Winona State University has been declared to have the second best registered nurse to Bachelor of Science in nursing program in Minnesota in 2022, according to the website RegisteredNursing.org.
The online program started to be offered at the university in fall 2020, according to the university’s website.
The program’s classes are online, based out of WSU’s Rochester campus, and are taught in an asynchronous format, according to the program’s description.
Winona State’s RN to BSN program is only out ranked on the list by The College of St. Scholastica’s program.
In 2021, Winona State University’s RN to BSN online program topped RegisteredNursing.org’s list for Minnesota.
RegisteredNursing.org helps educate people about the nursing career field and connect them to potential education programs and job openings.
If Winona has an iconic object, it is the odd-shaped lump of limestone rising high above the intersection of Hwy. 14/61 and Hwy. 43 on the east end of town.
Nature didn’t shape the squared off rock, that was the work of the brothers O’Dea – John and Stephan — quarrymen who whittled away the blufftop for use as building stone in the late 1800s.
The bluff’s original conical shape reminded white settlers of the conical loaves of sugar in common use in the early 19th century – hence the name that supplanted an earlier appellation – Wabasha’s Cap, drawn from the original rock’s semblance to the headgear favored by the Dakota chief whose band laid claim to the prairie below.
The pledge wasn’t chiseled in stone, but, almost as good, it was cast in glass.
In 1868, 28-year-old Joseph Ray Watkins concocted a mixture of camphor, spruce oil, extract of capsicum and other ingredients, bottled it, and set off looking for customers.
Watkins had unusual confidence in his product’s ability to be “useful in cases of colds, cramps, cholera, morbus, colic, diarrhea, diphtheria, flux, rheumatism, sore throat, cuts, burns,” as well as horse colic, clover bloat, scours and scurvy, as claimed on the label.
He ordered a stock of specially made medicine bottles with a line and the words “Trial Mark” cast into the glass about a quarter of the way down.
Use the product down to the line if it doesn’t return what’s left for your money back, no questions asked.
The rest, as they say, is history.
The Indian maid with the far-away gaze may be the most traveled sculpture in town.
Cast in bronze by Isabel Moore Kimball, and donated to the city by W.J. Landon in memory of his wife, Ida, Wenonah was installed in Winona’s Central Park in 1902, the centerpiece of a circular fountain, flanked by three bronze pelicans and a trio of bronze turtles.
The fountain was the park’s centerpiece for 60 years, until it was displaced by a new post office building.
Wenonah was moved to the foot of Main Street in Lake Park and her menagerie was resettled behind Watkins Hall on the Winona State Campus.
In 1977 princess, pelicans and turtles were reunited at Levee Plaza – now Third St. – in downtown Winona.
When the plaza was removed, a community-fundraiser moved the tableau to a recreated fountain in Windom Park, at Huff and Broadway.
When the pope comes to call, this is the bell that will announce his arrival.
The tintinnabulum, a small brass bell, was rung Sept. 9, 2012 to signify the elevation of the church popularly known as Winona’s Polish Cathedral to the papal dignity of Basilica of Saint Stanislaus Kostka.
The tintinnabulum will then remain silent until it is rung to herald the arrival of the pope — symbolic of the special relationship between the pope and the basilica church.
The status of basilica is granted to a small number of Catholic churches — 1,610 throughout the world — based on their architectural and historic significance and their importance to their community — spiritually, liturgically and culturally.
St. Stan’s is only the 70th church in the United States to be granted basilica status and is one of just two basilica churches in Minnesota.
Winona is the capital of stained glass?
While Winona’s undoubtedly a colorful city, its oft-cited designation as “Stained Glass Capital of America” may well be simply credited to a travel writer who made a career of chronicling American oddities — if not a career out of exhaustively verifying her claims.
Still, it’s hard to deny the presence of the industry in Winona, from the large studios to the small and the stained glass present in churches and businesses across the city.
One of Winona’s most prominent stained-glass manufacturers, Willet-Hauser, was purchased earlier this year – but any fears that it might leave town and diminish Winona’s claim to stained-glass fame disappeared quickly, when it turned out that the new owner’s father had once worked for the company for many years.
With the river on one side and a lake on the other, why would Winona need an outdoor swimming pool?
So there would be a place to swim in the middle of town, of course.
Opened in 1990, the Bob Welch Aquatic Center — named in memory of the city’s long-time Parks and Recreation director — became Winona’s official civic swimming hole.
It’s a distinction first owned by the Latsch Island beach and bathhouse in 1905, and then Lake Park beach after Latsch beach was officially closed in 1974.
The city’s cement pond – in Beverly Hillbillies parlance – features a zero-depth design, meaning the bottom slopes down from nothing, just like the beaches it replaced; a 208-foot water slide; and a guarantee that no patron will be nuzzled by a wayward carp or nipped by a passing gar – definite hazards when swimming in Winona’s unchlorinated recreational waters.
That wasn’t quite the question more than a decade ago, when a group of innovative theater professionals were in the process of creating a world-class Shakespeare festival somewhere in Minnesota. The question, really, was where to stage the festival.
Thankfully, there was an equally innovative group of community-minded folks in Winona who saw the huge potential for the festival, and worked tirelessly to bring it here. Some of those same people, working alongside countless others, continue to be responsible for the festival’s success and growing local roots as it wraps up its 11th season this month and is already looking far into the future.
The festival has brought national attention to Winona, though just as importantly it’s become more and more integrated into the community as it matures, by sponsoring events, promoting local and regional art, and presenting Shakespeare to the masses at garden tours, in coffee shops, and at other events. The bard would be pleased.
And as another bonus, Winona has clearly never had as many Shakespeare groupies as it does today – even the once-heralded Winona Shakespeare Club boasted membership of just a dozen men in an 1875 photograph.
Hades. King Solomon’s apartment. A treasure chamber. A volcano.
Believe it or not, those actually exist in Winona. As do more than 30 other interesting and intriguing scenes. That’s because the city of Winona owns 98 hand-painted scenic theater drops once used by the Winona Masons for group rituals and performances.
The rare and intricately designed drops have been in Winona for more than 100 years, having been delivered to the Winona Masonic Temple in 1909. Many have described them as Winona’s hidden treasure – and they’re about to be more hidden than before.
The drops have been rolled and stored to preserve them, as the city decides whether to repair the Masonic Temple and replace the rigging system that lowers and raises the drops – an estimated multimillion-dollar project.
Many are sad to see them packed away. Others are working together to find creative solutions to hang them back up.
Until then the Masonic Temple theater drops will remain one of Winona’s unseen –buried – treasures.
Hidden along Theurer Boulevard near the Winona airport,
is an oasis for the summer adrenaline junky sort.
Wrapped around the branch of a tall thick tree,
dangles a sturdy rope with four knots hanging at the end, you see.
When kids and daring adults are ready for a thrill,
the rope on the edge of the lake hardly stands still.
Visitors climb up to the seven-foot or twelve-foot-high stand
and sometimes say a few final words to their ground-standing fans.
Most scream as they hold on for dear life;
others fly through the air and end with a jackknife.
Either way hardly a person resurfaces without a smile.
Staying cool in the summer heat – at least for awhile.
And what better steps to climb than the rope tree’s smooth twisted roots,
while the next person steps off the stand and out he or she shoots.
A pleasant and cool place to be —
especially to fill that adrenaline need.
It’s surprising, maybe, that in an area of the country where a common wild animal is both sought after for recreational hunting and reviled for its ability to eat through a corn crop, there’s a small area of Winona dedicated to showcasing deer.
Still, the city-owned Lefty Hymes Deer Park at Prairie Island has been a popular space for decades for picnicking and mellow hiking – and for the young and old to peer through the fence to see the half-dozen or so deer, along with a wild turkey or two, frolicking in the pen. There’s something compelling about the scene, in part because there’s no pretense of a zoo – just a fence that appears to have fallen and accidentally captured a slice of Winona wildlife.
The deer, despite living a relatively languid life, have had their share of adventure. Several escaped in 2001 when someone cut the fence, apparently worried about flooding (the city responded by building a deluxe raised shelter for the animals), and every now and again someone still sees fit to do the same. Thankfully, many of the deer wander straight back after tasting the reality of life outside the pen, content to make their home in a park named just for them.
Across from East Lake Winona and with a view of Wapasa’s Cap, you can find Winona’s “working antique,” the Lakeview Drive Inn.
Lakeview dates all the way back to 1938, when Emil Berzinski founded Emils Root Beer stand. The operation expanded and changed names and hands over the years until the Glowczewski family purchased it in 1977. But despite the decades and the changes, Lakeview has always stayed true its roots, offering hand-made food items and owner Tim Glowczewski and his brother working hard to maintain and keep the buildings original feel and fixtures.
In an era of iPhones and pizza delivery, Lakeview still offers door-to-door service from its carhops, and classic cars are a mainstay of the business from the memoribilia lining the walls to the weekly cruise nights. More than one high school student has made their spending cash at the drive-in, and the regulars are so loyal the Glowczewski’s can set their watches by them.
“I like to say we are a working antique,” Tim says about the restaurant. “A lot of things here are not just for decoration.”
It was “the beer that makes it fun to be thirsty.”
It was also fun to order…
Walk into a bar with a buddy, look around, and with a strong voice announce to the barmaid: “I’d like a couple of Bub’s…”
Pronounce it properly and by the look on their faces, you’d instantly know who’s from out of town. The locals wouldn’t bat an eye.
In 1869, Bavarian brewmaster Peter Bub married the widow of Winona’s first brewer and gave her and the brewery she’d inherited his name. A year later, after a fire leveled the original brewhouse, he oversaw construction of a solid limestone brewery built in the shadow of Sugar Loaf and burrowed deep into the bluff, hollowing out six caves where Bub’s Beer would be aged at a constant 45 degrees as done by European master brewers for nearly a century … the last barrel rolled out in 1969.
It’s Winona’s iconic excuse. Late for supper, church, court or the dentist — one word explains it all.
The Canadian Pacific railroad tracks bifurcate the city, running roughly parallel to the highway on the south and the Mississippi on the north (don’t even ask why east and west is parallel to the Mississippi, which every schoolboy ought to know flows north to south – it just is). A mile-long string of cars will block the dozen crossings to bring all traffic to a halt however often a train goes by, and ask any resident or regular visitor–those trains are passing whenever there’s a need to cross the tracks.
And no, it didn’t take some idiot to build a railroad through the middle of town. In 1871, when trains first rolled on what was then the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul, the tracks ran well beyond the south edge of town.
Teddy Roosevelt stopped there. So did Harry Truman.
To give a speech … not to buy a ticket.
The Winona Amtrak station has been welcoming travelers to town since 1888. Built as a passenger station by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, the original design featured separate men’s and women’s waiting rooms, finished with maple floors, Georgia pine woodwork and bronze hardware throughout.
The station was a stop for the Milwaukee Road’s premier passenger trains–the morning and afternoon Hiawatha, which linked Chicago and the Twin Cities until 1971, and the establishment of Amtrak, the nationwide passenger rail service. The eastbound and westbound Empire Builder each make a daily stop at the Winona station.
The station was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.
Each November, dead leaves swirl down Winona’s quiet streets, homeowners stop mowing and prepare for winter, gardeners harvest the last of their squashes — and alternate-side parking begins.
Between November 15 and March 15, you’d better have your car on the correct (odd or even, that is) side of the street between 12:01 and 6:30 a.m. If it’s an odd day, park on the odd-addressed side of the street; an even day, park on the even side. Make sense?
The four-month-long ordinance elicits anguished groans whenever it’s mentioned, especially among college students who can be easily convinced of the conspiracy theory that the city’s police department is out to take advantage of them. Admittedly, the $25 tickets do fill out the city’s coffers a bit – it raised about $45,000 last year, assuming every scofflaw or distracted parker paid their ticket. Though to be fair, the city took it upon themselves to shorten Winona’s fifth season by a full month in recent years.
Odd and even sides of a dark street, the confusing hour of midnight to screw it all up, streets that get smaller with each snowfall. It’s a wonder we don’t all switch to sleighs once the snow starts flying. You can park those contraptions in your front yard.
But then there’s the question of where to sequester the horses.
Don’t call them tugboats.
The ubiquitous movers and shakers on the Mississippi River are called towboats. And just like trains or birds, the boats and the containers they move are such a common sight around Winona that a following has cropped up to track tows from when the ice breaks to the return of winter.
The industry and its sights are so iconic that they inspired local author and city council member Pam Eyden to pen “The Little Tow-Watcher’s Guide,” first released in 1990 and now in its fifth edition.
For those interested in the history of the craft that ply America’s first super highway, the book contains articles and essays on towboats and the river life of their crew. For the watcher, the book offers a comprehensive list of the tows that can be found along the upper Mississippi, from the American Beauty to the Walter E. Blessey.
Because no two towboats are the same, the guide can help watchers identify which craft they are spotting along the river. It would just be embarrassing if someone told their friends they spotted the Joseph Patrick Eckstein, when what they really saw was the Jacob Michael Eckstein, two different boats that frequently visit the Island City.
A community of learners improving our world.
And for many in the Winona State University community, their first task is following the school’s motto by improving Winona.
While the number of alcohol-related incidents may jump at the end of every August, and everyone knows to avoid Huff and Main Street on move-in day, there are just as many and more WSU students and employees volunteering their time at the Winona Area Humane Society or any number of organizations around town, or getting their hands dirty planting and cleaning downtown.
That community spirit goes all the way back to WSU’s founding, when the Minnesota Legislature provided funding for a normal school with the caveat that the school would go to the first city that could raise the initial funds and provide the land. Winona beat out the competition and raised even more than was needed, with city residents pooling $7,000 and a location in the heart of the city.
Today, WSU has national presence, and plans are in the works for a regional Education Village to create a new model for improving teacher training.
Not bad for the first normal school west of the Mississippi.
Nearly 70 flat, odd-shaped sections of rock arranged into two layers of seating are grounded into the earth in the shape of a circle near East Lake Winona. Completing the circle closest to the lake is a stage built of similar rock, framed with plants and flowers. In the middle of the circle, surrounded by grass, is a stone plaque with the an imprint of a multicolored circle, an eagle – its wings outspread – and the words: Winona Dakota Unity Alliance.
The structure and area known as Unity Park is much more than it looks. It’s a symbol of reconciliation between Winona’s settlers and Native Americans.
In an effort to make peace with the Dakota natives who inhabited Winona prior to being forced to leave by military and settlers in 1853, a group of city leaders, church members, and volunteers formed a committee in 2004 that turned into the Winona Dakota Unity Alliance and spawned the first Great Dakota Gathering in the city.
From that event grew the idea of symbolizing the reestablished relationship by creating Unity Park. Every year since the Great Dakota Gathering has brought the two groups together, formed many relationships, and been highly acclaimed by those who attend. From traditional native dancing to gathering around the stone fire pit near at the end of the night, it has gone a long way in bringing reconciliation for a past filled with suffering.
“I trust Goltz” is the ad slogan, repeated on camera for local TV by a clutch of locally well-known spokespeople.
For more than 125 years, the family-owned pharmacy on East Third Street has been working to earn and keep the trust of their customers in Winona and the surrounding area. Dan and Paul Goltz are the fourth generation of the Goltz family to serve the health needs of the Winona community.
In 1887, Max Goltz, son of German immigrant parents, graduated from the University of Illinois college of pharmacy, and after a year working in Chicago, returned to the family’s adopted home in Winona to partner with George Gerlicher in a small drug store at 274 East Third. The business prospered, with Goltz becoming sole proprietor, then bringing sons and grandsons into the enterprise.
Unlike most contemporary drugstores, there’s no dairy case or cans of soup for sale at Goltz; no toys, DVDs or Oreos. The healthcare needs of their customers and the effective use of the medications they are prescribed is Goltz’s only business … and the reason Winona residents “trust Goltz.”
For years, a sign in front of Cotter High School said it all … “Home of the Band.”
It’s no mean feat to transform walking down the street into an art form, but with countless house of practice, unnumbered early-morning miles spent tramping the back streets of Winona, the Cotter High School Marching Band worked its way to a reputation as one of the outstanding competitive marching units in the Midwest.
Currently under the direction of Rick Peters, the band’s summer marching season begins when the school year ends, with daily practices and weekend performances from the first week of June to the Minnesota State Fair in the waning days of August … followed immediately by the fall field show season.
For 25 years the band was under the direction of Dave Gudmastad, credited with building a program that filled Cotter trophy cases and usually involved more than half of the Cotter student body as instrumentalists, color guard, drum majors, or flag and rifle team members.
Every summer Wednesday near sunset, a symphony of brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments echo in the air on Winona’s East Lake waterfront.
Housed in the 1924 historic bandshell, the Winona Municipal Band – its members dressed in classic attire – put on a free show for anyone who wishes to attend. That’s usually folks populating blankets, fold-up chairs, and the rows of seats in front of the bandshell, couples, families, and those who chose to stop after just passing by.
The band, composed of talented amateurs and semi-professional performers of all ages, delivers a lot more than what anyone pays for, performing a rousing mix of marches, patriotic anthems and songs, Americana-themed concert band repertoire, and more.
In 2015, the band will celebrate its 100th anniversary, having performed in its first decade at Levee Park before the bandshell was completed. Despite its rich history, though, the band can’t lay claim to being the first community band in Winona – that honor is bestowed on the Germania Band, which began performing in 1855.
It’s no average graveyard.
Yes, more than 20,000 people have found a final resting place in the grounds of Woodlawn Cemetery, situated at the south end of Huff Street in Winona.
But whether to learn about the characters of Winona’s past at Winona County Historical Society’s annual Cemetery Walk or to visit a relative buried there, to get a morning’s exercise or just enjoy a peaceful walk, plenty of people hail from Winona and beyond to enjoy the property. From above ground.
There’s plenty to enjoy. The grounds are comprised of 220 acres of lush hilly terrain that extends into bluffs, with 50 acres reserved as burial ground.
Early burials in the Winona area occurred at the mouth of Burns valley, just beyond Sugar Loaf. But the area was subject to flooding and wouldn’t do the trick. Central Park was also used as an early burial site, but city leaders soon sought a more permanent place.
Woodlawn was officially founded by E.D. Williams in 1862, just 11 years after the city of Winona itself. Many of Winona’s notable families—such as the Watkins, the Lambertons and the Huffs—are buried there, as well as John Latsch, one of Winona’s greatest benefactors, and Stephen Taylor, the only Revolutionary soldier buried in Minnesota.
Any red-blooded Winonan would testify that it’s not a real parade without the Winona Steam Calliope.
The red-and-gold 1920s-era contraption, which has called Winona home since 1958, is a fixture of Winona parades, from WSU Homecoming to Goodview Days—but also makes its rounds to out-of-state celebration—and of course New Orleans for Mardi Gras, a trip players and machine have made more than a dozen times.
The calliope reaches a volume of 108 decibels—equivalent to an arena rock concert—and uses 100 pounds of coal an hour. Performers play traditional favorites modified for the calliope’s 32 keyboard keys, while keeping the fires hot to maintain the required 100 pounds of steam pressure. The six-person Steam Calliope Band plays along—and they all really hope the whole shebang doesn’t explode.
For many Polish immigrant families, half a lot was a lot more than they dared hope for in the old country.
City councilman and civic curmudgeon Rodney Pellowski often said that if it was dirty and stunk they put it in the east end—referring to the heavy industry that offered the jobs that drew immigrant families, many of them from the Kashubian region of northwest Poland, to settle in Winona. The workers tended to live where the jobs were and where housing—often downwind from a slaughterhouse, foundry or pickle factory—was cheap.
To make it cheaper still, in the days before stringent zoning ordinances it was common practice in East End neighborhoods and in the Polish enclave that clustered between St. Casimir’s Church and the river on the west side to split a 50-foot building lot down the middle and build two houses for two families for little more than the price of one—close enough together a man could easily stand between the houses with a hand on each.
The houses and families generally started small—and as the family added members, the houses added rooms to accommodate—resulting in some unusual floorplans and rooflines that still exist today.
Works by greats such as Pablo Picasso, Georgia O’Keefe, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Paul Cèzanne have all found a public home right here in Winona.
That’s thanks to the Minnesota Marine Art Museum.
Founded in 2006, the museum—set on several acres of native prairie garden on the banks of the Mississippi River—grew out of the personal collection of Bob Kierlin and Mary Burrichter.
And it’s just kept growing from there.
In size, with major expansions in 2008, 2013, and yet another slated to open this fall to house the museum’s rapidly growing and impressive Hudson River School collection.
And in scope. The expansion is the latest example of the museum expanding a vision that began rooted in maritime art and has since grown to explore artists’ relationship with water and introduce visitors to world-class artwork created by master painters.
That growth has led Winona’s riverside museum to gain recognition on both a national and international scale.
From the exterior’s imposing Egyptian revival granite columns—each weighing 37 tons—and Tiffany glass windows, to the interior’s frieze ceilings, green and white Mediterranean marble, and mammoth steel vault with its 22.5-ton door, the Winona National Bank building easily meets the criteria for icon status. The 1916 building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. Inside, you’ll find examples of Prairie School architecture in everything from the walls to the chairs, with their clean, comfortable lines.
But there’s more to the building than just the architecture. Inside, there’s a bona fide safari museum, featuring stuffed animals shot by the bank owners, Ernest L. King and Grace Watkins King, on their two trips to Africa. Specimens of black rhinoceros, hippopotamus, warthog, African buffalo, cheetah, hyena, African leopard, ostrich, lion, marabou stork, dik-dik, baboon, wildebeest, and a host of gazelle-type creatures with interesting horns keep glassy-eyed watch over the bank’s operations.
There’s also a display case filled with some of the 100-plus guns the Kings maintained in their personal collection. Grace King won the North American Clay Target Championship in 1922 and 1923, but it’s clear she was pretty good at hitting live targets, too.
Henry VIII would have felt right at home. Paul Watkins wasn’t a king, but he did his best to live like one.
Nephew of J.R. Watkins, founder of the J.R. Watkins Co., manufacturers of spices, liniments, ladies toiletries and livestock feed, Paul Watkins took the helm of the company after his uncle’s death in 1911 and built it into an international direct-marketing powerhouse.
So in 1924, Watkins and his wife, Florence, began construction on a house befitting a truly rich man.
Designed in the style of an English Tudor mansion, the house at 175 E. Wabasha St. was three years in the making and featured treasures and antiquities collected by the Watkins in their annual forays into the exclusive markets of Europe. The home’s most striking feature is the two-story vaulted medieval style banqueting hall, featuring a minstrels gallery and a massive Aeolian pipe organ.
Paul Watkins died in 1931, and Florence lived in the house until her death in 1956. The home was converted to a nursing home and, in 2001, became part of Winona Health.
It’s dodged the wrecking ball, survived a flood, been remodeled and remodeled again, and more than a century and a quarter after the cornerstone was laid, justice is still dispensed from the bench at the Winona County Courthouse.
Designed by Winona architect C.G. Mayberry and dedicated in 1889, the building rose five floors and 136 feet from the foundation to the pinnacle of the square tower at the southwest corner. The seat of county government boasted a 52-foot by 64-foot courtroom beneath a 28-foot ceiling, and a fireplace in every office to assure “good ventilation as well as adding to the cheer of the rooms.”
By 1952, the building that had been the pride of the county began to be regarded as a bit dowdy as compared to the sleek glass and steel single-story modern architecture favored in the 1950s and ‘60s.
Momentum built to replace the old stone structure, and was only turned back by a popular preservationist movement that resulted in the renovation of the building in 1971, and again after a burst pipe on Labor Day 2000 flooded the interior.
With lakes, ponds, backwaters, main channels and even the Shives Road ditch, Winona has no shortage of fishing holes—and no shortage of people trying to catch fish.
Ever since someone first decided to put string to pole, it seems someone has been fishing in Winona. During the spring and summer months, you can usually find someone tromping down a sidewalk or riding a bike carrying a fishing pole to one of the many piers on Lake Winona. In the winter, the truly hardy come out, resting their butts on ice-cold five-gallon pails and waiting for elusive panfish to bite.
With boat landings providing access all over the Mississippi River and Lake Winona, there is nowhere fish can hide from someone determined to get them. But it always seems those without a boat are the most inventive in their search for the best fishing spot.
Anglers will crawl over the Prairie Island spillway, drop a line off the levee, even wade into the waters next to barges at the city’s commercial harbor in search of a choice catch. And the weekend fish fries held by neighbors all over Winona are a testament to their dedication.
In Winona, folks are never far from the lake or the river, which means canoes—particularly the locally made Wenonah canoes–are everywhere. In garages, on vehicle racks, and behind sheds, the watercraft wait in patient silence until they are taken to the shore and slipped into the water. At Lake Lodge, the oblong boats rest on racks until an afternoon’s worth of paddlers—some giggling, some meditative, some terrified—take to the lake.
It’s one thing to look at a body of water from the shore. It’s another thing to be on it, surrounded by it, with the warm knowledge that you paddled yourself there, you and your canoe, and you can float so quietly that the turtles remain motionless on logs as you approach.
Whether you opt for the Prairie Island boat launch and explore Blackbird Slough, glide among the lily pads at Verchota Landing, or sneak up on herons on Lake Winona, a canoe is a unique way to experience the beauty of the water surrounding this island city.
