We are in Mankato, MN visiting with my sister at her convent. As usual, the Sisters have been wonderful, and so friendly! The next couple weeks we'll be here visiting with friends and relatives and pigging out at our favorite food haunts---i.e. Jake's Stadium Pizza and the Amboy Cottage Cafe. Jake's pizza (especially the House Special) is wonderful with toppings about an inch deep on a thin crust. The Amboy Cottage Cafe serves huge cinnamon and caramel rolls and Jack swears by Lisa's whole grain pancakes.
The weather continues to be wet -- 3 inches of rain forecast over the next two days, and more to come later in the week. Would sure love to share this wealth of rain with others!
Blogs will be less frequent until we head to Canada the latter part of July. Stay tuned!
Monday, June 20, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Soggy Minnesota!
We arrived in Fairmont, Minnesota on June 7 swept into the state by 45 mph wind gusts and greeted by a temperature of 99 degrees! This is NOT the Minnesota I remember in June! Yes, Minnesota does get hot and muggy, but not usually until after July 4! What a shock. We got to the campground and the only thing Jack did was hook up the electricity and I turned on the AC! We didn't set up the trailer until about 8 p.m. when it was a "cool" 90. At least by that time the sun was going down.
If you don't like the weather in MN, wait an hour or so and it will change! We work up to sunny skies and 70 degrees. By the time we'd finished breakfast it was 65. The day was beautiful --ahhh, the weather I remember! However, by the time it was dark, it was raining! It has rained at some point every day since that Wednesday! I'm starting to think about a flotation device for the trailer. We're currently in Worthington, MN where Jack's brother lives and only a short distance from the nephews. We're enjoying visiting and catching up with everyone. We'll leave here on Friday, June 17 and spend a few weeks with friends and relatives in the Mankato area. Stay tuned. Oh yes, it's thundering and raining right now!
If you don't like the weather in MN, wait an hour or so and it will change! We work up to sunny skies and 70 degrees. By the time we'd finished breakfast it was 65. The day was beautiful --ahhh, the weather I remember! However, by the time it was dark, it was raining! It has rained at some point every day since that Wednesday! I'm starting to think about a flotation device for the trailer. We're currently in Worthington, MN where Jack's brother lives and only a short distance from the nephews. We're enjoying visiting and catching up with everyone. We'll leave here on Friday, June 17 and spend a few weeks with friends and relatives in the Mankato area. Stay tuned. Oh yes, it's thundering and raining right now!
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Hannibal, MO June 4
We drove about 2 hours north to Hannibal, MO to visit Mark Twain's boyhood home. The campground was in the Mark Twain Campground complex and was nicely wooded. The cicadas were there, too! While we didn't tour the caves, there was a steady stream of tourists who were eager to go in and experience where Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn got lost. It was another very hot day, so I imagine that it was likely much cooler in there too -- wish I'd have thought of THAT while we were there! It would have afforded some relief from the heat and humidity.
The Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum Complex were very nicely done. The Interpretive center showed how closely Mark Twain's writing were related to Tom Sawyer's escapades with Huck. We toured Mark Twain's boyhood home and the Huck Finn house, and saw Mr. Clemens Justice of the Peace office and Grant's Drug Store, where the family lived for a portion of their time. Becky Thatcher's house was closed for restoration, so all we could do was peek in the window. Not much to see unless you like ladders and dry wall buckets :-(
We ate lunch in a small cafe in the Historic district. The BBQ pork sandwiches were wonderful but HUGE! I think we had a loaf of French bread between us. After lunch we drove up Hill St. to the Rockcliffe Mansion, a 13,500 ft. castle built overlooking the Mississippi between 1898 and 1900. It was built by lumber baron John J. Cruikshank who lived in the home with his wife and four daughters until 1924. Mark Twain made his last visit to Hannibal in 1902. He addressed 300 guests from the grand staircase. The house was closed for 43 years, and just days before demolition it was saved by a preservation group from the city. Most of the original antique furnishings and fixtures are still in the home. The house is not air conditioned, so the docent gave us each a woven palm fan to use to stay relatively cool. We were the only ones on the tour at two, but when we returned to the entrance there were about 16 people waiting for the next tour.
We left Sunday for Amana, Iowa and stayed until Tuesday morning. The temps on Monday were 98 in Amana, and Tuesday promised to be equally as hot. What an understatement! When we arrived in Fairmont, MN they temp was 99 with a 40 mph wind blowing; Mankato had a toasty temp of 101, unheard of this early in the summer! Today it reached a much more reasonable 78 degrees with low humidity. Whew! Glad that hot spell ended! It was so nice that we hit the walking trail this afternoon and we walked about 4 miles. Sure felt great! Had dinner outdoors Wednesday evening at a bar located on the shore of one of the 5 lakes in Fairmont.
The Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum Complex were very nicely done. The Interpretive center showed how closely Mark Twain's writing were related to Tom Sawyer's escapades with Huck. We toured Mark Twain's boyhood home and the Huck Finn house, and saw Mr. Clemens Justice of the Peace office and Grant's Drug Store, where the family lived for a portion of their time. Becky Thatcher's house was closed for restoration, so all we could do was peek in the window. Not much to see unless you like ladders and dry wall buckets :-(
We ate lunch in a small cafe in the Historic district. The BBQ pork sandwiches were wonderful but HUGE! I think we had a loaf of French bread between us. After lunch we drove up Hill St. to the Rockcliffe Mansion, a 13,500 ft. castle built overlooking the Mississippi between 1898 and 1900. It was built by lumber baron John J. Cruikshank who lived in the home with his wife and four daughters until 1924. Mark Twain made his last visit to Hannibal in 1902. He addressed 300 guests from the grand staircase. The house was closed for 43 years, and just days before demolition it was saved by a preservation group from the city. Most of the original antique furnishings and fixtures are still in the home. The house is not air conditioned, so the docent gave us each a woven palm fan to use to stay relatively cool. We were the only ones on the tour at two, but when we returned to the entrance there were about 16 people waiting for the next tour.
We left Sunday for Amana, Iowa and stayed until Tuesday morning. The temps on Monday were 98 in Amana, and Tuesday promised to be equally as hot. What an understatement! When we arrived in Fairmont, MN they temp was 99 with a 40 mph wind blowing; Mankato had a toasty temp of 101, unheard of this early in the summer! Today it reached a much more reasonable 78 degrees with low humidity. Whew! Glad that hot spell ended! It was so nice that we hit the walking trail this afternoon and we walked about 4 miles. Sure felt great! Had dinner outdoors Wednesday evening at a bar located on the shore of one of the 5 lakes in Fairmont.
Friday, June 3, 2011
The rest of the story!
Wednesday we went to the Missouri History Museum, and of most interest to us were the exhibits that related to the 1904 World's Fair and the Charles A. Lindbergh exhibit. We spent about three hours at the museum, and then ate lunch in the cafe and headed out for a walk. It was very warm -- 90's but we stayed in the shade as much as possible so it was bearable. From the History Museum we drove to the World's Fair Pavilion (the only building remaining at the site). It had been restored, and overlooked a fountain and a paddle boat pond. The building itself was an open air facility with nothing to indicate what it was. There was a group there decorating for an exclusive fund raiser to be held on Thursday. It evidently was THE social event of the season, and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the park. The big attraction was the fabulous hats that the socialites would be wearing.
By that time it was mid afternoon and we started back toward the campground. Noticed a Shrine of the Black Madonna on the attractions, so decided to go see it. It was built by a Franciscan brother and took him 35 years to do it. It reminded me a good deal of the Grotto in Iowa.
Thursday we started the day at the Scott Joplin house. Scott Joplin is famous for his ragtime music --if you are old enough to know the movie The Sting, six of his songs were used in the movie. There was a girls' chorus there at the same time, so we not only heard Scott's music, but they graced us with two songs that they would be singing at a church that night. They were from Arkansas or Oklahoma and were going to tour this summer. From the Joplin house we went in search of the Samuel Cupples House, which was built in 1888. The mansion is 42 rooms over three floors. It has fantastic woodwork and Tiffany-style windows. St. Louis University owns it, and has art from 1500-1930, as well as an extensive collection of Steuben and Tiffany glassware. The trick is finding the place with the GPS system! We finally gave up after the GPS had us going around in circles and called the house. Surprise! It was right behind the building we were parked in front of! It seems the University had the street closed to vehicular traffic, and the only way to get to it was to park on another street and walk over! It was worth the trip!
Today's our last day in St. Louis, so we had to choose our sights carefully! We decided to go to the U. S. Grant National Historic site. Wonderful choice! We learned that Grant met his wife, Julia Dent, while he was serving at the Jefferson Barracks and after serving in California resigned his commission and took up farming at White Haven, on land that his father-in-law had given them at the time of their marriage. We toured the house and outbuildings, as well as an extensive museum outlining their lives. There was a 30 minute movie to watch as well. From there we traveled back downtown to the Eugene Field house (he wrote Wynken, Blynken and Nod, and The Calico Cat among other poetry and short stories). As an added bonus, there was also a toy museum and period toys located throughout the boyhood home. Eugene's father Roswell Fields was the lawyer who initiated the lawsuit that led to the Dred Scott Supreme Court Decision. While he did not travel to Washington to plead the case, he asked his friend Mr. Blair (of the Washington Blair House) to stand in for him.
We are now back in Eureka and are hitched up so we can make an early departure to Hannibal, MO to explore the Mark Twain stories of Samuel Clemens. Stay tuned!
By that time it was mid afternoon and we started back toward the campground. Noticed a Shrine of the Black Madonna on the attractions, so decided to go see it. It was built by a Franciscan brother and took him 35 years to do it. It reminded me a good deal of the Grotto in Iowa.
Thursday we started the day at the Scott Joplin house. Scott Joplin is famous for his ragtime music --if you are old enough to know the movie The Sting, six of his songs were used in the movie. There was a girls' chorus there at the same time, so we not only heard Scott's music, but they graced us with two songs that they would be singing at a church that night. They were from Arkansas or Oklahoma and were going to tour this summer. From the Joplin house we went in search of the Samuel Cupples House, which was built in 1888. The mansion is 42 rooms over three floors. It has fantastic woodwork and Tiffany-style windows. St. Louis University owns it, and has art from 1500-1930, as well as an extensive collection of Steuben and Tiffany glassware. The trick is finding the place with the GPS system! We finally gave up after the GPS had us going around in circles and called the house. Surprise! It was right behind the building we were parked in front of! It seems the University had the street closed to vehicular traffic, and the only way to get to it was to park on another street and walk over! It was worth the trip!
Today's our last day in St. Louis, so we had to choose our sights carefully! We decided to go to the U. S. Grant National Historic site. Wonderful choice! We learned that Grant met his wife, Julia Dent, while he was serving at the Jefferson Barracks and after serving in California resigned his commission and took up farming at White Haven, on land that his father-in-law had given them at the time of their marriage. We toured the house and outbuildings, as well as an extensive museum outlining their lives. There was a 30 minute movie to watch as well. From there we traveled back downtown to the Eugene Field house (he wrote Wynken, Blynken and Nod, and The Calico Cat among other poetry and short stories). As an added bonus, there was also a toy museum and period toys located throughout the boyhood home. Eugene's father Roswell Fields was the lawyer who initiated the lawsuit that led to the Dred Scott Supreme Court Decision. While he did not travel to Washington to plead the case, he asked his friend Mr. Blair (of the Washington Blair House) to stand in for him.
We are now back in Eureka and are hitched up so we can make an early departure to Hannibal, MO to explore the Mark Twain stories of Samuel Clemens. Stay tuned!
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