Hearts in Hawai'i
Our 2024 Minnesota State Parks Trip--Day 6
6/15/2024
State Parks #15 & #16--Forestville/Mystery Cave and Lake Louise State Parks
First, some breakfast!
Patty's craving for an English Muffin must be satisfied! At the breakfast buffet area
While we'd had good luck with the weather thus far, for today's state park visits it initially appeared the Law Of Summertime Weather averages was set to catch up with us. It was forecast to rain most of the time after about 10 a.m. throughout the remainder of the day so we got out the door at 9:00 in the hopes of at least hiking one trail at Forestville-Myster Cave State Park before the rains took over.
Many people, and I'm guessing most, who travel to Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park go there for the Mystery Cave. I have little interest in feature such as this--we were there to hike! We hiked the one-mile Palisade Trail which is a loop trail, has a few hills (nothing major) and decent views of the South Root River. Very good views of the limestone cliffs are also found on this trail, which we enjoyed quite a bit. It was a relaxing trail which didn't tax our cardio systems in the least. We're aiming more and more for this type of hike as our vacation progresses.
Start of the Palisade Trail
Limestone cliffs surround this trail
It was a short 20-mile drive to Lake Louise State Park and the primary trail here is actually the 19.7 mile Shooting Star State Trail enjoyed by bicyclists. We hiked the Wildwood Loop, a short 1.1 mile trail with occasional views of the Little Iowa River. None of the three featured trails in this park are difficult or long and probably could all be hiked in one day. We chose just one, finished it and then decided to not push our luck with the impending rain, returning to Rochester.
On the Wildwood Loop Trail
A butterfly landed on Patty's shoulder!
After much discussion (funny how much time we spend discussing which places to eat at!) we decided on the Blue Plate Diner. Well, it's called Novios now; they bought out the Blue Plate Dinner. My intial reaction upon entering was "Oh crap, we have to go order our food at the counter?" Well, yes. You order at the counter, they give you a number and you go find the table or booth you want to eat at. When ready, they bring you the food.
The atmosphere here is unlike any place I've previously encountered. It's difficult to describe, almost in an avant garde sort of way. The music playing is mellow and creates this John Mayer-hipster doofus type of vibe. I can't explain it but I really like it. Once her soup arrives, Patty is more focused on her food than the atmosphere. Along with the soup, she also got bread and a chocolate chip cookie for dessert (she really likes her sweets!). As I scanned the menu at the counter, my eyes fixated on the words "andouille sausage" which was part of the New Orleans Omelet. And it was delicious--the only thing which could improve it would be if it was a three-egg rather than two-egg preparation. Either way, it was as good an omelet as I've had in quite some time and this is coming from an avowed omelet fan.
The prices here were also quite fair and it resulted in this being our fourth favorite restaurant in Rochester.
My New Orleans Omelet at Novios
Upon arriving back at the hotel, we found that a large group of girls' soccer families had checked in for the night. It was a large contingent but they were fairly well behaved even while playing a makeshift game of volleyball (using the patio chairs as a very short net) below our third floor window. The thunderstorms which soon hit ended that game and forced everyone inside. The hotel had given us a room near the end of the hall so there was very little foot traffic outside our door tonight, as had been the case throughout our stay.
The thunderstorms continued overnight, waking me up a couple times.
Previous: 6/14/2024--Our 2024 Minnesota State Parks Trip--Day 5
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