Beard's Plaisance

Lake Harriet is my favorite Minneapolis lake. I've loved it since I was a young child and the times I've biked around it are too numerous to count.  On the lake is a place called Beard's Plaisance.  It's on the top of a steep hill. I've always wondered what a plaisance is. I've always assumed it was some kind of gather space since the park has benches, picnic tables, grills, a picnic table shelter, tennis courts, a playground, and such. As a teenager I was invited to a picnic there. Our church had reserved the picnic shelter for an event and  neighborhood family we knew from the parishasked if I wanted to come and help out with their kids in exchange for feeding me. Due to another commitment I wasn't able to drive over with them but said I would be able to bike over and meet them about an hour after they got there.  It turned out to be such a gorgeous day and the plaisance was so crowded that I couldn't even find them. They perfectly understood and were very nice about it. I point this out only because it's an example from my own personal experience of how utilized the lakes are by the people of this city in the summer during nice weather. The above photo was taken at the top of the hill and looks over on to the Lake. The photo was taken April 28.  The trees were just barely starting to bud.

The Ice on Lake Harriet Thaws

I found this photo on a friend's Facebook page. We've had a cold snowy April but it looks like we're finally starting to get a break!

Lake Harriet Rose Garden

I also spent a little time at the Lake Harriet Rose Garden yesterday. I can't believe it's the only time I've gotten their this summer.

Lake Harriet

Yesterday was my last day of summer vacation. I spent a little time at Lake Harriet. It's my favorite Minneapolis Lake.

The Heat

Despite the cold winters Minn-

eapolis can get very hot and humid during the summer. On Tuesday of this past week we hit 103 degrees! This is the first time we've cracked 100 in five years and, according to local weather guru Paul Douglas, the hottest it's been in Minneapolis since August 1, 1988. While growing up I remember we had a couple of window unit air-conditioners that we only used for sleeping on extremely hot nights. To stay cool we'd run through the sprinkler in the yard or head down to Pearl Park to use the wading pool. We also spent time at the public beaches at Lake Harriet and Lake Nokomis.

(The above photo is from my own collection and was taken 8-24-09. This is the beach we went to at Lake Harriet.)

Lake Harriet Part 2

From Wikipedia:

"Lake Harriet is a lake in the southwest part of Minneapolis, just south of Lake Calhoun and north of Minnehaha Creek. The lake is surrounded by parkland as part of the Minneapolis Chain of Lakes. The lake has an area of 335 acres and a maximum depth of 85 feet. Lake Harriet is named for Harriet Lovejoy, who lived with her husband Colonel Henry Leavenworth at Fort Snelling. The two came to the area in 1819. The lake and the surrounding land was last owned by Colonel William S. King who donated the land to Minneapolis in 1885. The lake was called 'Mde Unma' meaning other lake by the local Dakota people."

(Above photo is from my own collection and was taken 8-24-09. This is the main beach at Lake Harriet. Mom would sometimes take Sam, Pete, and me here to swim in the summer.)

Lake Harriet Part 1

Lake Harriet is my favorite in the Minneapolis chain of lakes. I have fond memories of riding my bike around it and summer evenings when there was music at the bandshell. As kids Mom usually took us swimming at Lake Nokomis but we would go to the beach at Lake Harriet once in a while. I

remember in college taking the family dog, Willie, walking on the frozen lake in January during the six-week winter break.

Minnehaha Creek & Parkway

The family house on Stevens Avenue was only about a block and a half from Minnehaha Creek. We loved taking family walks and riding bikes on the wonderful trails. I remember the paved walking and bikes paths were put in in the early to mid-1970s. We sure took advantage of them. Before the paved bike paths the city would close off the parkway from cars on summer Sunday afternoons so people could ride bikes. I remember doing that too. As a kid I remember searching for crayfish at the creek in the summer and walking in the dried out creek bed in the fall. As a teenager I loved taking my bike on the Minnehaha bike paths all the way to Lake Harriet, Lake Calhoun, Lake of the Isles, and sometimes even Cedar Lake and riding around them. As a college student I would drive Minnehaha Parkway to St. Paul where I attended the College (now University) of St. Thomas. As an adult I trained for the Twin Cities to Chicago AIDS Ride using the paths on Minnehaha Parkway and the lakes and now drive the parkway to work.

The following is from Wikipedia:

"Minnehaha Creek is a tributary of the Mississippi River located in Hennepin County, Minnesota that extends from Lake Minnetonka in the west and flows east for 22 miles through several suburbs west of Minneapolis and then through south Minneapolis. Including Lake Minnetonka, the watershed for the creek covers 181 square miles. The creek might have been unremarkable except for the 53 foot Minnehaha Falls located near the creek's confluence with the Mississippi. The site is not far from Fort Snelling, one of the earliest white settlements in the region."

"While the name is often translated as 'Laughing Water', the correct translation is 'curling water' or 'waterfall'. The name comes from the Dakota language elements mni, meaning water, and haha, meaning waterfall. The Dakota called Minnehaha Creek, 'Wakpa Cistinna', meaning 'Little River'."