Yesterday we decided to canoe down the Mississippi, from Minneapolis to St. Paul. Almost every day, I cross the river by bus or by bike on my way between the two cities, but canoeing was a totally different experience. You see all the fisher folk on the strips of beach at the sides, and you see all the strange things they’ve left behind: beer cans, rope strings, chairs covered with shells. And you get to go through a series of locks and dams, which makes you feel awe for the engineers of the world.
When you reach a certain point on the Mississippi before St. Anthony Falls, you pull a cord at the side of the river, and a voice tells you to go forward. When you paddle towards the front of the lock, you notice you’re in a chamber with doors behind you and doors in front of you. You grab hold of another rope, and your canoe is lowered slowly almost 50 feet into the pit of the chamber. Then the huge doors at the other end open slowly, a horn sounds, and you paddle out into the wide Mississippi. Photo of the Upper Saint Anthony Falls Lock by flickr user cosmic.jeebus!
