Minnetonka, MN

Well, it is now 9/20 and we are in Taylors Falls, MN, about 50 miles northwest of of the Twin Cities on the MN/WI border.
I think it might be time to head South as the temp this morning is 44 degrees!!!
Leaves are turning fast up here.

But the weekend is supposed to be back up in the 80's so go figure!

 Anyway, we were in Minnetonka, MN this past week and had a great time with family.  So here are mostly pictures of the kiddies---

 Judy and Pam hosted a luncheon for two cousins and a classmate of Judy's.
From left to right, Darlene, Karen (sisters), Judy, Janet, and Pam.

And here they are from last year!!!

 

 We did go to a play at the Plymouth Playhouse and saw the Looney Lutherans' in "Livin" La Vida Lutheran" a comedy about, who else, but Lutherans.  It was very good.

On Friday, 9/15, Steve took me out for lunch at a great deli.  We had a Reuben sandwich and fries, and, then, someone must have told the waitress that there was a birthday boy present and brought a huge (did I say huge???) piece of lemon/coconut cake with a candle in it!  Mmmm...mmm.  It was fantastic.

That night we were treated to a Twins game - they lost but we had a great time; weather was perfect as well.

Before we left, Phanie did some shopping at Costco for us:

Can't buy these in Texas!!


So now, we are in Taylors Falls and will be taking a river cruise today.  Looking forward to it.

Our itinerary going forward will be:

St. Cloud from 9/22 to 10/1
Pequot Lakes 10/1 to 10/8  (On 10/7 we will be attending a memorial service for Kenny and Betty Anderson, Judy's uncle and aunt).
Sioux Falls, SD 10/8
Omaha, NE 10/9 to 10/13
Chanute, KS 10/13 to ???

We are scheduled to have a repair made of our trailer (you may remember that back in July we were side swiped by another trailer in MA.  So we are going to get it repaired.  However, we have also noticed that our entertainment slide is not retracting all the way in (by about an inch or two) and also that we have a water leak of some kind on the same slide.  They may be able to fix it while there, but, if they have to remove the slide to repair it, we will have to make another appointment to come back.  UGH - I sure hope it isn't too serious.

Anyway, those are our plans.  We hope to be home the latter part of the 3rd week of Oct.  Getting anxious...

Austin, MN

 On Friday, 9/8, we left Pipestone and headed East across Southern MN to Austin, MN.
Our campground was slightly off the beaten path --

First, the road turned to gravel and the yellow sign that you can barely see in the distance says 'Dead End!!"

We turned off the gravel road and into a farm yard.

After checking in, we drove down this road...

turned right and drove ahead...

then turned left...

and followed this road, turned right, and...

followed this road up the hill ahead..

another left, and we went down this hill/road...

finally, getting into the campground area...(1/2 mile back into the woods).

And, here we are.  Not sure how we got into this site but we did.

Very heavily treed campground.

On Saturday we drove about 5 miles into Austin to visit the SPAM Museum.  Had a tour guide who was extremely knowledgeable about the history of Hormel and SPAM.  It was first introduced in 1937 by George Hormel.

During the wars, Hormel supplied millions of cans of SPAM to troops overseas. They were supplying the British and French in WWII even before the US entered the war.

SPAM can be found in many countries these days.

In 2007 the 7 billionth can of SPAM was sold.  Hawaii consumes more SPAM than any other state - 7 million cans a year.

What kind of meat is SPAM you say??

According to their website, the canned meat contains only 6 ingredients:  already-cooked pork (two different cuts:  pork shoulder and ham), salt, water, potato starch (to keep the meat moist), sugar and sodium nitrate (a common preservative).

They are working toward supplying undeveloped nations with SPAM to aid in the growth of children - both phsically and mentally.

Notice the picture below and its caption.

The museum has a sort to train going all around the ceiling - actually SPAM cans.

We enjoyed the tour, and, whether or not, you like SPAM, it is worthwhile to visit here and learn all about Hormel and SPAM.

Now, we are up-to-date!!!!

Leaving here on Monday, 9/11, and will spend a week in the Mpls area with Judy's sister and family.   

Lake Benton, MN

We left St. Cloud on the Thursday before Labor Day and drove to SW Minnesota.  Along the way we went thru Granite Falls and they had a nice display of flags (patriotic).

we weren't sure why it was so foggy but later found out that it was actually smoke from the fires up north (Canada mainly).  It was with us for a couple of days.

A picture of the lake (Lake Benton - smoky).

Flowers.

We stayed at the Hole in the Mountain Campground.

My cousin, Gary Serie and his wife Shirl camped with us.  They have the trailer on the left, and, we are in the middle.  Their friends, Chuck and Colleen, also camped with us.  They live on a farm about 7 miles from the campground so we had fresh sweet corn for dinner that was picked that day.

Chuck and Colleen had just purchased a newer RV so we had a tour of it.

This is a picture of where we spent most of the weekend. Had a fire going the entire time.  (Clothes needed washing after the long weekend!!).

The park had some good displays of flowers around the campground.

 We had a great time, as usual, and hated to leave but the road beckons!!

On Tuesday, we drove all the way to Pipestone, my home town (20 miles!!).
We camped at the local campground where Judy and I were camp hosts back n 2013.
Unfortunately we don't have pictures - there was a malfunction with the camera and Judy lost all her pictures on the camera chip.
We did get together one evening with friends, Larry and Marlene Smallfield, at the local Pizza Ranch.  Great pizza, salad bar, and fried chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy.  Mmmm good!!

Always fun to go back home for a couple of days.