Bikers are going to have to wait a bit longer for a St. Paul to Stillwater trail connection.
The Minnesota Zepher dining train had been scheduled to make its last tour of Stillwater at the end of 2007. This included plans to convert the tracks into a trail that would take bikers, bladers and runners in and out of downtown Stillwater in a Northwest direction that would eventually connect with the Gateway trail, which goes to St. Paul.
The Parks and Trails Council had been working with Paradeau, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Washington County to purchase the 5.9-mile railway and add it to a regional trail system that includes the nearby Gateway Trail. However, talks were suspended earlier this month after the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR) chose not to recommend to the Legislature a $4 million proposal to buy the tracks and surrounding land.
If you’re sitting on $4 million, this would be a great opportunity to make an incredible gift that supports healthy lifestyles.
There’s a special beauty on the river near Stillwater, Minn. that’s best seen by boat. It’s a place where some boats make it even more special because the vessels themselves are so lovely and rare.
Frankly, I’ve never heard of a gondola service in Stillwater. Luckily, that didn’t stop me from closing the deal with Carly.
The gondola service is called Gondola Romantica, so they have a name to live up to.
I spent part of the day on July 4th hanging out in Stillwater with a few peeps 3 decades younger than myself who really know how to party.
Also, I’m trying out a new video service called Viddler. You can add tags to the video, such as people’s names or comments. Give it a try and let me know how it works from your perspective.
Alex Stenbeck has a list of recent high-end sold homes on his site worth check out if you’re into that sort of thing. Here are two (both condos) that stood out to me:
Scott Christensen, the coach at Stillwater High School, sends along information that the Ponies are one of 19 prep teams that have produced at least two sub-4 minute milers, led by Eugene, Ore., South with four.
Stillwater is closing in on three. Jake Watson, a junior at Notre Dame, recently ran 4:00.71. If he breaks 4:00, Stillwater will become No. 2 on the listings with three, according to Marc Bloom and John Sillivan at the Harrier in New Jersey.
And three additional former Ponies runners have a shot at joining the club, which already includes former Ponies Luke Watson and Sean Graham, according to Christensen: Ben Blankenship at Mississippi State, Andy Tate at Kansas University and Chris Boldts, still a senior at Stillwater.
“It’s pretty cool,” Christensen said.
He said his program’s success feeds on itself.
“The biggest thing is, once you’ve had a kid from down the street or from your school do it,” he said, “it doesn’t seem so hard to do.”
In my opinion, the secret sauce at Stillwater has been the pasta parties thrown by Corrine Watson. It will be interesting to see if Stillwater can keep the mile dominance alive without pasta parties at the Watson household now that all Watson have graduated.
The Deets is the personal blog of Ed Kohler. Views represented here are his own. Views of comments on The Deets are their own and Ed does not necessarily endorse the views of commenters. Ed's wishlist can be found here.
