Lotus Blossoms!

 Last week I saw an add for a volunteer event on Saturday involving the National Park Service.  This event was set for Lions Levee Park in Saint Paul Park. I had been there before and I knew this stretch of the Mississippi River is stunning.  We were supposed to meet at 1 o'clock.  I pull into town at 12:30 and run into a traffic jam. I guess Saint Paul Park is having a parade today so there is no where to park in Saint Paul Park. I go where the Saint Paul Park police point and I end up parking a mile or two away from where I want to be. I actually don't know where the park is. I was surprised how many people in the parade crowd don't know the park either. Even the guy running for sheriff didn't know.  The guys making burgers at the Lions Club booth didn't know where the park was.  I end up walking around.  I see a pick up with a trailer and a jet-ski on the back. I pull him over and ask for directions.  This is a young 

 guy with his dog that looked like Benji and two boys in the back seat.  He said he will give me a ride. I jump into a truck with strangers and the dog licks my face.  He drives me the last half mile to the park.  I get to the place where the park rangers are. Wilderness Inquiry is there with their voyager canoes.  These canoes can hold 10 people each.  Our group consists of three canoes. We are given our safety lessons and life jackets.  I have been in these canoes before once when we took a trip from the U of M campus in Minneapolis to Hidden Falls Park near the Ford Dam.  I partner with a woman named Helen. She was born in Guadalajara, Mexico. She lives in Saint Paul now and has never canoed before. She told me all about the valley in central Mexico where the monarch butterflies live in the winter. Today we are going to canoe down stream in the back channel, cross the river to Island #122, cut buck thorn, and paddle back. We should be back by 5 o'clock. I love this back channel. The limestone cliffs are lovely. We see herons and cedar waxwings. I spot a gopher snake swimming in the river just under the limestone overhand. I think the snake is about 3 feet long and that was something to see. The two women sitting behind us are here on holiday for England. One of the women is vising her son who just had a baby. They saw an ad for this event in a paper at the airport so they signed up. The other people in our boat were volunteers from Allina and a Wilderness Inquiry staff.  We make it to the island. We canoe around it to the far side.  The staff put plastic footstools down in the sand so we don't have to get too wet or muddy getting in and out.  We split into groups of three. Each group is to tackle one large buck thorn tree.  We are told to leave the berries in a pile and throw the parts without berries into the river. I grab a saw and start sawing.  Others are impressed with my sawing ability. I have sawed a lot of buck thorn so I am used to this.  After a short time our work is done and we head back to the canoes.  These canoes are super heavy and once everyone gets going they can move really fast.  The current is not strong in the back water and we are back at the park in no time.  We all say good bye and head back to our cars. For some reason everyone else got to park close.  There was plenty of parking available at this park but my car is, well, I didn't know exactly where my car was.  I start walking. After all that paddling and sawing it feels good to use my legs for a change.  Helen drives by and asks me if I wanted a lift.  For the second time this day I hop into a car with a stranger. I explained where I thought my car was but it is not there.  We eventually find it. I mean, how can you loose a yellow car? The best part of the day was seeing the lotus blossoms.  The water has recently gone down so the leaves were up in the air. I would have liked to get closer but with these huge Voyageur canoes we must stay where the channel is deeper.

Lotus in blossom!