We had large storms rumble through St Cloud and central Minnesota last night with several tornado warnings in the area. After the storms passed there were picturesque skies, and an amazingly bright rainbow with a faint mirror image rainbow near it in the sky. The sunset was simply beautiful with all the light coming through the trees. 07/18/2010

"The What?" The Granite Trio. I have spoken with people who have lived here a long time and they do not recognize the name, they will recognize what I am talking about though after I say that it is the name of those 3 large granite boulders in downtown St Cloud behind Herbergers on Saint Germain St. Actually they are no longer boulders, The Granite Trio is a work of art. The trio of large boulders were cut and then moved on site into downtown St Cloud in 1973. Working on the granite stones for 2 months with passers-by watching they were carved and worked into what you see today by the artist Anthony Caponi. Mr Caponi was selected from artists who submitted plans for what was to be "a large participatory sculpture." The granite for the sculpture is from the Moonlight Grey Quarry in Rockv... 07/16/2010

On any given day there is a ton of fun things to do in downtown St Cloud. Take a walk and you will see, from finding old lost records at the Electric Fetus to getting a snack at any one of the wonderful eateries in the downtown St Cloud area. Today, I would like to point out the Arts Co-op and Gallery located at 619 West St Germain, right behind Herbergers. This co-op features local artists and their art. Paintings, stained glass, pottery, jewelry and sculpture can be seen and purchased from the artist. If you find yourself downtown St Cloud, take a stroll through the co-op, we have some very talented people in the area. I have posted this without any pictures as my photos would not do the work justice and you must go in for yourself to see the wonderful works on display, if you are or ... 07/15/2010

As more and more people turn to the internet to find what they are looking for so increases the potential for visibility for finding your perfect home there too. Do you also look for open house times and places while you are searching for your perfect new place to call home? We think so. We have stepped up the marketing for your open house online, and our foot traffic to open houses has increased. We have started to post the open houses dates and times on multiple places across the internet. We also, of course always include a link, if possible, back to our site for more information about the house being held open, and for each home's open house blog post there is a landing page on our site with a great deal of information about that home. So far, we are posting on my St Cloud real esta... 07/15/2010

St. Cloud River Bluffs Regional Park Compost Site is not the most exciting reason to love St Cloud MN, but it is very worthwhile. The St Cloud city compost site is fantastic if you have some landscaping projects to do around the house. For a simple one time fee of $25 you can go to the site and pick up truck loads of mulch and compost. The compost is created using the collected yard waste like grass clippings, tree trimmings, plant matter and stumps. The compost is rich black dirt and boy do the plants in the garden love it. If you have soil (I use the term loosely, more like sand with clay and large chunks of granite mixed in) like mine, the compost site is very helpful for filling raised beds.   The mulch is from the trees that have been cut down in the area, they are ground into a ni... 07/14/2010

FYI St Cloud MN - the 2nd season of the year We have a joke in Minnesota about there being 2 seasons winter and road construction. Well if you live or work in St Cloud here is an important update for you reguarding our roads:   "Beginning on Thursday, July 15, 2010, through Friday, July 16, 2010, the intersection of Veterans Drive and 12th Avenue North will be reduced to one lane of traffic in each direction due to road construction in the area." This just came in via GovDelivery on the behalf of the city of St Cloud Mn, if you would like to receive these updates directly it is a nice feature from the city website.   07/13/2010

See Spot. See spot run in a St. Cloud City dog park, happy Spot! I just love the fact that our city has parks specially set up for dogs and their owners to enjoy. There are many homes within the city limits of St. Cloud that do not have anywhere close to enough yard for a dog to get some well needed exercise. The city has thought of this and we have several parks to satisfy even the most energetic pup. In St. Cloud Mn you can exercise your dog off leash in a safe environment in one of the 3 dog parks. An OLPEA permit is required, Off Leash Pet Exercise Areas, and may be acquired online or if you are just in town and need to run your pup for a day, day passes are available for $2 per entry, the cost of a permit for residents is $20 for the first dog and $10 for each additional pup. Jayce... 07/12/2010

I have been posting wonderful reasons to love St Cloud MN, as part of my hyper-local challenge to myself. I am very happy with where I live, and so is my wife who has a much broader basis for comparison having lived across this great country in many different areas.It is one thing to hear from a local real estate agent that the city that they work in is a great town, but how about views from a disinterested 3rd party. Well how about Money Magazine for a source?Money Magazine just selected 5 Minnesota cities for the top "100 Best Places to Live". The number one city on the list, well much as I would like to say it was St Cloud, it was not, the number one city for Money Magazine's top 100 list in 2010 is Eden Praire, MN. The 4 other cities from MN that were on the list are Plymouth, Woodb... 07/12/2010

Really? Someone hid a $10,000 diamond ring downtown St Cloud? YES! Really. No there is not a wealthy crazy person running around downtown St Cloud, at least that we know of, and no the diamond fairy is not in the area. This is the 2nd Annual Kruse'n for Diamonds treasure hunt, a St Cloud MN city wide search. As if there were not enough wonderful reasons to love St Cloud, here is one more! You must register to participate, and clues will be sent via text messages. The 2nd annual Kruse'n for Diamonds hunt starts at 11:00am on Sunday July 18th so register today and join the play! 07/10/2010

    The Great River Regional Public Library of St Cloud was built in 2008 on the old site of Miller Pontiac in downtown St Cloud MN. This impressive building is highly visible and lends great visual style to the downtown area and is one more wonderful reason to love St Cloud MN. The location is very accessible from Highway 23 or St Germain Street, the building is centrally located on the west side of the central business district and is walking distance from all the government buildings and St Cloud Technical High School.   The St Cloud Public Library building itself is an attractive amalgam of glass, granite, and metal with eye-catching design features. My favorite feature is the covered entry area on the north west side of the library with bike racks and elongated granite benches dire... 07/06/2010

"If you build it, they will come!" The St Cloud Civic Center is already a destination for events large and small in the heart of downtown St Cloud MN. Nestled against the west bank of the Mississippi River between the new Highway 23 bridge and the Veterans Bridge (St. Germain) the Civic Center connects to the Kelly Inn and the Downtown Radisson and is walking distance to much of St Cloud's nightlife (entertainment venues). Trade shows, conventions, training seminars, weddings, concerts and graduations all have come to the Civic Center. But few people know this facility also houses the Minnesota Ametuer Baseball Hall of Fame; many know that it is being expanded, hence the Field of Dreams reference. (I know the original quote from Shoeless Joe Jackson is "If you build it he will come", bu... 07/03/2010

        The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays, we get to celebrate the fact that we live in a free nation. Add to that the part where I get to spend some time with the people I care about and catch up. Then add the part where generally the festivities involve loud celebratory explosions and fireworks, and well, it is just the proverbial icing on the red, white and blue cake. The Freedom Fest will be held in downtown St Cloud from 2:00 to 10:00pm. At 8:00pm the St Cloud Municipal Band will hold a concert at Hester Park.  The St Cloud fireworks display is the 2nd largest in Minnesota and begins about 10:00pm with the launch point in Wilson Park. There will be reserved seating for Military and their families. Wilson Park is on the east side of the Mississippi River and it offers ... 07/02/2010

The entrepreneurial Spirit is here - another wonderful reason to love St Cloud MN With the 4th of July just 2 days away, and after posting about Clemens Gardens yesterday, I got to thinking about all of the entrepreneurs we have and have had in St Cloud and how proud I am to be a part of such a successful community of business minded people. Minnesotans are a hearty group. Always pushing forward, I do not know if it has to do with the short growing season, or the sometimes deeply cold weeks in winter, but we, generally speaking, have a stick-to-itiveness that never says die. Of course, it could also have to do with the fact that St Cloud area high schools are ranked among the best with their SAT scores in the top 20% of the nation. Then after graduation the central Minnesota area also h... 07/01/2010

Munsinger Gardens - another wonderful reason to love St Cloud MN   Many cities have a landmark, site or feature that you simply must see while you are in town. Set along the banks of the Mississippi River under mature oak and pine trees surrounded by lush shade gardens with winding stone lined walking paths is Munsinger Gardens and for St Cloud Minnesota this is the must see attraction. The land was originally a saw mill, and in 1915 was purchased by the city and turned into a park. It was named Munsinger Gardens after the superintendent of parks Joseph Munsinger who directed most of the work creating the gardens.     The 14 acres of gardens are very well loved by the Munsinger Clemens Botanical Society an all-volunteer organization. Since the group started in 2000 they have provided fr... 06/29/2010

A river runs through it - another wonderful reason to love St Cloud MN - Day 7  The mighty Mississippi River is part of the heart of St Cloud MN. It runs through Sartell then into Sauk Rapids and winds through St Cloud, providing wonderful views, fishing and life to plants and animals along the way. The Mississippi slows at the St Cloud State University area hydro electric dam, then goes around creating the Beaver Islands, now a park, trail and nature area. The Mississippi then flows down to Clearwater and eventually goes all the way down to be the dividing line between the twin cities of St Paul and Minneapolis. The Mississippi River is a part of our life here in St Cloud, most people who live here will tell you that they cross it several times a week if not several times a day. As I s... 06/28/2010

I think the St Cloud MN area is a great place and I am not the only one. St Cloud MN is featured in a national commercial for the Tempur-Pedic Cloud. I was surprised to see some very local places featured on a commercial the other evening including a home I sold.   I really enjoy living in St Cloud MN, and when you sell real estate in an area for a while you can really get to know a town. Most of the places featured in the commercial are well known in our area and easily identifiable, the Dutch Maid Bakery, the SCSU Hockey rink, the Paramount theater, and one, not so well known, but very nice historic home. 06/28/2010

The best place to stop in St Cloud MN for a quick bite on the go is  Hemsing's Delicatessen - another wonderful reason to love St Cloud MN - Day 5 Hemsing's Delicatessen est.1967 and located in the historic area of downtown St. Cloud, is an island in a sea of franchises, and has long been my favorite stop for a sub sandwich. Back in my bartending days, Hemsing's back door was, right out the back door of my work. I would get done at 1:30 am and go across the alley to see Clarence Jr. and get a pizza cheese steak sub before heading home. They have added some wonderful items to the menu since then, Hemsing's now have Gyros and Chicago Style Dogs, as well as Pitas, Wraps, Soups, a kids section and more. I could gain weight just writing this! Today, Hemsing's Deli is run by Debbie and Tammy,... 06/26/2010

Minnesota Grown Farmer's Markets - Wonderful reasons to love St Cloud, Sauk Rapids, and St Joseph MN - Day 4  Nothing is sweeter than biting into a fresh berry and knowing it was grown locally in Minnesota. In St Cloud we are blessed to have farm land all around us, and farmers who grow fresh produce for us to enjoy. Starting in the spring and going all the way into early fall we have an abundance of local Farmer's Markets to gather fresh ingredients for our meals and snacks. On Wednesday you can find our local Minnesota farmers gather at Hennen's Furniture on Hwy 15 in St Cloud from 3:00pm to 6:00pm, http://www.stcloudfarmersmarket.com/ On Thursday local farmers can be found at the Living Waters Lutheran Church in Sauk Rapids MN from 3:00pm to 6:30pm, http://www.saukrapidsfarmersmarket... 06/25/2010

"There is nothing like living in the flight path of F/A-18 fighterjets for a day or 4."  The Great Minnesota Air Show featuring the Blue Angels - another reason to love St Cloud MN - Day 3 My love of flight and planes began early, with projects like building models. For a while as an adult I persued aviation as a career and to this day I am still in awe watching maneuvers like you see in the picture above taken during their practice today at the St Cloud Airport. My wife Liz emailed me mid-day saying there were interesting planes in the sky (we live close to the St. Cloud airport). By early afternoon I was driving toward home and catching glimpses of The Blue Angels flying around St. Cloud. After a stop, to grab the "good camera", and watch as the blue and gold F/A-18s skirted the edge ... 06/24/2010

St Cloud Granite City Days - another wonderful reason to love st cloud MN - Day 2 Every year here in St Cloud Mn "Granite City" we have a Huge city event known as Granite City Days. This fun filled schedule of events is filled with live music, a 5K run, the Saint Cloud historic home tour, the parade, a hot air balloon rally, the lemonade concert and art fair and much much more. This year the opening ceremonies will begin today June 24, 2010 at 7:00pm featuring St Cloud's own Mayor Dave Kleis' Rock on Awards. At 8:00 live music from our own St Cloud Symphony Orchestra featuring such favorites as Battle Hymm of the Republic, Ashokan Farewell, and Stars and Stripes Forever. On Friday night starting at 5:00 at the 22nd annual Liberty Savings Block party, this year to be held at Whitney Park... 06/23/2010