Jacob Usher
It’s finally break day in Minneapolis! Parks, Peaks, and Prairies is complete and now it is time for the North Lakes. However, today we get a hard earned day off in the land of 10,000 (but actually 11,000) lakes. We slept in this morning later than we have in the last month. Brian made a breakfast of eggs and toast and we quickly got to work on some chores.
Brian prepares a Bike-Loud-sized breakfast
I made a list, and the first three items on it were to dry my tent, wash my bike, and clean my dishes. Everyone did some combination of these tasks in the morning before we decided to split up and run some errands.
Friend and I went to bike shops to get his bike worked on and to get new tires for me. I sought out the ‘most puncture-proof tires’ I could find after witnessing Friend’s frequent flat tires and a couple of my own.
Usher’s newly acquired tires
That’s enough about chores. We also had fun exploring Minneapolis! Friend and I got burgers for lunch at the Urban Skillet. Brian and Michael went to a ramen place. After lunch, Brian went canoeing with two of his friends who happened to be in Minneapolis at the same time as us.
Friend digs in at Urban Skillet in Minneapolis, MN
Brian and a friend portage a canoe through town to Lake of the Isles
My friend works as a sailing instructor only a mile from where we were staying. I walked down to say hi and we went sailing on Bde Maka Ska with the city skyline in the background. The Minneapolis Sailing Center was really cool and I loved how community oriented it is. They really promote accessibility and we were on the water with probably 6 other boats on a Tuesday. In fact, all of Minneapolis was really cool. Everywhere I went had a lot of character and we were blown away by the infrastructure. I’ve never seen so many people riding bikes!
Usher sails on lake Bde Maka Ska
For dinner, we met up with a couple of Josh’s friends and ate Middle Eastern food at Baba’s. The food was really good. Michael pointed out that we probably eat too many chickpeas already. We got ice cream at a popular place called Sebastian Joe’s before heading home to get ready for bed. It was nice to spend time with folks around our age. Josh said he was intentionally trying to socialize us.
Dinner with friends at Baba’s
Tomorrow we set off on the Northern Lakes trail. We will also cross into Wisconsin, the land of 15,000 (albeit smaller) lakes.