October 28, 2004

Had a good day yesterday. Rented a car at the airport and immediately drove eastward, to a road called Minnesota 95, which parallels the St. Croix River, The road passes through Stillwater, Minn., where I wandered around, eyeing the old buildings and the shop displays. Stillwater’s one of many towns that used to be a working town – a river port in its case, involved in the transshipment of various commodities – that now feeds on visitors from a nearby metropolis.

At about 30 miles distant from the Twin Cities, Stillwater capitalizes on its surviving late 19th- and early 20th-century streetscape by selling antiques, artworks, and other objects. In late October, tourists are a little thin on the ground, and the main street feels a little like a deflated balloon, but it was pleasant. I had lunch in a converted warehouse, originally dating from 1883. Ah, if the walls could talk – they’d probably drone on about shipments of corn or timber or ice, and how cold it was in such-and-such winter, and hot in such-and-such summer. It was a Minnesota warehouse, not a Storyville cathouse.

Outside of town, I stopped a few places with views of the St. Croix.

I thought all the leaves would be gone by now, but there’s still some color hanging on. The two lane road to Stillwater and then Taylor’s Falls was a pleasant drive, even under slate grey skies and occasional drizzle.