C and I decided that it would be good for Baby Willow to take thier first road trip. We decided that it would be good to take a short trip for a family picnic this time. We drove to Afton, MN and then adjusted our plans to spend some of our evening in Stillwater, MN.

We drove to Afton in the afternoon without much research and decided to “wing it.” I regret this decision. Although it was a bit late in the afternoon, we were surprised. The little town park was full of people taking down their canopies as their was an event earlier in the day. The biting gnats were in full force. We went to Selma’s, an ice cream parlor that has been going strong since 1913. C and I had a single scoop which apparently is two scoops of ice cream. I had Fat Elvis and Mint Avalanche. The ice cream was very good.

After the ice cream we explored a boat dock along the river. Most of it was private property, but a nice lookout onto the St. Croix River none-the-less. Seeing the boats out and the sun beginning to set was nice.

On the walk we passed by a few quiet businesses on our way back to the car.  Afton is definitely a place for those in the surrounding area to visit for a day trip outside in the summer and possibly the winter for skiing near by.

When we returned to the car, we decided that our best bet for a picnic was up the road to Stillwater, MN as I have been here before and knew there would be places for our picnic without so many biting bugs. We parked next to the river and the Still Water Lift Bridge. The sun set and the St. Croix was quiet. We enjoyed good conversation and Baby Willow had fun giggling throughout the evening picnic. After packing up our picnic, we decided to do some window shopping along the Main Street/High Street. There were many store fronts, but these were the ones that caught our eye.

C has decided that he would like to return to Stillwater during the daylight hours. It was fun to walk around downtown/city center Stillwater again. It is very clearly a larger town with more activity around. We even had strangers complement Baby Willow when they noticed C wearing the carrier after they left a restaurant and were saying their goodbyes.

Bye for now.