Whose view? From where? — June 2010

Once again, this month's guessers provide rich detail about the areas along the Mississippi River corridor. Kendra Hunding shares the following about the June view:

For once I can actually identify the picture! It's Lions Levee Park in St. Paul Park. I am a teacher at a small environmentally focused charter school called Natural Science Academy which is moving from Woodbury to St. Paul Park this fall. A colleague of mine and I were driving around checking out the local natural environs (I am from St. Paul and unfamiliar with the area) when we found this little riverside gem. We look forward to getting the kids down there and to many other downriver areas south of St. Paul. The goal is to take them exploring from Fort Snelling to Hastings to familiarize and connect them to their great river. We've gotten as far as Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary so we're making great progress.

For the second month running, Eric Otterness also guessed correctly, and earns bonus points for his reference to the Mississippi River Challenge taking place July 24th-25th:

This is a picture looking upstream from Lion's Levee Park in St Park Park. This is where the afternoon break on the second day of the Mississippi River Challenge is taken. Right after this point there is a secret back channel entered from an old marina called Willies Hidden Harbor that only canoes can go through. This back channel eventually takes you back to the main channel. It is a worthwhile detour.

This months photo is a little more difficult than usual. That said, you have the advantage of a 360° view in the panorama below. To load the panorama requires a minute or so of patience, plus Apples QuickTime plugin.

Once you've installed the software use your cursor to view the 360 degree panorama. Additionally, holding down the shift key zooms in and the control key zooms out. This picture is a reduced-resolution version created specifically for viewing on the web.

About Whose view? From where?

Each month in this section, we feature a photo somewhere along the river corridor in the Twin Cities that is in some way significant or important or just plain scenic. Individuals may then e-mail us and identify the view and explain why they believe it is significant to the community or important to them personally. Well publish some of your responses in the next issue of Mississippi Messages, where we will also reveal the correct answer.

To submit your guess and response, e-mail Bob Spaulding, River Advocate, through our contact form. The respondent to provide the first correct identification of the view and hopefully some interesting thoughts about its significance will receive a valuable prize for their effort. All entries must be received by the first day of the following month for consideration.