More Minneapolis Fun--Temple, Church and a Paddle Wheel Boat

Saturday morning we went to the St. Paul Minnesota Temple.

It seemed a little incongruous for us to be seated in a restaurant right next to the wall of alcoholic beverages to gaze upon after we had just been to the temple.

Glen's focus was centered on the bottomless bowl of popcorn he was eating as his appetizer.

I neglected to capture the excitement of Glen while he was watching the first BYU game of the season on our television in our hotel room later that day.

Thankfully BYU won so he could be happy the rest of the weekend. It still baffles me how a grown man's mood is determined by whether a ball team wins or loses. Get real! It's just a game!! It has no eternal consequences!!!

We got dressed in our church clothes once again the next day for our Sabbath day observance. We found an 11:00 church service and enjoyed the 3-hour block of meetings with that ward.

Look! The leaves are changing color in Minnesota! Fall is in the air! Ugh! That means winter's not far behind. Glen and I are hoping we have another mild winter this year in both our respective locations.

We hated to eat out on the Sabbath, but a little justification was we only made people work to feed us one meal that day.

This restaurant was so nice and the food so delicious. Wait! I already said in my last post that every meal was delicious. Sorry! Redundant!

Entertaining ourselves with a timed selfie while waiting for our food to arrive.

The couple in the booth next to us asked if Glen is a pastor. A few weeks ago on the plane a flight attendant asked him if he is a general authority. He does look quite distinguished when he's all dressed up. And to think, he's all mine. Lucky me!!!

The Labor Day holiday weather was absolutely divine. The humidity and temperature had dropped so it was a most pleasant day to spend outside. We headed to Bohemian Flats Park where the Minneapolis Queen was docked.

There she sits across the park on the Mississippi River. No, not the yacht on the right. The paddle wheel boat on the left. 

This is the Washington Avenue Bridge that connects the University of Minnesota's East Bank and West Bank portions of the main campus. The bridge has two decks with the lower deck used by motor vehicles and light rail trains. The upper deck is for pedestrians and bicyclists. 

Here's the bridge at the other end of the park.

Relaxing a little inside the riverboat until we got to the Lower St. Anthony Falls Lock.

Once the boat got secured in the lock, the water began to rise.

The water gets higher and higher.

It gets almost to the top of the gate and then the gate is lowered.

And now our boat is able to slip on out of the lock and into the other part of the river.

Power plant which emits very little pollution into the air.

Roman bridge leading away from the power plant.

Stone Arch Bridge is a former railroad bridge and is the only arched bridge made out of stone the entire length of the Mississippi River. The structure is now used as a pedestrian and bicycle bridge.

We basically went through the lock and down only as far as the stone bridge and turned back around to go back through the lock again in the opposite direction.

This time in the lock, our view is of the new St. Anthony Bridge built after the collapse of the old bridge 8 years ago.

Once the water is lowered, the gate opens and we can go our merry way down the river.

This is the Short Line Bridge which is a railroad bridge--a side view and an underside view.

Bridges, bridges, everywhere are bridges. What do you expect in a state touting 10,000 lakes?

Site of a massive mudslide which occurred last summer below the University of Minnesota Medical Center. The medical center was deemed safe as it is built on bedrock and shale.

We're nearing the end of our cruise as we see the dock by the park just beyond the University of Minnesota campus bridge.

Glen found us a nice restaurant in the river district.

Then we took a little walk around the area.

We came upon Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, the oldest church building in Minneapolis.