City parks

Today was too hot for bicycling. At least during the time in the middle of the day when I usually ride it was too hot.

WAY too hot.

I rode at 9:30 this morning. It was already 82 when I started. By the time I finished just before noon it was 90 with a dew point in the mid-60s. After that it got hot with a heat index reading of over 100.

Way too hot.

It was hot enough when I started to make me proceed with caution. I wanted to stay in the shade as much as possible and maybe not get too far from home. I found my way over to the river. As I rode I recalled yesterday's discovery that Minnehaha Falls was a bit under 11 miles from home. The river road is shady and was as cool as anywhere.

Today I ended up at the traditional viewing platform for the Falls.

I realized that there is a considerable difference in the morning crowd and the afternoon crowd. The afternoon crowd is dominated by tourists and adults. The morning crowd is quite heavily populated by groups who arrive on school buses.

Minnehaha Park is, quite obviously, a jewel of a city park, one of the quintessential public spaces of the Twin Cities.

That photo includes (or at least I intended to include) a public water source, picnic tables, a band shell, a protected public water (a creek) and lots of shade.

Nice park.

I realized that even though I have been to both of these parks dozens of times I do not recall any ride when I visited both of them on the same day.

The other jewel of the system, the Saint Paul answer to Minnehaha, Como Park.

This one includes a band shell and a protected public water (a lake). The pavilion over there (where the band shell is located) also features picnic facilities and a public water source.

Nice park.

I got home just barely in time. It was starting to feel hot but not nearly as hot as it felt later on when I had to visit the mail box. In fact, not nearly as hot as it still felt when I checked outdoors shortly before composing this post.

Way too hot.

Today's video is taken from the traditional viewing platform.

Very soothing, no?