My oldest son, Alan, and his wife co-own a great lake house in southern Minnesota. We took a family weekend there along with another son and my daughter and her family. Kevin and I obviously have more time so we took off early to do some sightseeing along the way. We spent some time in Northfield, MN, a lovely little college town. We wandered around the downtown area which was full of historic brick buildings and lots of artisan-type shops. We also visited their historic museum. One of Northfield’s claims to fame is that the bank was (rather unsuccessfully) robbed by the Jessie James and Younger gang. The “guided tour” was with a high school student who obviously was very excited to be able to tell about the robbery. The old bank teller area was still original, and the little museum is well worth the $4 or $5 fee (depending on age).
Northfield also has a great olive oil and vinegar shop. Alan had told me it was a great place that he bought things from regularly. We ended up with one cooking oil and one flavored oil for dipping bread in. I admit I don’t use enough vinegars to appreciate the options of those. I intend on using both for dinner tomorrow night! We also found a great Mexican restaurant, Gran Plaza. I had Pollo Loco with the best Mexican rice I have ever had! It is a bit silly to rave about rice, but it was really outstanding. It had been cooked with grilled onions, and that was certainly a help.
The days at the lake house were fun. Alan’s BIL is a contractor, and he just finished a bathroom remodel for them hours before we showed up. Very nice! Handy too since I wasn’t looking forward to having 7 adults and 3 children sharing a single shower stall. We chose the bedroom closest to the new bathroom – surprise! This is the way I spent most of my time. (This was at the end of the day; it was sunnier most of the time.)
On Saturday Kevin, daughter Cheyenne, and grandson Clay went to the Apple Valley view in souther Minneapolis area. They had a good time, but they all said Clay’s favorite were the goats.
Everyone except Kevin and me spent lots of time in the water.
Neither Kevin or I are overly fond of lake water, but we did enjoy some fishing and boat riding. We also had some great pizza at an artisanal place in Montgomery, MN. Yummmmm.
Most of the folks left Sunday afternoon, but Alan’s family, Kevin, and I stayed until today. We got lucky, and the rain that had been forecast to start last night waited until after we left around 10:30. We ended up having a classic Midwest pork tenderloin lunch at a place called the Elbow in Albert Lea. Good, fried tenderloin sandwiches are one of the things I missed most about the Midwest when we lived in Utah.
Other than the trip, Kevin continues to be busy on the motorhome. He completed the final cosmetic work on the EMS installation, the solar controller, and the Trimetric battery monitor. Now he just needs to get one of the kids here to help install the panels. It should be one of the next two weekends.