Trip to Minnehaha

After our trip to Valley Fair, we still had plenty of things on the summer To Do List. Of all the things we did last summer, the kids wanted to be sure to visit Minnehaha Falls again. We planned a day with friends. On Tuesday, with lunches packed, we headed out to play in the water. We also decided to take the dog along since she had been left home so much. It was a hot August day, so it felt extra good to wade through the creek’s cool waters. Lunch was standard picnic fair eaten between times in the splashing in the water and lounging on a blanket in the shade. When we had enough of the creek, we loaded up with sticks and walked the 100 or so steps back up to the top of the falls.

The falls are beautiful this year because of all of the rain we have had. Some years the falls are a trickle. They sound like a pleasant spring storm. However, this year they are a rushing, gushing river of falling water. They sound like a roaring lion in a wicked thunderstorm. The kids love to stand on the bridge over the falls and throw in sticks and leaves and watch them float over the falls. The sticks and leaves are rushed rapidly to their free fall as we watch from the bridge. It is so thrilling, in fact, that we had to find more sticks and leaves and keep throwing them in. I am pretty sure if I didn’t promise a trip to the ice cream shop, that we would still be there today, throwing in sticks and leaves and watching them float over the edge.

After, we left Minnehaha Park, we headed to Pumphouse Creamery. Pumphouse is consistently ranked as some of the best ice cream in the Twin Cities. I have even seen them ranked as some of the best ice cream in the country. The kids and I did not feel that way after our ice cream adventures last summer. Pumphouse boasts that all the milk and cream used in their ice cream come from the same Organic Farmer. The flavors are sort of funky. The kids don’t like funky. But they do have a very good mint chocolate chip, so both boys were happy with that. Molly ordered watermelon gelato and didn’t really like it. I ordered banana which was very good.

On the way home, I remembered the Emmie still needed dog food. She could go into PetsMart with us so we wouldn’t have to leave her in the hot car, so we headed there. We entered PetsMart, where the kids all promptly disappeared to look at all the animals, except ours. I was left to hold the dog’s leash and push the cart we needed to haul the 40 lbs of dog food through the giant box retailer. While moving the cart around a display of cat toys, I felt the leash go taunt. I turned to witness my dog peeing all over the nice shiny linoleum floor. She wouldn’t quit as a river of urine filled the aisle between dog treats and cat toys. My cheeks turned crimson as I searched for a way out of this nightmare I now found myself in.

As the kids begged for turtles and goldfish, I used umpteen million paper towels to wipe the yellow river from the ground. Meanwhile, I tried to calmly explain that we obviously couldn’t take care of the one animal we already owned. I quickly found the food and made a beeline to the checkout. Just to add a little salt in the wound of this shopping experience and make the nightmare complete, a nearly toothless daycare lady came around the corner with her herd of children and taking one look at my big, black lab and promptly turned her group around. When one of the kids started toward Emmie, she grabbed the child and whispered in a not so quiet voice, “stay away from big dogs like that, they are all mean.” I fought the urge to chase her through the store with my overly friendly (and only slightly mean) black lab and headed to the car instead.

We had enough adventure for one day!