After seven weeks in Australia, five of which were at our house sit in Melbourne, we had a quick turnaround for our current sit. Landing late on Tuesday (7/11), we picked up our car in Janesville (thankfully, it started) on Wednesday, and traveled to St. Paul, Minnesota, for our walk through on Thursday at noon for a two-week sit with Becca the cat while her people are on safari in Tanzania.
The pet part of the housesit should be relatively easy as Becca has an auto-feed system for food and water (though water needs to be manually filled). Keeping the house clean and secure, plant care, and scooping the kitty litter are the main responsibilities. With that in mind, today we ventured to Como Regional Park. This 450 acre public space consists of a lake, 2.6 miles of walking/biking paths, zoo, amusement park, conservatory, Japanese garden, carousel, athletic fields, golf course, and swimming pool. It is quite the lovely resource for locals and visitors.
We parked near the lake and started our exploration of the park by circling the lake on the 1.6 mile trail around it.
We’ve now been to two Lake Comos, as we’ve visited the one in Italy as well.
from the opposite side of the lake
After the lake loop, it was a short hike to the Japanese garden and conservatory.
of the St. Paul-Nagasaki Sister City relationship
Once we exited the conservatory, we were in the the zoo where we saw a few animals.
The final stop was the carousel. This carousel was built in 1914 by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company (apparently they made more than toboggans). It spent 75 years 1 mile away from its current location at the Minnesota State Fair. It was rescued at auction in 1988. We didn’t ride this one.
Peckish Travels 