Lake Benton, MN

On Friday we drove about 180 miles to Southern Minnesota.  We stayed at a campground in Lake Benton, MN where my cousin, Gary Serie and his wife, Shirl, live.  

Lake Benton is proud to be known as the "Original Wind Power Capital of the Midwest". Presently the home to 600 plus wind turbines -- with more currently under construction -- Lake Benton is emerging as an important source of alternative, wind-generated electricity.

A 1990 study of Minnesota's wind energy potential by the Department of Public service found that the area around Lake Benton -- the

"Buffalo Ridge" -- has enough wind to produce electricity well in excess of a full year's net electrical consumption in Minnesota. The Buffalo Ridge provides more high-grade wind resources than the entire state of California.

Our campground was just down this road on the left.

Gary and Shirl have owned a NAPA store, hardware store and gift shop in town for many years.  Hoping to sell the business, retire and travel like us.

The campground was very nice – Hole in the Mountain Campground – a county park.  

Gary and Shirl's trailer is on the right.  We would be next to them on their right.

The county is hoping to restore this cabin.

We parked next to Gary and Shirl and after work on Friday we went out to dinner with them and two other couple friends from town, then back to their house for more conversation, laughter, and fun.

On Saturday afternoon the 8 of us met up again at the campground, had a fire going, cooked some hamburgers and had some other side dishes.  Afterwards, we sat around the fire until almost 11 PM.  Great time/nice friends.

On Sunday we went to the local ELCA Lutheran Church in Lake Benton.  When we walked in, I saw someone who looked familiar.  Sure enough, it was a lady we had met when we were in Mesa, AZ visiting with Gary and Shirl there.  She is a friend of theirs.  So, after the service, we went back for coffee and had a nice time visiting with her and her daughter.  She lives in Mesa now but comes back to Lake Benton to visit with her sister and family.

Sunday afternoon Gary and Shirl took us on a tour of Lake Benton 

We drove all the way around it and saw all the homes along the lake as well as a couple of campgrounds (seasonal campgrounds only).  We never knew that there were so many houses.

At the last campground on the lake we stopped and visited for a short while with my cousin, John Appeldorn and his wife, Gerri.  They farmed for many years but retired in 2015 and have a motorhome – they spend the winter in FL and the summer in Lake Benton.   Gerri had just had a knee replacement on Monday and was resting so we didn’t stay long.

We did see another relative – Karen Appeldorn – who was there for the weekend as well.  It was her birthday that day but we couldn’t stay and celebrate at the time.  Looked like she was having a good time.

On Monday – Labor Day – we stayed at the campground, sat outside and enjoyed the beautiful weather, and, later we played cards.

All in all, it was a great weekend as we have never stayed up here before.  For those of you who don’t know, Lake Benton is only 18 miles north of my hometown, Pipestone, so we have always stayed in Pipestone whenever we are up here.  Fortunately, we couldn’t get into the Pipestone Campground over the Labor Day weekend because it was full so we stayed in Lake Benton.  Glad we did, and, we will stay up there again.

Minneapolis, MN

On Sunday we had reservations at the Dakota Meadows CG next to the Mystic Lake Casino in Prior Lake, MN.  

We had originally wanted to get here on Friday but they were full so that is why we stayed in St. Cloud.  Very nice campground – have stayed here several times.

On Monday Judy invited some friends over for lunch – she went to high school with two of them.  They had a good time reminiscing about the old days.

On Tuesday Pam and Judy took Mathias and Violet to the Mall of America to the Crayola Experience.

over the next several days we visited with Pam and Steve and the rest of the family.

Mathias, Stephanie and Jesse’s son, was with us a couple of days.  What a treat he was!

  

On Thursday, Sept. 1^st, we went to the MN State Fair – Senior Day!  Had a great time.  Lauren’s daughter, Violet (6 years old) went with us.  They had a birthing center there where sows were giving birth to baby pigs.  Cows, rabbits, lambs, etc. were all there.  I guess they impregnate these animals at such a time so that they will probably have babies while at the fair.

Made the rounds on specialty foods – deep fried baklava on a stick, corn dogs, corn dogs made from a bacon batter and then sprinkled with bacon bits after it was cooked, poutine (popular in Canada – French fries and cheese curds with gravy poured over it),

onion rings, kettle corn (of course).  Had a good time.  Wasn’t crowded at all until about 1 PM and then it got extremely crowded for some reason.  Anyway, we had seen most of what we wanted to see so watched Violet on several rides and then left around 3.

Alice (Lauren and Ben's youngest) was over one day.

We had several dinners around the dining room table.  This was one of them.

From the left, Pam, Jesse, Stephanie, Mathias, Zak, Molly, Steve, and me.

As usual, a great time was had by all.

On Friday we left for southern Minnesota.

St. Cloud, MN

Thursday we left Pequot Lakes and drove about 80 miles to St. Cloud, MN.  Found our campground off the freeway in a nice secluded grove of trees.  Crowded but we had a nice site.

Judy texted her sister, Pam, in Minnetonka where we were and said to come up and we would buy dinner.  Didn’t really expect them to do it but they did!!  (only about 60 miles).  So we found a nice restaurant – had all you can eat chicken.  Unfortunately, all you can eat means something to me as I had about 5 pieces!! After dinner we went back to the campground and talked for awhile.

On Friday Judy and I drove into St. Cloud to visit the campus since this was where we originally met back in 1961.  

We drove around and found our respective dorms and did remember a couple of other buildings but in 55 years much as changed. 

Shoemaker Hall (for men only back then).

Judy's dorm (for women only back then).

Her room - second floor, third window.

In the afternoon Pam called and invited us down to their place for dinner.  I wanted to say that it was too far too drive but since they drove up the night before, that wasn’t a very good excuse.  So we drove down there!!  Got back to St. Cloud around 11 PM.

Drove down to Minneapolis (actually Prior Lake south of Mpls) the next day.

Pequot Lakes, MN

Sorry about the delay in posting anything new, but life, as in being busy, sometimes gets in the way!!

Anyway, we left Two Harbors on Monday and drove West to a town called Pequot Lakes.   

You know you are in lakes/fishing country when you see a water tower like this one.

Our campground was nice.

We had laundry to do so found a laundromat (not sure if it qualified as one because most machines were not working!) but we did get it done.  The interesting thing about this was that this laundromat was behind what you could call a strip mall!!

We did have lunch at the Dairy Queen - $5 buck lunch and was very good.

On Tuesday we drove down to Brainerd to spend some more time with Judy’s Aunt Betty and Uncle Kenny who are in an assisted living facility.  We visited them a few weeks earlier but wanted to come back and see them again.

Donna and Karin were there as well.  They come down from Bemidji every Tuesday to go to the DR with them and buy any supplies that they may need.  We had a very nice time and hope to get up there again next year.

On Wednesday we drove down to Nisswa which is a very popular tourist area because of all the lakes and resorts. 

Gift shops galore!!  

Had lunch and a beer at a local brewery there.

On Thursday we moved on to St. Cloud.

Two Harbors, MN - Tall Ships Rally 6

On Sunday we did go to church.  Not sure which one we ended up at, but the service was led by a folk singer and his wife who signed.  Very moving service.

Her claim to fame was that she was an actress in NY which meant that she was a waitress!!!  Actually, she was featured in the very first Diet Coke commercial way back when.
She also said she didn't know he was so tall because when she first met him, he was sitting down!!

In the afternoon the folk singer was presenting a concert at the band shell in town so we went to it.  It was alot of fun.  He had jokes, name that tune, etc. and kept everyone involved.

After the concert we headed over to the brewery one last time and met many of our group there.  Only had beer this time as we wanted to go out to a restaurant for dinner.  The first place we went to said they were out of food.

OUT OF FOOD??  Maybe they didn't want our large group.  So we found another bar and grill and had a nice meal.

Back to the campground to say goodbyes to everyone with promises to meet again next Spring in the Hill Country and then again in August in NE to view the solar eclipse.  Looking forward to both...