William O'Brien State Park

I finally got to go camping again this weekend and explore a new state park. William O'Brien State Park is located about 10 miles north of Stillwater, Minnesota near Marine on St. Croix, right on the St. Croix River. Now for Michel and other people who speak that wacky form of French peculiar to Canada, down here in the Midwestern United States, we pronounce St. Croix, "Saint Croy." I'm not sure what would happen if I properly pronounced "Croix" to a Minnesotan or Wisconsin cheese head, but I have a feeling it would involve at least one black eye. Kind of like how I can't pronounce karaoke as I did in Japan.

The weather was perfect for camping - after the rain, things cleared up and cooled off. I hate camping in hot weather. The site wasn't as ideal as that in Afton - this was just a drive in site, so I was much closer to my neighbors. Yet it was surrounded by beautiful red pines and had great amenities. Here I am reading Tom Maltman's excellent book on the Dakota conflict while I smoke my pipe:
And here is the morning after a not-so-good night's rest. Some neighbors decided to keep the entire campgrounds up half the night with their boring, but loud conversation, despite an attempt to shut them up.This was followed by a call/response session with some silly sounding birds. Woven through this was a dream that involved a new Pope and me watching Hillary Clinton and Al Gore walk into a church shaking their heads and shuddering in horror. Suffice it to say, I was tired when I woke up at six:
The morning was lovely and foggy, so I went down periodically to take pictures of the St. Croix River as it transformed from invisibility behind a cloak of fog, to it's sparkling wonderful self. Here are four pictures taken of roughly the same area of the river at different times of the morning:



And this one, I just like the over all look of. It was amazing how completely different the river could look in the course of two hours:
Becky, Ken, and Miriam decided to come out and meet me for a hearty camp breakfast, so I walked in this area of the park while waiting:
And here they are:
We had a great breakfast of eggs with shallots, tomatoes and cheese, bacon, toasted french bread, and sumatra coffee. While Ken read the paper, Becky and Miriam and I took a walk. Here's my sis and niece on this huge rock near the river:
After letting the condensation dry off my tent and rain fly, I packed things up and headed out. I made a quick stop at a mini farmers market in Marine on St. Croix (where I bought two huge beets - a current vegetable passion - and two white egg plants. I also looked around in this quaint general store that has been there for decades, judging by the pictures inside:
As I walked back to my car, I noticed this gazebo and a tree beginning to turn:
Yes folks, fall has already begun - I gotta get up to Gooseberry Falls on the north shore pretty soon so I don't miss the peak of the fall leaves.