You never know what you’ll dig up when you dive into family history, and I found a real gem in Minnesota. That’s not all we found in Minnesota though. We also found a week goes much too quickly when you spend a of couple days at a lake, a couple with relatives, and a couple at the largest mall in America! Once again, I feel like we missed so much.
Here are some highlights from our week in Minnesota:
Most Beautiful Place: Detroit Lakes. The Detroit Lakes Holiday Inn was right on the lake. Our room had a balcony with a lake view, so we spent part of each evening sitting out enjoying the lake, watching the sun set. We even heard a loon! It was so neat to hear their call. I felt like I was on Golden Pond, but that’s in another state to come.
Best Tourist Spot: Mall of America. It’s the largest mall in America and has an amusement park in the center. We also played mini golf there and ate dinner at the food court. We didn’t see a movie, but we could have at one of the many screens. If we had only slept there, which I heard you can do at the aquarium, we wouldn’t have had to leave at all!
Best Meal: All the ones with family. Don’t make us choose…they were all good, and we can’t pick one aunt over the other!
Worst Meal: Mall of America food court. You’d think the biggest mall in America would have the largest food court in America as well, but it was pretty small and mundane. The mall did have a variety of sit down restaurants, but they were over our budget. Of course at this time,we hadn’t seen the recent news report about the atrocious number of critical violations at many food courts, Mall of America included, and food safety is especially important for transplant recipients because of their suppressed immune system.
Biggest Twinge of Homesickness: Talking about family with our Minnesota relatives made us miss those not present...Wish you could have come, too!
Biggest Surprise: How the kids spent their money. While Mike and I manned the Donate Life booth at the Stevens County Fair, the kids had a great time exploring the fairgrounds. As a special treat and experiment, we gave them $10 each to spend on lunch, drinks, rides – basically whatever they wanted. It was interesting to sit back and watch what they did with the money. Chloe spent most of hers immediately on nacho cheese chips and fresh squeezed lemonade. Levi took a great deal of time comparing prices and finally spent only $4 on lunch and a drink in order to spend the rest of it later at a store. It was actually a switch from what I predicted would happen.
Biggest Revelation: Sociology is interesting. At the Donate Life booth, it was extremely obvious to tell people opinion’s of organ donation, and it was the first place people actively avoided us. Those who believe the myths would walk by avoiding even eye contact as much as possible, while those who have had or been around a transplant would walk up excitedly.
The booth was kind of quiet until the dairy folks nearby started selling 25 cent ice cream cones. On a hot summer day we were the only place to sit in the shade to lick the quickly melting ice cream. Suddenly our booth became quite popular. We were able to talk to many people about signing up as organ donors that we wouldn’t have been able to otherwise.
Worst Closure: It’s a stretch here because nothing was really closed, but I’d have to say the paddle boat at the hotel on Detroit Lakes. Nasty storms had come through the few days prior to our arrival. The paddle boat was swamped as a result. The employee said he would clean it up that afternoon so that we could take it out, but two days later as we checked out of the hotel, it was still full of water.
Best Drive: The pontoon boat on the lake where I got a break from driving while Mike and the kids took over the wheel for the afternoon. Oh, there was fishing involved, too, which was fun because we actually caught fish, unlike my few fishing experiences in Illinois.
Worst Drive: The dilemma over whether to drive 3 hours each way to Walnut Grove to see the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum and home site. I just couldn’t drag my family 6 hours round trip to see a sod house and museum, even though I’ve loved Little House on the Prairie
since I was a girl. I regret it now!Biggest Disappointment: See above. Seriously, I was quite disappointed because we weren’t able to see the Laura Ingalls Wilder home in South Dakota either, due to the distance, only to find out this one was too far again! I’ve cried through many Little House episodes, so I guess it was only fitting that I almost shed a tear over not seeing the real thing.
Best Memory: A special afternoon with Chloe at the American Girl Store and Bistro in the Mall of America. It was fun hanging out together, just the two of us, for the first time on the trip. Whereas the American Girl Café in Chicago is much fancier, the Bistro in Minneapolis was more casual and therefore cheaper too. The three of us, Chloe, I, and her doll, had a table next to the window overlooking the indoor amusement park for our special date.
Worst Memory: Having to leave family so soon. Chloe had really connected with her second cousin which made it especially difficult.
Funniest Memory: The gem, the real jewel I acquired in Minnesota, was learning that Mike’s great, great grandfather, Judge Hezekiah Bragg was the person who introduced carp to Stevens County, MN. They had it brought in from California - and were excited about it! We couldn’t determine why carp was a good thing, but never the less in 1880 it was.
My MN Hike…errr, Bike: The hotel on Detroit Lakes had free bike rentals for their guests, so one morning we pedaled the eleven or so miles around the lake. I really enjoy riding bikes, and this was our first time on a bike since we’d begun the trip. It was so nice to ride a bike again - and to find out we hadn’t forgotten how after all that time!
What We Did Miss: Little House, Itasca State Park, the whole North Shore of Minnesota, lute fish, lefse, and so much more all recommended to us.
In Summary: Minnesota, with so many lakes, that must be a lot of carp. All of which we feel guilty about.
The Mom
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