Minneapolis, MN 8/17 - 8/25/00
Go to 1999 Trip
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| We arrived at George and Josie Shallbetter's house in Plymouth, MN on Friday afternoon. They have a wonderful place on Schmidt Lake. This is the long driveway leading to their house on a small peninsula with water on three sides. They have lived in this house for years. The last time we were here they were out in the country surrounded by open fields; now they are in the middle of suburbia. (1 of 13) |
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| On Saturday we took George's Super Cub on floats out for a flight. The seaplane base had all the float planes sitting on the ground. They then used a home-built truck/lift to move the planes into the water. To my surprise, George put me in the front seat. Since I haven't flown for years I was a little nervous about this, but once we were in the air it all came back very quickly. We were up for 1.6 hours and made five landings and takeoffs. Float plane flying is a real kick. I could get hooked on this real quick. (2 of 13) |
 On Sunday they
invited all the family over for a picnic so we could get re-acquainted with
my nieces and nephews and meet their spouses and their children. We had
a wonderful time and were very thankful to George and Josie for giving us
this opportunity. I'm just sorry that our children never had the opportunity
to know any of their cousins and their children. Well, maybe someday. (3
of 13) |
 Here
are our hosts enjoying a moment with their dog Bear, who is also called
PITA (pain in the a...). They were great hosts and we enjoyed our stay with
them. I am including pictures of some of the family below. (4 of 13) |
  Sarah
and Jonathan with Dan (father).
Carrie and husband Marty.
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  Karen
and Joe.
George with Connie Richter (Brother Jerry's daughter
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  This
is Steve with his son Eric.
This is Josie with daughter Nan
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 This
is their daughter Sue with her husband Terry. They live in Oklahoma and
are working in Minnesota this Summer. (8 of 13) |
 Susan and
I went to the Minnesota State Fair on Thursday 8/24/00. This was the first
time we have been back to the fair since we were teenagers. There were a
few things that Susan and I were looking for, they were Tom Thumb Donuts,
Pronto Pups and Honey Sundaes. (9 of 13) |
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| We were successful in finding all three of our wishes. Tom Thumb Donuts are little donuts about 11/2 inch in diameter that are made on-site and are sugared and hot when you get them. A Pronto Pup is known as a corn dog everywhere else. I didn't have a honey sundae, but we did have honey ice cream with sunflower seeds. One of the other must-try foods we were told about was fried cheese curds. Sounds bad, tastes good. (10 of 13) |
| Minnesotans seem to like anything on a stick. There were pickles, walleyes, chocolate waffles, etc. However, in a stick back-lash, and to set themselves apart from the rest, one of the restaurants advertised "Definitely, Nothing On A Stick." (11 of 13) |
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 I
wasn't kidding about the walley-on-a-stick. (12 of 13) |
| On Friday we spent just over nine hours walking and spending money in Mall of America. We didn't have time to go on any of the rides, but it looked like fun. |
Minneapolis, MN 6/19 to 6/21/99
 We made
it to Minneapolis on Saturday June 19th. We called ahead to try to get into
a campground, but the closest we could get was about 50 miles North. So
I called my brother Tom, who is at his lake place by Brainerd, MN this Summer,
and asked if we could park in his driveway in Minneapolis. Being a good
brother that he is, he said it was OK. The picture is of his front yard with the camper parked in his circular driveway. Tom's wife, Carol, was traveling back to Minneapolis when I called him, so needless to say, she was quite surprised to see that some trailer trash from Utah had invaded her driveway. |
 For those
of you who have heard about Mall of America in Bloomington, MN, we did visit
it on Sunday. This is a picture of the amusement park that is located in
the center of the mall. Being at the mall is as much a visual experience
as it is a shopping experience. It is three stories high and I don't know
how many acres it covers. It is just BIG.
This is one of the sets of elevators in the complex
Sue had to find the Lego area and build a Lego model with the kids. Unfortunately none of the kids would play with her so she just had to build one for herself. Just cannot get the kid out of her. Fortunately!
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 Lake Harriet
is one of the many lakes in Minneapolis and is one of our favorite spots
to visit when we are in the city. There are two trails around the lake,
one for walking and a separate one for bikes and roller blading. We walked
the 2 1/2 miles around the lake on Sunday.
This is a very common site around the lake.
As a matter of fact, the ducks even have their own crossing lanes. Good grief, only in Minnesota.
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