Excelsior, Minnesota

[Jennifat]

Yesterday I realized I hadn't been to Excelsior in a (long) while, so I thought I'd head over there for a visit. From what I had remembered it was a pretty bustling, up-scale area. It originally started as a Victorian resort town at the end of a streetcar line, from which you could hop onto a streetcar boat (yes, a streetcar boat which you will see later in this photo thread) and ride it to your home inaccessible by land or to Big Island where there was an amusement park. Early on, it had built its reputation as a fun place to escape from the city.

This time around, I could have thought otherwise. Maybe it was just a bad day or something, but the place was dead for such a beautiful Sunday afternoon. I couldn't believe how quiet it was.

Excelsior, Minnesota
Population: 2,393
October 3, 2010

[xzmattzx]

Nice pictures. I think it looks like a pleasant place; I don't expect many Sundays to be busy since people still rest on that day, plus football is on, and more.

It looks like you guys are getting ready to hit peak foliage.

[GarfieldPark]

It looks pretty good to me. Of course it is a little bit misleading to list Excelsior as a city of less than 3000 people - when in reality it is just one of numerous adjacent west side suburbs of Minneapolis surrounding Lake Minnetonka - one of the most popular lakes in the greater Twin Cities area. Its not like its a little town of 3000 people sitting by itself out on the Minnesota prairie. It you were to draw an eight mile radius from the heart of Excelsior - there would probably be 50,000 people in that circle. The lake looks nice and the trees look pretty good too. I don't think there is much wrong with Excelsior -- maybe like you said, you just weren't in a very good mood that day. (Maybe you should take off a few of your pairs of underwear to loosen things up a little and get some more circulation going down there Jennifat.)

[Jennifat]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

It looks like you guys are getting ready to hit peak foliage.

I'd say we're about a week or less from peak color, and most of the trees on my street are already bare. I wish the leaves would all change at the same time and fall off at the same time!

Originally Posted by GarfieldPark

It looks pretty good to me. Of course it is a little bit misleading to list Excelsior as a city of less than 3000 people - when in reality it is just one of numerous adjacent west side suburbs of Minneapolis surrounding Lake Minnetonka - one of the most popular lakes in the greater Twin Cities area. Its not like its a little town of 3000 people sitting by itself out on the Minnesota prairie. It you were to draw an eight mile radius from the heart of Excelsior - there would probably be 50,000 people in that circle. The lake looks nice and the trees look pretty good too. I don't think there is much wrong with Excelsior -- maybe like you said, you just weren't in a very good mood that day. (Maybe you should take off a few of your pairs of underwear to loosen things up a little and get some more circulation going down there Jennifat.)

Of course Excelsior is a great little town. I didn't at all mean to make a jab at it, it was just one of those weird days when things seem "off", you know? It's harder to capture a place with photos when you're not feeling totally comfortable.

As for the population, that's just what I always do with my photo threads, regardless of its irrelevancy. I think most people who are familiar with my threads realize that these are all Twin Cities area towns.

[eomaha.com]

This town does actually seem remarkably isolated from the rest of the metro. I had my first experience there when we went to their big Independence Day fireworks show/Minnesota Orchestra concert.

[mgk920]

Excelsior is also on the Yellowstone Trail, an early 20th century transcontinental 'Auto Trail'. I wonder if there are any marker signs for it posted in that area. Its course through the west suburbs, and especially in and around Excelsior, is a SWEET drive, too.



Mike

[mnmike]

Very nice pics...Excelsior is a very cute town, definately has a small town feel...surrounded by suburbs. There are many old villages around lake Minnetonka, which really makes it different from typical suburbia. The leaves really are changing fast...they are a touch early this year, last year they were late(being a tree nerd who loves to take pics, I would say average peak is around Oct 15th in the city...though it has been later the past few years). Peak this year will be about 3 weeks earlier than last. This years color is a bit better than last, but neither have been spectacular years unfortunately

[Jennifat]

Originally Posted by eomaha.com

This town does actually seem remarkably isolated from the rest of the metro. I had my first experience there when we went to their big Independence Day fireworks show/Minnesota Orchestra concert.

Yep, it's way out in the Western suburbs, although there are all sorts of suburban communities surrounding the entire lake. Once you get farther west beyond Lake Minnetonka is where suburbia starts to trail off.

Originally Posted by mgk920

Excelsior is also on the Yellowstone Trail, an early 20th century transcontinental 'Auto Trail'. I wonder if there are any marker signs for it posted in that area. Its course through the west suburbs, and especially in and around Excelsior, is a SWEET drive, too.

I don't think any signs for this are marked anywhere – I didn't even know such a route existed. But yes, the roads circling and crossing the lake are beautiful, especially this time of year.

Originally Posted by mnmike

Very nice pics...Excelsior is a very cute town, definately has a small town feel...surrounded by suburbs. There are many old villages around lake Minnetonka, which really makes it different from typical suburbia. The leaves really are changing fast...they are a touch early this year, last year they were late(being a tree nerd who loves to take pics, I would say average peak is around Oct 15th in the city...though it has been later the past few years). Peak this year will be about 3 weeks earlier than last. This years color is a bit better than last, but neither have been spectacular years unfortunately

The area definitely has a much more historic small town feel around all the bays and inlets as opposed to normal suburban development. It also makes for very interesting density, especially in Spring Park which is built on an isthmus.

You're right, fall color does seem to be occurring much earlier this year. I wonder if it's because we had such an unusually early spring? Trees were getting their leaves here in early April!

[GarfieldPark]

Oh rats --- you changed your tag line at the bottom of your postings Jennifat. Now people will wonder why I made the comment about needing to take off some of your layers of underwear. (For the info of the readers: Jennifat's tag line used to be something like: "life can be uncomfortable when you're wearing ten pairs of underwear.")

[mnmike]

Yeah, I think the early spring has something to do with it..if they come out early, they tend to go earlier. This year they were out like the first week of April, like you said...that was nice

Jennifat- if you get a chance the next few days, go get some pics along the east river parkway in St. Paul, particularly around the Lake St. and Ford Bridges and in between. Its beautiful over there right now, and that is where i have gotten some of my best fall pics in the past!

[MilwaukeeMark]

Such great photographs. I love all your threads these days. Thank you.

[Jennifat]

Thanks, Mark! I'm glad you enjoy them.