Even though parts of Minnesota were under a frost advisory over the weekend, the warm weather is here to stay. (We hope!) So here are 9 things you have to do to get the most out of our way-too-short summer in southeast Minnesota!

Much like the traditions we all like to follow around the holiday season, summer in Minnesota has its own set of things you can only do this time of year. These are some my wife and I like to do each year. How many of these have you tried?

Tube the Cannon River — We usually get a group of friends together and head up to Welch Mills to spend an afternoon lazily floating down the river. (Or, as an alternative, we sometimes head up to Oronoco and canoe down the Zumbro, too.) And, of course, the Root River in Lanesboro is always a great time, too. We haven't made it out yet, though, so this summer favorite is still on our To-Do list.

Catch a Honkers game at Mayo Field — There's nothing that says summer more than catching some hardball action with our hometown Honkers. It ain't America's National Pastime for nothin', ya know!

Enjoy Thursdays Downtown — It might have a slightly different name this year, bu this one’s a no-brainer, as it’s only a few blocks away from the Quick Country 96.5 studios downtown. In fact, we're heading down there for this week's kick-off festivities. Check!

Get Your Toes In The Water (And Toes In The Sand) at Foster Arend or Chesterwoods Park — This is another great way to beat the heat, and while we haven’t made it out to either park just yet, there are still plenty of warm days left to hit the beach. Last year, we hit up the beach at both parks.

Enjoy dinner or drinks on the patio — This is a pretty easy one to accomplish, and we’ve already done this several times at places like 5 West and LTS Brewery. It’s definitely something you HAVE to do during our fleetingly-short warm-weather season, as there will be many months when we’re forced back inside and WISH we could be sitting outside enjoying a lovely beverage!

Bet on the ponies at Canterbury Park — We usually make it up to track in Shakopee once a year. While we only bet a few dollars on each race, it’s still fun to see how the races turn out. Last year, I think I won a whole $12! (Hey-- it was enough to buy a couple of beers!)

Bike the Douglas or Root River State Trails — We love getting out on the our bikes and enjoying these great trails, especially since the Douglas Trail is right near our house in northwest Rochester. We’ve been meaning to get down and ride the Root River State Trail, though, too– gotta move this to the top of our To-Do list! (We've also been meaning to hit up the Cannon Valley Trail too!

Take A Trip On the Pedal Pub — This is a fun event we’ve done off and on over the past few summers, both in Minneapolis and St. Paul. (Remember when they were here in Rochester too? We never did the Rochester route, though-- maybe that's why it closed...) It’s a little more work, though, in that you have to get a bigger group together and sometimes finding a date that works for everyone is tough. We might not get around to this one this year…

Enjoy some Minnesota sweet corn — Again, this one’s pretty easy to do but it’s just not summer without it! Thankfully, we’ve already had some corn on the cob this year– and I’m sure we’ll get some more before the season’s done too.

Listen to Curt St. John from 6 to 10 a.m. on Quick Country 96.5
and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 103.9 The Doc

More From KQCL Power 96