Saturday, July 9, 2011

A Slice of Midwestern Heaven

We are in Minnesota. The flights were great - even though we left an hour late and barely made our connection in Seattle, it all turned out super.

We got in and found our rental car - carrying our bags across the airport, on a tram, down the stairs, up the stairs and finally to the rental desk.

We took off for Winona right away. It was a great drive and Jason was taken with Hastings and its Huge sports fields and old buildings. We drove around Red Wing a little and he was asleep by Lake City and didn't see any of the boats on the lake or rows of sailboats lining the road.

We hit Winona and I had to wake him to go shopping for his new pillow and then it was off to Houston to see my Aunt and Uncle. And of course I got lost - I always do. No cell service to speak of and going off of memory for the directions. Finally we pulled over next to an older gentleman on a tractor and asked if he knew the McNamers. OF COURSE he did! Their house was two driveways back the way I'd come!

We had a great night there. Ate a nice fresh salad right out of the garden, saw deer on the hillside, played a little basketball in front of a barn, and caught fireflies to put in a jar. A little slice of Midwestern Heaven.

This morning, we were off to the Cities. And YES, I got lost and took many wrong turns. Then my navigator fell asleep again. And I got lost again. Being lost took us on a route I'd never taken and we went through miles of Wind Turbines! It was incredible to see the wind at work. I'd watched videos and even taught a class about them, but it was awesome to see it at work. As far as the eye could see, wind turbines.

I also got to see some incredible farm sites. I love the old farm houses and barns. I love tractors and dilapidated iron. Corn fields after cornfields on rolling hills. And the American Flag with a place of honor in most yards on the back roads.

I said to Jase I could spend weeks driving around taking pictures of flags on people's farms. One had an old tractor placed right next to it and was right out by the road for all passer-by's to see.

Our two hour drive became 3 or 4. Oh well. So we visited with Molly at our destination finally, grabbed some dinner, and took Jase to the Mall of America.

The mall was a good time and we both thought Caden would love the amusement park inside. We considered spending the 40$ and riding all of the rides, but knew we didn't have time to do that and look through the mall. We chose to look around (after we went into Lego Land and build Caden some Lego people and took pictures of the larger than life size Lego figures).

Tomorrow morning it is off to Brainerd to drop Jason off at his camp. I'm so excited for him - though I know he's nervous about being alone . . . If I weren't here, I think he'd be fine. He will be fine once I leave him too . . . there is just something about being able to count on someone that makes a person a little needy. He will be and do great.

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