Fort Snelling State Park: Storytime & Spiders

I have to say that while Finn does not mind having the lady rangers to himself, come on, caregivers! We were the only ones here again.
This event happens every Monday morning, and you should be here. Indoor story time is for winter. This week, we learned about what to do if you should find a baby Great Horned Owl in your backyard. Personally, I found most of this story to be implausible or all-too-convenient (baby owl is found by the children of a wildlife rehabilitator), but we definitely learned from it, and Finn found it interesting.

Later, after we hit the beach and the playground, we attended a spider talk, and there were other people present for this, which was nice. First we had a presentation from Ranger Amie inside the visitor center, and we found out:

-Birds eat spiders
-A black widow bite will make you sore all over, but you won't die.
-Mites will attach themselves to spiders and feed on them.
-Spiders eat spiders.
-Wasps eat spiders and will lay their eggs in them.


-Spiders eat mosquitoes, which makes them heroes and heroines.
-All spiders have fangs, 2 body parts, eight legs, eight or six eyes, and an innate ability to terrify the majority of humans.
-All spiders have venom and are poisonous, but it's mostly only poisonous to bugs.
-Male spiders have pedipalps, which are a combination of mating organ and arms, and they use them to do stuff, which is truly multi-tasking. And truly gross if you extend that concept to humans.
-Spiders' legs are attached to the head.
-Spiders are arachnids, and so are scorpions, mites, and daddy long legs (shiver)*. Daddy long legs have a single body part and don't produce silk.

Other interesting facts include that in the US, spiders are lone wolves and live by themselves because (see above) spiders will eat other spiders. Tarantulas are not true spiders because their fangs come down, not from the side. You might get bit by a tarantula, but you won't get hurt. Minnesota's poisonous spiders are the Northern Black Widow and the Brown Recluse. (Which didn't live here before, but thank you, climate change!) The Brown Recluse is gray or brown, has no markings on body, but a marking on the head that looks like a violin (or a fiddle, if the spider has attitude). If you are bitten by a brown recluse, the wound will take at least three months to heal. Put an ice pack on it to keep the venom from spreading, and go to the hospital.

At this point in the talk, I realized that I was spending too much time trying to figure out what kind of spider Shelob is. She makes silk and seems to make sheet webs (flat, convex or concave, only edges are sticky) or irregular cobwebs (no pattern, not sticky, spider sits in the middle), but her silk is definitely sticky, and not all of the 7 types of silk are. (There are four kinds of webs. Funnel webs are like a sheet web but with a hole in the middle, and orb webs are the classic spider webs, the webs that make all other spiders jealous. They have vertical spokes, which are not sticky, and spirals, which are. It takes a spider about 20 minutes to make one, and they rebuild them every day or so.) But spiders that live on webs are almost blind, and Shelob certainly can see. And talk.

I would not be at all surprised if she eats her silk and reuses it, as spiders do. She's an active hunter and jumping spider, but those species do not build webs, only the occasional trip wire to warn them when prey is near. They see well and do a mating dance, which I really can't see Shelob enjoying. For web-building spiders, the male plucks the lady spider's web so she will know he's not food. Active hunters have different silk glands, and they make cottony little, white swabs for their babies.

Speaking of babies, they can't stay in the nest long after they are hatched because their siblings will eat them, so they practice "ballooning," casting one line of silk to get themselves to safety. You've walked through them on your travels in the woods.

Non-mythical spiders live 2-3 years and can have three thousand spiderlings, 2-3 hundred in a single egg sac. Which is something to think about just before you fall asleep.

After the presentation, we went outside to find spiders around and on the visitor center. No Shelob, but as I think she's tarantula-adjacent, she's not a "true spider" anyway.

Don't tell her I said that.

*I have loathed daddy long legs since I was a small child. They used to march through our house at one point every year, and I remember not wanting to walk down the hall to my room because one was hanging out on the wall, in my way.

Fort Snelling State Park: The Beach

We are going to chew the nougaty center out of this urban gem this week; yesterday we dipped our toe into the visitor center and Pike Island. Today, the beach. So far he's mostly playing with his new water pump shooter, which works. He's having fun.

People from states with oceans or even giant freshwater lakes will of course scoff at the following assertion, but they can suck it: this beach rocks. It's wide, sandy, and conveniently located near an international airport. I smell LAYOVER!

No one is going to be surfing on Snelling Lake, but you might be nibbled by fish. Nibbled on, not eaten by, which is something to tell the teenaged girls who were purposefully freaking themselves out with the GIANT FISH in the deeper part of the swimming area. "EEK! A six-inch perch swam by my leg!" Granted, if a 26-inch carp did that, I might EEK as well. And then I would move to the shallow area and let the sunfish stare at my ankles.

It was a transparently gorgeous day with no ulterior motives. We stopped at the Dollar Store on our way there to see about a new beach shovel. Finn has 27 of these, but I could find none this morning. These will last a day or two, but I tell myself the joy they will buy will be worth the dollars. (Parents lie to themselves all the time.) I also bought him a balloon, but that took a trip when I opened his door to fasten his seat belt. I got a face full of shiny, yellow smiley face and off it went, smiling and sailing over the roof of an unfortunate strip mall.

The water is warm and relatively shallow. Finn is 3'6" tall, and he would have to walk out pretty far to get himself into trouble. Still, there are no lifeguards here, so people should be vigilant lest their small child in a colorful innertube scares away all the geese or your 5-year-old buries his new yellow beach strainer in the sand and can't find it (I have no idea who that last example is).

There are two depth levels: sunfish and carp. They are separated by little floaties and the shrieks of adolescence.

Surrounding the beach is a large picnic area with many tables and grills. Trees dot the mown lawn providing some shade most everywhere, ensuring that fistfights don't break out over the prime spot to leave your trash behind when you go home.

There are changing rooms and bathrooms as well as a playground adjacent to the beach.

You can rent a canoe, and there is also a fishing pier, where they do regular "learn how to fish" events.

We went to the beach twice in one day and slipped a doctor's appointment complete with blood test (different blog) in between visits. Finn really enjoyed the sand and shallow, warm water, and the weather was perfection (low 70's, breeze, sunny blue sky). Due, I think, to the breeze, the mosquitoes were not noticeable, but there were some lovely biting flies, so I again recommend bug spray.


More pictures here.

Osceola-St. Croix Valley Railway

Osceola-St. Croix Train, a set on Flickr.

An autumn trip on a classic train, people!

Como Park Pool, Saint Paul, Minnesota

New in 2012, the Como Pool is here to say, "I am excellent, and you can suck it, private pools!" If you have never been to Como Park, you are missing out, and it will show up often on this blog because it is huge, has a lake, a zoo, an amusement park, and much, much more. Plus, it's close to my house. The pool is near the Humane Society and the railroad tracks, off of Lexington Ave on the south side. I mention these elements because they add to the attraction if you have a train crazy child or are in the market for a black dog or a middle-aged cat.

I kid because I love. The Best Cat Ever came from the Humane Society and so did Prozac Cat. And when it's time for us to get a puppy and subsequently lose what is left of our tiny minds, we will again head to the Humane Society.

Back to the pool, now that the BNSF freight train has passed. Not only is this pool easily accessed by bike, as Finn and Pete did today (I drove because I brought the stuff. I also lie because we could have carried backpacks. I'm hung over), but there is a parking lot. Highland Park Pool, while lovely and amazing itself, sucks in the parking area.

Other amenities include adjacent hills and fields, which can be convenient if your child needs to run and run. And run. Because we all know YOU CAN'T RUN AT A POOL!

It costs $16 for a family of up to five people. They take cash and cards but no checks. Lockers are $5 cash deposit, and you get back $4. We didn't bring cash, so we swam... er... swimmed... we took turns.

This is a nice pool and water park with pleasing architectural touches. Much like Pemberly Park, it is "little counteracted by an awkward taste." From the stone to the plantings and the curves of pools, it's rather a delight. There's a kids' area with sprayers, jets, contraptions, and slides; many lifeguards to encourage you to not have fun; a zip line, climbing wall, shaded tables, many beach lounges, a concession stand, and family changing rooms. There is a lap pool as well as a short diving board. The climbing wall makes up for the lack of a high dive.

The first thing we did was a ride or three on the Lazy River, which was nice and relaxing, aside from the blood curdling, sustained scream Finn let out when we went through the rain jets. Hilarious. Pete went off to enjoy the diving pool and climbing wall while Finn and I bundled ourselves in towels. At 73 degrees, breezy, and cloudy, it was not the ideal pool day. I imagine that on a hot day, this place would be a zoo.

Oh, and have I mentioned that Como Park has one of those, too? I believe I did.

My tax dollars, at good work.

Como Pool Facebook
Como Park Regional Pool
1151 Como Avenue
Saint Paul, MN

General Hours (Check their Facebook or webpage before you go): 12:00 pm - 8:00pm

Evergreen Park, Roseville Minnesota

We have a hanging in our house that says "Once a year, go someplace you have never been."
- The Dalai Lama.

I've never been behind my garage. Does that count? Not Zen enough?

However, we had never been to Evergreen Park in Roseville, Minnesota, either, until today (Map). 

This suburban park is large and has nice trees plus a fence around the playground to keep the kiddos away from the street, leaving you free to read a book or play with your smartphone while they run and jump and risk injury.* The bathrooms are right next to the playground, which is a bonus when your kid shrieks, "I have to go pee!" at the last minute. It looks like the have a space for birthday parties as well.

There are baseball fields where Little League games take place, and we happened to arrive on one such day, so the place was teeming with kids in uniforms and overly competitive parents. Oh hey! There's a snack counter with hot dogs and pulled pork sandwiches. Probably only on Little League days, but be warned in case your kid, like mine, wants all the food he sees someone else having. There's a small parking lot right next to the playground, but that won't help you if there are games happening. We parked across the four-lane, median-divided street, which was less than ideal.

We don't go to the suburbs much because we are Those People, but we hear that they have all the good schools, malls, and parks.

Evergreen Park

1810 County Road B

Roseville, MN

 

*I'm KIDDING. I always bring a flask with me.ª

ªOK, kidding again. We particularly enjoyed the twisty slide and the green tubey thing with the holes in it. The whole family could get in there at once or one person could be outside and play Troll Under the Bridge.

Minnesota Zoo Educational Programs: Blurb

We are members of the Minnesota Zoo. It's just a great place to go, year-round. Aside from being a destination with great exhibits and learning opportunities on a normal visiting day, they also offer great kid and family programs. We have not had a chance to participate yet, but I do have a friend who has. She and her family did a zoo encounter with the bears, who are some of the zoo's most popular residents.

For kids and families, they have classes, tours, camps, and overnights for almost all ages (all the way down to 2 years old), as well as career exploration and conservation seminars all the way through 12th grade.

On their "Games and Activities" page, they have online games you can play before your visit as well as crafts and a scavenger hunt.

The Farm on St. Mathias

On October 9, the family piled into the station wagon and headed up north. The Farm on St. Mathias was our destination, and yes, it was 2011, not 1956, and we do, indeed, have a station wagon.

This was a benefit show that my husband's band was doing for the Brainerd-area food shelves, and I really had no idea what to expect. Our three-and-a-half-year-old boy was coming along because Pete said, "It's on a farm." Said boy never sits still, and corralling him can be exhausting and frustrating, but autumn in Minnesota is gorgeous, if fleeting. Plus before we know it, the boy will be 15 and think we are the dumbest thing ever. We have to cherish these moments when he doesn't know any better and thinks we are super cool.

The Farm on St. Mathias is simply a great place for families. In autumn, there's a corn maze and a great selection of pumpkins and gourds (the kid picked out five); there's a forge where a blacksmith makes candle holders, dinner chimes and other excellent, iron goods. There are slides for the kiddos as well as space to run. They have llamas, alpacas, and chickens as well as two fabulous Gordon Setter dogs named Coriander and Nutmeg who are just about the friendliest, most mellow dogs I have ever met.

They are a working farm, owned by a local couple, and there's much more information on their website (they are also active on Facebook). I encourage you to stop by if you are ever in the Brainerd area, which is only about 2.5 hours from the central Twin Cities. Be sure to check their hours and dates to make sure they are open!