stone arch bridge

Minneapolis is a great city and full of fantastic activities to take advantage of. Many that can even be done for free! I have decided to start experiencing all that Minneapolis has to offer. This particular day I went for a walk along the Stone Arch Bridge. This a beautiful and historic site in Minneapolis that gets plenty of daily traffic.

A view of the bridge being built. I honestly always wondered how they got the arches so neat and even.

When it was first built in 1883, the Stone Arch Bridge was used as a railway across the Mississippi. Made entirely out of stone, it is the only bridge of it's kind crossing the Mississippi. Wheat was the main import, suppling to the nearby mills. For almost one hundred years the bridge was used to transport people and goods. However, it wasn't until the early 1990's that it transformed into what it is today.

The Stone Arch Bridge is now a part of the Heritage Trail in the St. Anthony Falls Historic District. People daily enjoy strolling and biking across the bridge. Enjoying the scenery filled with not only historic mills (like Pillsbury and Gold Medal Flour), but also the St. Anthony Falls.

PS: all images were taken with my film camera (but edited on the computer), with the exception of the first image which I did not take because it was over 100 years before I was born.

summer meltdown

I love my gym. Let me say that again, I LOVE MY GYM!!!! Never in a million years did I think I would have been one to say those words. Working out was something I did every once in awhile, and even then it was only walking for a short time. People who had a desire to work out and ran for fun just puzzled me. What's the fun in pushing your body so hard you are gasping for breath anyway?

Sure, I tried to get into it. In high school I joined YMCA and then Curves. The Y is great because it offers everything under one roof. Aerobic machines, weight machines, free weights, pool, track, plus more. I never knew what to do with weights or weight machines, so I typically stayed on the treadmill, track, and sometimes swam laps. But I lost interest, working out still wasn't fun. Curves was nice for what it was. Basically machines and walking steps alternating in a circle. It was nice because I wasn't gasping for breath at the end of my workout. However, they didn't have the variety or freedom to do what I wanted.

College offered free reign of the school gym and pool. I rarely took advantage of this, unfortunately. Again, just ended up walking and never actually got to the pool for some laps. Don't get me wrong, walking can definitely be a workout, and I still do it. I just don't have enough motivation to really push myself. So this always just ended up feeling "ok", not "great".

Then comes November 2008. Becca dragged me with her to the kickboxing class she had been going to for awhile. She found this gym through a friend at work and fell in love with it almost immediately. I had never been to a kickboxing class, or even a class at a gym before (excluding school courses). Sure I had little to no idea what I was doing, but I had fun and more importantly, I felt great!!

The gym is Fitness Crossroad in St. Anthony. I ended up joining the next week. Why do I love this gym? Besides it's convenience (a mile away from work) Fitness Crossroad has a living-room-type atmosphere. I feel so comfortable there and never feel like other members are judging me. At other gyms I always felt like I should be perfectly fit, perfectly dressed, and have perfect form. The staff and members at my gym now don't care what size you are or how intense your workouts are. It is like a neighborhood gathering, where everybody knows your name! :)

The free classes are pretty fantastic and in themselves a reason to join. Kickboxing is the one I go to regularly, twice a week, almost without fail. The instructor Melissa is amazing! She remembered my name from the first day I went there, when I wasn't even a member yet. The class pushes me and I truly enjoy the feeling I get when I leave. As if all of the toxins have been released from my body. Stress, fatty food and hangovers disappear at the end of the hour. This class is nothing without Melissa. Seriously, she's had subs and it just wasn't the same.

I finally have a place to go where I can get a good workout and be motivated. I am so refreshed when I leave and enjoy that feeling. I LOVE MY GYM!!!