It was an absolutely gorgeous park, and I had a wonderful time! I hiked around all three large lakes in the park, sometimes listening to music, and sometimes just in silence listening to nature. The lakes were picturesque, the trees were very tall and were turning colors as fall sets in, and the weather was perfect. Here are some photos from my time there:
I spent about 4 hours there. I had such a good time, I bought a mug from the visitor center just before I left.
Brycie and I recently ventured to Upstate New York to attend her cousin’s wedding. On the day before the wedding, they had a welcome party. The invitation said that, among other activities, there would be kayaking. Well, there was a kayak, and a pond, and guess what? I was absolutely the only person at the event who got into that kayak.
Kayak is a palindrome, as is the name of the bride, so that’s wonderful.
A few family members enjoyed watching me from the shore, hoping that I would tip over, especially when I docked the boat at a small center island and hopped out to explore the gazebo.
Here’s the thing, though: I never tipped over. Never got wet. Never even stepped in the water as I was getting in or out of the kayak. I think I am pretty good at kayaking. Which works out great, because I absolutely love doing it.
Immediately after that, there was goat yoga. Unlike the kayaking, nearly everyone participated in the goat yoga. And don’t let the name fool you: there wasn’t too much yoga going on. Most people were just laughing at the goats’ antics. Here are some photos from that noteworthy events:
On Friday, September 5th, Brycie and I attended a concert at Canterbury Park.
Brycie’s sister first told us about this concert and, though an invitation was extended to everyone in the family, we were the only two who attended (even her sister did not go!).
Guess who was performing? Yacht Rock Revue. Yes, that’s really the name of a band. And yes, they played almost all covers…of yacht rock. Some songs I loved, some songs were just fine, and some songs didn’t really interest me at all. Nevertheless, we had a great time. A good percentage of the attendees had captain’s hats on, so we evidently missed out on that memo. This was my first time attending a concert at Canterbury Park in over 25 years. Here are some videos of the unusual event:
As summer wound down this year, I really felt the need to take my kids on a family vacation. They initially had a vacation planned with their grandparents, but that was cancelled due to health issues. Then their mother was going to take them on a vacation, but she had to cancel that when he contract at work was cancelled. And, yes, I know Emmett did get to go to Washington, D.C. with me earlier in August, but Isla didn’t get to join us. So, on the last possible weekend before school began, I took Isla and Emmett on a road trip to exotic southern Minnesota and northern Iowa.
Our first stop was Historic Forestville. This is one of the Minnesota Historical Society’s 26 locations, and if you recall from my previous post, some of the sites are shutting down indefinitely. One of them is Forestville. So…yay! I did make it to one of the sites mere days before it closed, and am hereby labeling it as Noteworthy Event #8! Here are some photos from the event…
Here we are arriving at Forestville.
Isla enjoyed trying on this bonnet at the general store, then expressed regret that they are no longer in fashion. I told her she should wear them anyway.Of all the attractions we saw on this trip, this definitely holds the record as least-interesting display I saw.Emmett learning how to use a 19-century drill press.Emmett trying his skill at a popular 19-century pastime.Here we are fully immersed in the Forestville culture.
In the same state park as Forestville is Mystery Cave, Minnesota’s largest cave system (that we know of). So of course we had to explore that as well…
Noteworthy event #9 occurred the next day, when we kicked things off with a visit to the SPAM Museum in Austin.
Emmett crafter his own food creation, dubbed “Real Barf.”I am 22 SPAM cans tall.
We next visited the Jolly Green Giant statue in Blue Earth. Isla said it was creepy.
Little Sprout was there, too. Isla did not find him creepy.I think this photo is self-explanatory.
We next crossed the border into Iowa, and first visited the Kinney Pioneer Museum. Alas, I have no notable pictures from our time there, but I do encourage a visit!
We then stopped outside the Surf Ballroom to visit the last place Buddy Holly ever performed. Then, after checking into our hotel, we paid a visit to Central Garden Park. Here’s a nice picture from our time there:
Later, we went to buy dinner. We first tried to eat at Rice Garden, but they were permanently closed. That did not stop us from going through their drivethru and pretending they were open.
The kids found this quite funny, especially once we realized there was a Wendy’s right next door, and a lot of people were there – probably watching us.
The next day, we first spent a couple of hours at an antique bazaar at the lake front park. Both kids bought a little something.
From there, we stopped at the Buddy Holly Memorial site and paid our respects to a music legend. I had been there once before, but it was wonderful to give Isla and Emmett the opportunity to learn about and see it. Bonus: we played some Buddy Holly music in the car ride.
Then, it was back into Minnesota to visit another Historic Site – the W. W. Mayo House. I initially thought this was another site that is closing indefinitely, but I just checked, and I was wrong. Either way, it was great to get a chance to visit this site I’d never been to before.
Finally, we passed through the town of Jordan, which meant we had to make a stop at Minnesota’s Largest Candy Store.
As you can see from this photo, we were feeling pretty spent by this time. Within an hour of this picture being taken, we were back home.
On the 16th of this month, Brycie and I took (almost all of) our kids to do some sight-seeing in town. We started by visiting the Octagon House, in Hudson, Wisconsin. I had visited this historic site once before, but it had been a while. Brycie said she’d never been there, despite living in Hudson for a long time, so I figured we should fix that.
I am sorry to say I almost didn’t take any pictures, but it was fascinating to learn about (be reminded of?) the interesting ways people lived in the 19th Century. For example, did you know hair art was a thing? People collected their hair in little specially-made containers, then, when they had enough, they’d twist and loop and braid it and make art.
I did take one picture, right as we were leaving. I thought this was pretty cool:
Then, after one of the kids ditched us to go to work, the rest of us carried on to Taylor’s Falls, Minnesota. We lunched at a 50s-style diner, then walked up a steep hill to the Folsom House. Like the Octagon House, this is an historic home from the 19th century. Unlike the Octagon House, the Folsom House is one of the Minnesota Historical Society’s twenty-six sites. I told the docent of my goal of visiting all 26 sites, and she then told me that three sites are closing indefinitely starting on September first. The three are nowhere near each other, and a bit tough to get to on short notice, but I am going to try my best to get to at least one of them by month’s end.
Again, no photos. Oops.
Again, we were told about and shown examples of hair art. So…that made for an interesting day.
