:: Unofficial Waconia Minnesota ::

Have you driven on Highway 284 between Waconia and Cologne lately?  That road is seriously messed up at the Waconia end.  It’s like a bad rollercoaster ride where you think you’re going to cause physical damage to your car, or your passengers, at any moment.

Some may say that it’s just the frost in the road and as soon as it thaws, it’ll all go back in place.  But I highly doubt that.  Some roads maybe, but not a road this bad.

And wasn’t it just re-paved last year?  Did something go wrong?

I now avoid the road at all costs.  I’m intrigued to go farther down the road and see if it evens out a bit, but when I bottom out at 30 mph, it’s just not cool.

Have you been out to Z’s yet to get your Christmas tree? We have!

Actually, this is only my second real Christmas tree ever and the first time I’ve ever gone to cut one. We went out on Saturday morning in the cold and snow. For newbies, Z’s was a great choice. They were friendly and told us how it’d work. We then hoped on a wagon to go out and find a tree.

Now I wasn’t to sure about cutting my own, but the saws they provided cut through that tree like a hot knife though butter. They then put it on the wagon and back to the main farm.

We were also a bit concerned about fitting it in my little Ford Focus. However, they hauled it to my car and put it in and bungeed down my trunk. They did all the work for us and we were quite impressed.

Trees are $40 for long needle, $60 for short. I don’t know how that compares as I’ve never been out to cut my own tree before, but it was the experience we paid for. And a good experience at that.

Z’s Trees also has precut Christmas trees, wreaths & roping, landscape evergreens, fireplace wood and custom log sawing.

Z’s Trees is technically in Cologne but it’s really just outside Waconia on 284. Between Highway 5 and 212.

Z’s Trees - John M Zimmerman
10850 110th Street
Cologne, MN 55322
952.466.2577
www.zstrees.com

All summer, pained sailboat statues have decorated the town. However, your changes to see them are going fast.

On September 27th, the sailboats will be auctioned off at the Waconia Lakeside Ballroom at 8pm.

The boats are a part of Sailboat Regatta which has had about 25 boats decorating the town all summer.

If you still want to catch a few boats before they disappear, you better get around town fast. You only have a few short days!

The name brands are coming.

Kwik Trip is up and running and I’ve been there several times. Not only are the gas pumps fast, but the store has lots of goodies inside and the car wash even made a point to wash my rims.

Target should have a groundbreaking yet this fall. The 145,000 square foot store should open in October of 2008.

AmericInn is almost done too. It could be complete this October but not sure when the opening date may be.

And Walgreens may be coming to town. The city is going to review plans for a store at the intersection of 284 and 5. Personally I don’t think that’s a good location with the intersection being so busy, but something going to pop-up eventually.

Have you heard any news or rumors you’d like to share?

Out on highway 5, on the east side of town, they recently put in a strip mall with only one store; a liquor store. However, the ideas of what else to put in that area are swarming.

It’s been confirmed that a Kline Bank is coming in but I’ve also heard the rumors of Perkins and a KFC. Possibly an IHOP too?

Waconia could use a few new restaurants. Between Pizza and Subs, we don’t really have a lot of variety. However, the addition of more stores/resturants out there kind of makes me sad.

You know it’s spring when the orange comes out in full force. And this year, the construction starts off with county road 10 and includes most roads on the east side of town.

County road 10 will close April 23rd and be open again, hopefully, by mid-November. They are going to modify the road to meet up with the stoplights just to the east of where it comes out now. They will also add drainage, turn lanes and bigger shoulders which is good news for the bikers.

Unfortunately, county road 10 is the main road to take over to Chaska. With the road closed, the already busy Highway 5 is the only alternative.

To make it worse, Highway 5 will be getting medians, turn lanes and better striping this summer too. No closures, but you can expect delays.

What’s one more headache? Starting in July, highway 284 will be closed from 5 to 212. This project includes mill and overlay which I think means re-surfancing. Good news here is that’s only a month project. But other construction on 284 and Sparrow Road will cause even more problems as a roundabout is put in place. Talk about getting fancy. This roundabout could take three months though!

Those are the biggest headaches and if you drive east or south out of Waconia, you will surely see road construction, additional traffic and a sad change as the farmland continues to change into city.

More construction details can be seen at the official Waconia site.

It seems that about a year ago or so my wife saw a ‘Now Hiring’ sign for Caribou Coffee. It was going to open up next to Great Clips in the same strip mall as Mackenthuns. Heck, even Yahoo Local has a listing up for the store that doesn’t exist.

So where is Caribou Coffee?

I have a new theory, I think a Caribou Coffee is going to open up in the new development on the corner of highway 5 and county road 30. One of the end lots has a drive though window and I know it’s not a bank as Kline Bank says they are coming in 2008 and I highly doubt they’ll be in a strip mall. Free standing building probably for security. So I think it’s going to be a drive though Caribou Coffee. I guess it could also be a Starbucks, Dunn Brothers or one of the other million possibilities. But I smell coffee for some reason.

The the areas largest sliding hill which overlooks Lake Waconia is just waiting to open. However, the snow seems to be missing.

The hill, which looks massive from the road, will delight many this winter and it will also give one heck of a work out. It’s located at the corner of Highway 5 and County Road 30 and is part of the expanded Waconia Regional Park.

This year, the hill will not support any type of system to get you to the top, except your two feet. If the hill is a success, they will consider adding in some type of tow system to get riders back the top.

And don’t look for the hill to open on the first big snow. It still has to be tested for safety before opening to the general public. Lets just hope it snows soon so we can have some fun!!

It seems like not long ago I was excited that Highway 5 construction was completed. A few week later, they put the orange cones back up and I’m worried that we’ll face another winter in construction.

Now they are working on the new county road 10/downtown connection and I do think it’s a wonderful project. It just bugs me that they didn’t take any of that into consideration before they painted the final lines and put all the lanes back in place from the Highway 5 re-alignment. It seems like a lot of wasted money to me when communication would have done wonders.

When it’s all said and done, it will be nice though as a stoplight at the end of County Road 10 is much needed. The progress seems to have been going quite well and hopefully Highway 5 will be done before Christmas as I don’t want another winter of lane restriction and construction.

On a slightly related note, anyone know what they are doing to County Road 10 on the way to Chaska?  I see lots of trees being cut down.

As hunters go out to find that 30 point buck, we all need to be aware of the deer. As they try and escape hunters, they may dart across the road. So, everyone needs to be extra careful and make sure to keep your eyes open for deer in the next few weeks.

Good luck to all the hunters, may the deer not outsmart you.