Lake Wobegon, Minn

June 30

After driving over thru remote and desolate So. Dakota, I was almost giddy reaching Minnesota, with its rolling green fields and beautiful big trees.  And the expansive green velvet lawns that somehow get mowed all by themselves since I never see anyone mowing.

  

And at River Terrace RV Park in Monticello, Minn, there was the Mighty Mississippi, only a few feet away!  I was in awe, not realizing it came this far north. I must look at a map once in awhile instead of just relying on GYPSY, my GPS.

        

I was here to visit with Saratoga Book Club friend, Nancy, and her husband, Duane, who spend summers at their place on Maple Lake. This little community is as close as one could get to Lake Wobegon, where "all the women are strong, the men are good looking and all the children are above average".

They offered to let me driveway surf but their driveway was too steep for my fridge to be level so I took up residence at the RV Park in the evenings.

This group of Canadian geese swimming in formation on the Mississippi reminded me of the swans on the Thames when Bobbie and I walked the towpath a few years ago.

The overcast look to the sky this week is caused by wildfires in Canada sending smoke to this area.  Apparently there were many lightning strikes there lately.

Wonderful tour guides, Nancy and Duane showed me around the area beginning with their garage where Nancy keeps her Dad's 1954 restored tractor.  It  has a special place in her heart;  not only did she learn to drive on it, but spent many hours doing farm chores growing up in Minnesota. 

The Maple Lake Library is a converted movie theater and the only library  in the state entirely staffed by volunteers.

A tiny community garden in town also maintained by volunteers.

There is just something about these clean little towns that look friendly and decent and nice.

 This was our stop for morning coffee.

Heading into the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul, we toured the beautiful University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum where we found sculpture mixed with plantings just right.

Every year the Arboretum has  a theme and this year it is Legos. Throughout the gardens are Lego creations like this one with notes explaining its  creation.

This birdbath, water and all, is made entirely of Legos.....

As you can (or can't) see, this one took 14,802 Lego bricks and 97 hours to build.

On into town past beautiful public parks by water, of course.

What is the Loch Ness Monster doing so far from Scotland?!

Past the new Minnesota Vikings stadium being built in the shape of a ship, naturally.

Great views from the top of the Guthrie Center, a performing arts center which is always open as a public space.

This is one of only two arched stone bridges west of the Mississippi, if I have my info correct.  Let me know, Duane, so I can edit.

Sitting in the back seat, I enjoyed the give and take banter of Nancy and Duane navigating thru Minneapolis and St.Paul thru neighborhoods where they had been young marrieds and so much has changed.  It reminded me of my favorite confusing direction to Bob when he was driving:
 "Turn right here! Left!"

Leaving Maple Lake the next day I headed for Sauk Centre, Minn, the home of Sinclair Lewis, author of Main Street, which won the first Pulitzer awarded an American for literature in the early 1900s.  To find out if my suspicions were correct that most high schoolers today have no idea who Sinclair Lewis is, I asked one of them when I was out of the area. He asked me which band he was with....

Sinclair Lewis spent his childhood in this home and did not endear himself to the locals when they recognized themselves in the novel.

The little downtown of Sauk Centre is solid and unpretentious with brick buildings like Main Street in his novel.

I stopped into this hotel which has been restored to have lunch and do some blogging on wifi.




 A table in the lobby was stacked with books for hotel guests.

Back to the campground where many families were winding up for a big 4th of  July.

I went in to Annandale, Minn for the best small town parade ever, complete with marching bands, horses and lots of kids.  

Lori's fuzzy dog was even there with me.  He's enjoying the trip, Lori....

Looks more like California than Minnesota............

I had heard that Garrison Keillor was doing a performance of Prairie Home Companion at Macalester College in St. Paul, so went online and got tickets for the July 4 show at 4 pm.

Busy day but it was worth it.

Before the performance was surprised to see the man himself wandering among the crowd, visiting with people. Well, not too surprised.  Here he is buying a Peroshki.

 And no, I wasn't stalking him.

But I couldn't resist stopping for a chat.  He asked where I was from, so I pulled out my map and told about my trip. He signed the map and told me to be careful out there.  I told him the most dangerous thing I do on the road is drive with one arm out the window.  That brought a laugh.

Garrison and me.

Garrison Keillor quote:
"We are polite about it, but in St. Paul we believe that anyone who lives anywhere else must have been trapped by circumstance."

I've always loved the music on Prairie Home Companion.  Hope you enjoy it, too.  This was their live broadcast on July 4 for NPR radio.  Enjoy!