Last weekend was Mother's Day weekend; in Minnesota, that means it was also the fishing opener. :) I don't fish, and my Mom has been gone for many years, but the weather was too nice to stay inside ... a good opportunity to visit the local urban trails. One of the ones I visited on Saturday was Hidden Falls Regional Park in St. Paul--located on Old Man River, just below Lock & Dam No. 1.
The history of the park itself goes back to the 1880s, but a number of improvements were made in the 1940s by the WPA. Did you know that those nosy, privacy smashing census takers of 1940 had the absolute audacity to ask if anyone in a particular household had received income from the WPA or that equally socialist program the CCC?? My Dad was in the CCC as a teenager ... hmmm, maybe it was one of them indoctrination camps, cause he ended up joining a *gasp* UNION later on!
But I digress; join me at the bottom of the big gubmint staircase for more.
WPA improvements are most evident in the steps and the retaining wall behind the falls.
Hidden Falls
Hidden Creek meanders through the trees and widens to a pool just before it joins the Mississippi.
I was most intrigued by the trees growing out of the Mississippi:
This one seemed on a mission to swim to Minneapolis:
Synchronized swim team?
I'll shut up now.