Belle Plaine/Jordan/New Prague, MN

[stepper77]

Scott County (my name sake! ), Minnesota is located southeast of the Twin Cities. My cousin lives there in Belle Plaine which is about 45 minutes from downtown Minneapolis. One of the days on my trip, while she and her husband worked, I took the truck they left me and explored a few of the towns nearby. To underscore the manic change of weather in Minnesota, the clear blue skies from the day before in Minneapolis made way for even more beautiful dark gray skies and thunderstorms.

We start in Belle Plaine, MN, population 3,789. My cousin lives in a really boring subdivision, so, let's go to downtown.













An old creamery turned metal fabrication company





















This was a Tuesday, midday, and downtown Belle Plaine was as devoid of people as it looks.





































My cousin warned me there were a lot of bars in downtown Belle Plaine













The next stop is Jordan, MN, about 10 miles from Belle Plaine on Hwy 169 heading towards Minneapolis. Population 3,833. Downtown Jordan has a very historic, touristy feel to it and seems like the type of place that would be really popular on weekends.













Some very nice ladies stopped to help me frame this shot...so helpful in Minnesota!







A bit of fall color starting...not much of that in California in September






















































































The last stop is New Prague, MN (pop 4,559) which actually, according to wikipedia, straddles both Scott and Le Sueur County to the south. And unlike the Czech city from which it gets its name, the city's name is actually pronounced New PRAY-gue .



Though you may not see it in my photos, out of the three cities I visited, New Prague had the most amount of pedestrian traffic, even despite the approaching thunderstorm.























This would be dumping some hail in a little bit











That lady is moving faster than me!













































The End

[Chef]

Cool thread. I really dig the thunderstorm sky pictures from New Prauge.

[stepper77]

Thanks! Yes, those were my favorite too. I wish we had more (or any) thunderstorms in the Bay Area, they make for such dramatic shots.

[MplsTodd]

Thanks for the tour!! Even though I've lived in the Twin Cities most of my life and pride myself on having traveled extensively, I've never been to New Prague, and have only driven through Jordan and Belle Plaine once.

If you make it back there, try to visit New Ulm--its a pretty cool town that's very proud of its German heritage.

[Thundertubs]

Nice. We don't get much outstate Minnesota on here. Some decent looking downtowns, and great stormy clouds.

[LSyd]

great collection of Americana. i like Jordan's city hall...not like the typical city hall you'd expect.

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[stepper77]

Unfortunately, the nice brick clad City Hall building near the railroad tracks is now some sort of collectibles/antique shop. I guess it is good that is it is being used. The "new" city hall is in the third to last shot and is pretty much unremarkable like most new small town city halls are.