Yesterday we took a trip over to Stillwater to do some geocaching.
Stillwater is often referred to as the birthplace of Minnesota. A territorial convention in 1848 selected three leading Minnesota cities as locations for important public institutions: Minneapolis got the University of Minnesota, Saint Paul became the capital, and Stillwater was chosen as the site of the territory's first prison.
Looks like Stillwater got the short end of that stick.
But I've digressed.
Stillwater is a popular day trip for tourists who enjoy the historic downtown's used bookstores, antique shops, restaurants, historical sites and the scenic St. Croix River valley.
We parked the car in the public lot at the riverfront and proceeded to walk to our first cache only a few blocks away.
Note to self: Check topo map before geocaching in Stillwater!
You can see the bluffs overlooking the river in the above photo. And the photo below doesn't even begin to show how steep this street was. Brutal. (Click on any photo to enlarge.)
But the walk was worth it. Like many geocaches, the Stillwater caches took us places that we would have never seen. We did another cache at a local park.
Another hill.
Again, the photo doesn't do justice to the incline. Just try counting the steps.
Here's the view from the park at the top of the stairs.
While in Stillwater, we did one traditional cache, two virtuals, ate lunch, walked through a dozen antique shops, then headed up the river for more geocaching.
But those will be covered in tomorrow's post.
