Ride around Medicine Lake

A great picture of Medicine Lake from the path. Photo Credit goes to TwinCitiesRealEstateBlog.com

  

With the weather changing and summer finally coming biking season is on. Plymouth has no shortage of bike paths, but my favorite in Plymouth is the medicine lake loop. The ride is perfect for a summer afternoon. Its about 8 miles long and there are good sidewalks for most of the way.  The course is slightly hilly but not terrible.  It’s a highly populated path and you see people running, biking, skateboarding, rollerblading, and even doing those crazy cross country skis on wheels.

Plymouth Locals enjoying a ride around the lake on bikes and blades.

A few highlights on the course:

You pass by 3 great parks: East Medicine lake Park, West Medicine Lake Park, and French Park all of which have beaches for swimming playgrounds for the youngsters.

You can travel up into the “City of Medicine Lake” if you want to take a quick detour. This is a fun area that is a peninsula completely surrounded entirely by the lake. There is a park and some interesting homes.

You get to go over 2 really long bridges through the wetlands and swamps. They are really fun to ride over but tough on rollerblades and skateboards. Also the gnats are pretty thick on this part of the trail.

The famous turtles of East Medicine Lake Park

The portion of the trail that conincides with East Medicine Lake Boulevard is super nice. There are no homes in between the road and the lake and you really get a nice scenic view of the lake from here, especially at sunset.

The trail is easy to find. It’s a loop so it doesn’t really have a start or finish but I always kind of think of the starting point as 36^th ave and Zachary Lane. From there I usually head in a clockwise direction following east Med Lake BLVD to South Shore Drive and then to West Med Lake Road. Then you head around the horn to Northwest Blvd and either around or through French Park. If you get confused just follow the shoreline.

Take a Road Trip

When on the road remember your car will run smoothest on sinclair gas.

Usually I promote activities that you can do in Plymouth, but with this kind of weather sometimes all I can think about is hitting the open road! So I have compiled a list of great destinations within a days drive of Plymouth, because there's nothing like loading up the fam in the station wagon and pumping up the jams for a long and exciting road trip! I started with the nearest and ended with the farthest.

Taylors Falls - 1 Hours Drive

Taylors Falls is real close by, a great place to camp, swim, jump off rocks, canoe, in the winter you can ski! Its set right on the St. Croix river and is extremely picturesque. I highly recommend the Interstate State Park, and the Pothole Trail for hiking.

North Shore Lake superior - 3 to 4 Hours Drive

The north shore is one of my favorite areas in Minnesota. It has a mountainous feel to it, and the Lake looks like an ocean. As you can see my favorite activity is cliff jumping, but there is lots more to do: hiking (superior hiking trail), skiing, swimming, golfing, eating, lots of scenic drives, the light house, waterfalls, camping, cabins, museums, parks, restraunts (betty's pies, yum). Its the best. I highly recommend the beach front camp sites at Lamb's resort. Also SURFING! (WHAT?) yes I've seen it with my own 2 eyes and I went so wild I was scouring craigslist for surfboards after that until I realized becoming a full time lake surfer just wasn't going to be in the cards for me but I can dream right?

This is a must watch, then go there and see it yourself:

Milwaukee, Wisconsin - 5 Hour Drive

tailgating paradise

Milwaukee is fun. Best tailgating scene in the major leagues, hands down. Watching a game at miller park is well worth it. With their retractable roof, sometimes your watching an outdoor game sometimes your in a dome! Pretty cool! The nice part is if your driving from Plymouth to Milwaukee your guaranteed not to have a rain out. I havn't actually done anything in Milwaukee other than watch the Brewers play but I hear there's a sweet Harley Davidson Museum.

Chicago - 7 Hours

Beware of toll booths! Everytime I drive to Chicago I run out of loose change and have to scour my car for some way to satisfy the toll roads. Other than that Chicago has tons to do. Great food, 2 baseball stadiums (Wrigley is a must see, "Comisky" is a bit dicey). Everyone has a friend in Chicago so there's always a free place to stay. I would like to see the river on St. Patricks day before I die.

South Bend, Indiana - 8 Hour Drive

With Notre Dame Making a return to relevance this year Seeing a football game at Notre Dame is well worth it, whether your rooting for the Home or Away team.

Black Hills, South Dakota - 9 Hour Drive

Contrary to popular opinion the Dakotas are sweet. The badlands, the black hills, Mt. Rushmore, they are all must see's in my opinion.  You may have seen Rushmore on TV but in real life, Man, is it cool. Go check it out, lots of camping options nearby.

Cliff Jumping in the South Dakota Black Hills

Nashville, Tennesee - 13 Hour Drive

The home of Country Music and the Birth state of Davey Crockett. It seems far, but if you start driving at 7 you'll be there by about 9pm with a few breaks in there. Its really historical and really fun. They've also got a good zoo.

Wyoming - 10 Hours to the State Line

But 15 hours to yellowstone, 17 hours to Jackson Hole

Wyoming is where the wild wild west is alive and well. The snake river is ready to be ridden, Old Faithful explodes every hour, Cowboys ride the ranges, yodelers singing, chuckwagon dinners, antlers decorate everything. Its just good old fashioned fun. There are plenty of mountains and all the recreation that they bring as well.

Utah - 18 Hours

This is really the farthest I know of anyone driving in one day, when my sister and my friend took off bright and early and didn't stop till they made it home, and then again when my uncle brought a van full of friends from Utah to see me and my wife get married in St. Paul. Both completed the trip in under 18 hours, I have a feeling some caffeinated beverages were involved.  But anyhow, as far as I'm concerned Utah is the outdoorsmans paradise with very accessable skiing, hiking, mountain biking, rock climbing, etc. The people are extremely friendly and the atmosphere is fun. Salt Lake's historic temple square is amazing and well worth a visit.