropower dam that is still in use, but at one time the St. Croix River would descent 55 feet in less than six miles, over a series of rapids. Those rapids are now underwater, but oh they must have been a sight to see, and maybe when it is no longer cost-effective to have that dam in place, they will remove it and expose the falls again!

I was a little out of luck with the St. Croix River because there really isn't much to do unless you are paddling down the river. But I did have a great talk with the woman running the desk in the visitor center. I noticed that on the park map, there was a zebra mussel control point further downstream. At the point, no boats are allowed upstream on the river. Sure, boats can just be transported by car upstream, but she said that they really trust the boaters to wash their boats thoroughly before doing so. Why all the fuss? I wondered. Well, the St. Croix River is home to 42 native mussel species, all of which are still in tact and any zebra or quagga mussel populations upstream of the checkpoint are checked and removed. The woman at the front desk is on the diving team that monitors the native mussel populations. The cool thing about mussels is that they affix themselves to hard surfaces and filter nutrients out of the water. Their offspring obviously are small and are not able to feed in the same way as the adults, so the larval mussels attach themselves to the gills of specific species of fish and collect nutrients as they pass through the gills. Once the larval mussels are too big to survive in this fashion, they drop from the gills and affix themselves to the nearest hard surface. In order for the park to effectively manage their native mussel populations, they help them out by collecting larval mussels and bring them to a laboratory where they attach them to lab fish. Once the mussels are grown, the dive team will restore the adult mussels to the natural river system! I may not have been able to do a whole lot in this park, but I did learn a bunch. It's not to say I didn't do anything, because I did take a little walk down an interpretive trail to an overlook above the St. Croix Falls hydroelectric dam.

St. Croix Falls dam and the St. Croix Falls buried somewhere beneath the water

A sculpture depicting the River Spirit

Though there wasn't much to see on land in the park, it was interesting to know that at this spot along the river in 1886 one of the nation's largest log jams in history was recorded. A log jam doesn't sound like much, but in 1886 over 150 million feet of timber was stuck behind the St. Croix dalles. Because the local economy was tied to the fate of this lumber, for as long as the logs were jammed the sawmills downriver saw no business and the workers had to way of providing for their families. The communities upriver, which relied on goods being transported to them by the river, starved due to the lack of supplies and food. During this particularly bad log jam, the men trying to break it up also had to watch out for "jill-poke"-ing logs - basically tree-sized rockets, fueled by increasing pressure from the river. A photo on the National Park's website shows the extent of the 1886 log jam.

On my way out, the woman at the desk did mention that downriver is a private historic site called the

Arcola Mills that was free to the public during a month-long partnership between the National Park Service and the Arcola Mills Foundation. The mills were the first on the St. Croix River, and while they were quickly run out of business by larger mills, the original mill building and furnace are still standing, though in desperate need of repairs! It wasn't the most enthralling place I've ever been, but it gave me something more to do along the River.

The original saw mill at the Arcola Mills historic site

Antique trinkets at the mill. Notice the tree-bark siding of the building!

Railway trestle traversing the St. Croix River

The afternoon was catching up to me and I wanted to get back to Minneapolis by 5pm when Jojo got out of work because the two of us had one more site to visit. BUT along my way back into Minneapolis, I tried visiting one more site: Fort Snelling. When Minnesota was first settled, this area was one of the gateways out into the wild prairie and while there are multiple stands of trees throughout the region, early accounts by soldiers seem to portray this whole area as a grassland, which is very interesting to think about. Fort Snelling was built at the confluence of the Mississippi River and the Minnesota River, a confluence that the native Dakota people thought to be the center of their creation above which was the center of their universe. Naturally, the white settlers from the east came in the mid 1800s and saw the bounteous land and wanted it. Treaties were written that would give the Dakota's land to the US and they would receive money, supplies, and a reservation in return. In typical US fashion of the time, none of the provisions were given to the Dakota people and they were robbed of their land. So they fought back, and after the Dakota war of 1862, hundreds of Dakota people were interned at Fort Snelling where many died of disease or were brutalized at the hands of the US soldiers. In one of the Dakota uprisings, 303 Dakota people were charged with the murder of innocent US civilians and each person was unfairly tried in court, and while President Lincoln saved the lives many of the tried Dakota, 38 were publicly hanged, and one who was sentenced to be hanged was given reprieve.

Fort Snelling

I got back into Minneapolis just before Jojo got off of work so I met her at her office building, we grabbed some Chipotle burrito bowls and hopped on the Minneapolis light-rail train, and took it south to another park along the Mississippi, called Minnehaha Park. Right in Minnehaha park are the Minnehaha Falls. Jojo and I descended down to the bottom of the falls where we enjoyed our burrito bowls and then explored Minnehaha Creek down to where it joins the Mississippi River.

This house is supposed to be the first wooden-frame structure west of the Mississippi

Minnehaha Falls from above

Jojo and I down below Minnehaha Falls

Cairns built in the middle of Minnehaha Creek

Blue Heron in Minnehaha Creek stalking its prey!

Minnehaha Falls at night, lit up by the floodlights at the rim of the falls

Jojo and I hopped back on the light-rail and took it back into town where we met up with our friend Andrew and waited for Jojo's boyfriend to show up from the airport.

I definitely feel like I got a good taste of both the Mississippi and St. Croix River parks, but I am by no means done with them. When I left St. Croix Falls there was an old paddle-wheel boat that was running tours of the St. Croix Dalles, but I didn't have time for it then. Along both rivers, I would love to take some weekend canoe trips along the courses of the rivers, or even a really long canoe trip traversing the entire courses of them! But again, I only had one day to visit them, which is surely not enough time at all! I can't wait to get back and really experience them for the reason they were made parks in the first place: the rivers themselves!