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The famous pie shop is closed on Mondays!
Jun. 3rd, 2008 05:26 pmWhich was a little bit of a disappointment, but also something of a relief. It was only about 5 miles from Lanesboro to the pie shop, and we were still too full of lavish B&B breakfast to be ready for pie. So we rode on another 3 miles before we turned back, thus insuring that we were actually hungry enough when we got back to Lanesboro to appreciate the fact that the Pedal Pushers Cafe was open. Their food is pretty basic and pretty greasy, but it is absolutely genuine diner food. The mashed potatoes have actual lumps of real potato in them, the deep fried mushrooms are molten hot, and the patty melt is made from local grass-fed beef (Black Angus, judging from the farms we passed on our way into town).
We managed to time our Monday ride perfectly; it didn't start to rain until we were climbing into the van to head for home. Well, okay, maybe the timing would have been a little more perfect if we hadn't got back to the Cities right at rush hour. But we made the most of the Monday biking weather, such as it was. We'd gotten enough sun the day before that we really didn't mind that it was cloudy.
Sunday had been spectacularly beautiful - blue skies with huge piles of fluffy white cumulus clouds drifting by. Just about 80 degrees, which might have been too hot on a prairie trail but was just right in the partially wooded river valley. We rode all the way to Preston and back (24 miles total) which is pretty much our limit for a single day. Preston, I must say, lacks something as a destination. Where Lanesboro has embraced trail tourism for all it's worth, Preston aloofly turns its back and huddles around its sterile looking County Courthouse. Preston is dead as a doornail on a lovely Sunday afternoon in June - not a soul on the streets and nothing open in the entire town but the grocery store. Lanesboro is hopping, with restaurants, live music and theatrical productions in multiple venues. Lanesboro looks to be a fun place to live. Everybody in town with a guitar gets their chance to perform at open mic night, and every kid who takes music lessons eventually gets a chance to appear on the local Sunday night radio show (performed before a live audience in the renowned Commonweal Theater).
We stayed at the Scanlan House, which is a jaw-dropping exemplar of Queen Anne architecture restored to more-than-original splendor. We had a hard time deciding between the extremely "cozy" room with the 2-person whirlpool and the noticeably roomier and far more magnificent Victorian Room. We chose Grandma Bell's Room, and did enjoy the whirlpool. But in retrospect I think I would have preferred the Victorian room, especially since we decided to go out to the radio show after we returned from our bike trip and would have appreciated the convenience of a shower at that point. But either way, Scanlan House is a good choice if you want the full Historic Bed and Breakfast experience. I'd definitely recommend it.
All in all, a most successful trip. We managed to log a total of 40 miles of biking in two days. It was a stretch for two old, fat people, but we handled it with more speed and less exhaustion than the Cannon Falls Trail expedition about this same time last year. I'm hoping to do a few more of these mini-vacations this summer now that we've proven we're up to it.
We managed to time our Monday ride perfectly; it didn't start to rain until we were climbing into the van to head for home. Well, okay, maybe the timing would have been a little more perfect if we hadn't got back to the Cities right at rush hour. But we made the most of the Monday biking weather, such as it was. We'd gotten enough sun the day before that we really didn't mind that it was cloudy.
Sunday had been spectacularly beautiful - blue skies with huge piles of fluffy white cumulus clouds drifting by. Just about 80 degrees, which might have been too hot on a prairie trail but was just right in the partially wooded river valley. We rode all the way to Preston and back (24 miles total) which is pretty much our limit for a single day. Preston, I must say, lacks something as a destination. Where Lanesboro has embraced trail tourism for all it's worth, Preston aloofly turns its back and huddles around its sterile looking County Courthouse. Preston is dead as a doornail on a lovely Sunday afternoon in June - not a soul on the streets and nothing open in the entire town but the grocery store. Lanesboro is hopping, with restaurants, live music and theatrical productions in multiple venues. Lanesboro looks to be a fun place to live. Everybody in town with a guitar gets their chance to perform at open mic night, and every kid who takes music lessons eventually gets a chance to appear on the local Sunday night radio show (performed before a live audience in the renowned Commonweal Theater).
We stayed at the Scanlan House, which is a jaw-dropping exemplar of Queen Anne architecture restored to more-than-original splendor. We had a hard time deciding between the extremely "cozy" room with the 2-person whirlpool and the noticeably roomier and far more magnificent Victorian Room. We chose Grandma Bell's Room, and did enjoy the whirlpool. But in retrospect I think I would have preferred the Victorian room, especially since we decided to go out to the radio show after we returned from our bike trip and would have appreciated the convenience of a shower at that point. But either way, Scanlan House is a good choice if you want the full Historic Bed and Breakfast experience. I'd definitely recommend it.
All in all, a most successful trip. We managed to log a total of 40 miles of biking in two days. It was a stretch for two old, fat people, but we handled it with more speed and less exhaustion than the Cannon Falls Trail expedition about this same time last year. I'm hoping to do a few more of these mini-vacations this summer now that we've proven we're up to it.
