Bob and I got back in the car today to explore a few of Waconia’s highlights. First, we drove a short 8 minutes to Lisle Park, which is the closest trailhead to us for the Dakota Rail Trail, a 28 mile paved trail that I’m hoping to do a long run on on Saturday. We checked out just a small part of it today.
Dakota Rail TrailPrairie and homes along the trailThe start of the Carver County (where Waconia is) section of the trail
After our perusal of the Dakota Rail Trail, we drove to the Carver Park Preserve to check out some trails there. This is a large park with a nature center, historic farm house, bird sanctuary, and archery range.
Map of the parkPlants along the trailA paved path in the park.One of many lakes within the parti.
Later this afternoon, we visited one of the many wineries in the area.
Walking up to the Schram Vineyards winery/brewery/bistroThe tasting roomLooking out of the tasting room towards the lakeSunset over the vineyard
Today was our first full day by ourselves at our short housesit with Samee the cat in Waconia, Minnesota. We will leave on Sunday morning. Yesterday, our homeowner flew to Las Vegas to watch her battalion’s hockey team compete in a tournament.
Waconia is about 45 minutes west of Minneapolis-St. Paul. Its population is just over 13,000. “Our” home is located a few minutes drive south of downtown, and we are conveniently located near running paths and a Super Target.
Today we walked into downtown to check it out. Below are some of the pics from our 2.5 mile (each-way) walk. The downtown area was very quiet, but it seemed to have a good mix of shops — a few restaurants and bars, a bakery, an ice cream shop, as well as a variety of small retail stores and a theater.
The sweet but shy SameeShe loves to chase the dot from red laser!The back patio of the houseView of the subdivision below the houseWould you know this said Waconia without the rest of this post? Bob and I think that this is one of the worst fonts for a logo.A WWI memorial in City Square Park as we headed into downtown.A nice view of Lake Waconia, which seems to be surrounded by houses.See how they have changed the font in this sign so that you can tell what town you’re in?!Something new for us, a building that is city hall, the public library, and housing above.The walkway and pond across from city hall/library/housingSo this year makes 88 years of serviceWinning bookmarks from the bookmark contest for teensOne of the main streets of downtown WaconiaSt. Joseph Catholic Church
Bob and I finished our Iowa City housesit midday on Friday and headed off towards Chicago for a football/baseball weekend with Bob’s sister’s family and friends. We met up with them for dinner on Friday at Harry Caray’s Italian Steakhouse, where Bob got chummy with Harry.
Bob and Harry
On Saturday, we had a great visit with everyone again at our nephew and niece’s house and finally got to meet their adorable son, Harrison, in person.
Harrison with one set of great aunt and uncles
Then Bob and the crew were off to watch the University of Iowa football team play Northwestern at Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs. Football on a baseball field, apparently it works, and they had a beautiful day for the game. I did a 1.5 hour walk back to our hotel along the very long and active Clark Street and captured some of the highlights along the way before getting on a Zoom to talk about a possible housesit in March with a homeowner.
Getting prepped outside of Wrigley Field for the afternoon gameWrigley Field signPublic art on Clark StreetSigns denoting all of Chicago’s sister cities I thought of Bob when I walked by this. We’ll have to try to get him with this next visit.A quick pic at the entrance to the Lincoln Park ZooThis was also near Lincoln Park and marks the nearby burial site of the oldest survivor of the Boston Tea Party, who was 115 years old when he died!
We left Chicago Sunday morning and spent a couple of hours with my mom before driving onto La Crosse, WI. Tonight, we’ll land at our next housesit in Waconia, Minnesota, just west of Minneapolis. Oh, and we just learned that we got the housesit that I interviewed for on Saturday, so we’ll be back in Chicago in March for two housesits.
Peckish Travels 