Minnesota Homecoming

We crossed the Canadian-USA boarder on July 25th and spent the next nine days visiting family and friends in Minnesota, Dave's childhood home.  The weather was warm and muggy, but still quite pleasant.

First stop was an eventful stay with Todd and Deanna in Sauk Rapids. Todd was playing in a charity golf tournament when we arrived.  Deanna was hobbling around on crutches while her Achilles tendon heals.  Their boys loved playing in our trailer:  Matthew (8) and twins Christopher and Alexander (5).  We fell in love with Karina (2), who joined the family over a year ago from Korea.  Smart as a whip, vocal as a blue jay, and energetic as a locomotive, it’s hard to keep up with her.  What fun we had with this family that we miss so much since they left Monterey.

Next was a shorter, but equally delightful visit with Dave’s cousin, Bruce, and the beautiful women in his life: his wife, Corey, and daughters, Ella (10), Claire (8) and Grace (6).  They are all balancing very busy lives with open dialogue and abundant grace.  Bruce is fearless when it comes to remodeling their lovely home, attempting projects that we would never consider, even with contractors.  Their home near St. Paul was a lovely stopover.  It was hard to say goodbye.

 We traveled on to the family farm of long-time friends, Roger and Marlys in Elysian.  Jane and Marlys took a carriage ride with the Red Hatters while Dave and Roger shopped at Cabelas.  Other highlights included Bingo at the American Legion (Marlys won twice), playing Dominos, watching X-games on TV (silver medal for Tanner), riding a motorbike, and pulling weeds in the tomato garden.

 Our last Minnesota stop was Rochester, where Dave was born and lived for ten years.  Aunt Marge and Uncle Mel treated us to a fine dinner at Michael’s, a famous restaurant near the Mayo Clinic (where they both used to work).  Then they gave us a tour that tapped into Dave’s nostalgia as we drove past his first home and school and the homes of his grandparents and great-grandparents.

On the way to St. Paul, we bought a new battery for the Casita.  Took a photo of the connections, but should have studied the photo before reconnecting the wires.  In our haste, we got it wrong and melted some wires in the Casita.  Fortunately, a neighbor of Roger and Marlys is a first-class mechanic, who soon had us on our way again.