It is.. well, was - Saturday AM. Dad and I were trying to decide what to do with our day off here in VA. Sight-seeing, yes, but where. I do a bit of a google search and find some information on the Cascades Recreation Area, which is part of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests.

The Recreation area has a picnic area, but the showcase is a trail that leadsup Little Stoney Creek to the Cascades waterfall. According the website:

The trail itself is a thing of beauty also.  Much of it has been carved directly into existing rock and there are numerous stone steps, walls and walkways.  Four bridges allow hikers to get even closer to the creek and be surrounded by the sounds and sprays of falling water. Since the trail is so close to the creek, rocks may be slippery or icy, so be careful.

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I live in Maplewood, a suburb on the north side of Saint Paul. I work in the Uptown section of Minneapolis (I still haven’t figured out why Uptown is south of Downtown). My usual route for getting home from work was to to get on 94 east, take the 35W north out of downtown and across the Mississippi river, and depending on the traffic exit to some residential streets or continue on to Hwy36 east to get home.

Last summer, they started doing some work on the bridge across the Mississippi, resurfacing and such The usual four lanes were down to two, so I would often exit before the bridge, cutting through the U of MN campus. August 1, 2007 I was heading home from work 5:30-5:40ish, and figured traffic might be letting up and I would take the bridge to see how the construction was going. I don’t build bridges, but I am in construction so that sort of thing is interesting to me.

Some of you may recognize the name “35W Bridge”, it is the one that collapsed in to the Mississippi River, killing 13, injuring about 100 others.

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