Saturday, October 21, 2006
Why not Minot?
Minot ND is a city out in the middle of North Dakota. That sounds like an oxymoron since Garrison Keillor just said the population of ND is dispersed 9.6 people per square mile. So to have a ‘city’ in the middle of it, takes some of those 9.6 people from the country. But I love Minot. It’s nicknamed “The Magic City” and it really is. There is a wonderful Scandinavian park right in the middle where the “Norsk Hostfest is held every October (and thousands visit).We visited Minot a few weeks ago. It’s amazing that you’re driving across the flatlands of North Dakota and suddenly you come to some rolling hills and down in the valley is the city of Minot.
Of course the real reason that I love visiting Minot is because I have family living there. Our three godchildren (niece and nephews: LeAnn, Scott and Kevin) and their families live right neat Minot and my sister lives fairly close (by ND miles) by. After we got to Minot, we went out for supper with Scott, Stacy and Dylan and visited with them for a while. I wish I had half of the energy that Dylan has. He is four years old and the cutest motormouth that you ever saw.
On Friday, we met up with LeAnn and after overeating at a Chinese buffet, we went to her house and picked tons of apples—maybe not tons, but we had ten 13-gal garbage bags pretty close to full. We decided to try the 'shake the tree' method with LeAnn wielding a huge fishing net and Bob a garbage bag to catch the apples. I climbed up the tree and gave it a good hard shake. Apples went everywhere—some out into the street—which is on a hill--so they rolled down the street. When we were leaving, we noticed apples along the edge of the street for two full blocks.
We were driving our little Focus and it was full to the brim with apples and our luggage. While we were picking apples, I must have stepped in some doggy ‘bombs’. There sure was a horrible smell in the car. So we had to stop and clean out my shoes.
We drove up to Sandy & Al’s Ranch and immediately started dehydrating apples. Sandy gave me a really nice dehydrator for an early Christmas president. So we had two dehydrators with 9 racks on each. We had it down to an art—the apple peeler spewing peelings all over, cinnamon and sugar flying, buckets of apple cores and peels going out to the chickens and baggies of dried apples filling up. I think we could fill up all the racks in about an hour.
Sandy and I visited one of their ‘favorite’ stores. It has lots of slightly damaged things—really cheap. I brought a $20 bill with me, so I wouldn’t get too carried away. I was mentally keeping track of how much I was getting and I figured it was about $18.70. When the lady rang it up—she kept saying “This is on sale”, so my total came to $13.50. There were watermelons on sale for $.20 a pound so I got a 30 lb one and it took my last $6.
We had a great time and ended up leaving with 10 baggies full of dehydrated apples, a bunch of squash, peppers (red, green, and hot, hot), pumpkins, eggplants, and two bushels of apples. We brought part of a bushel to Kara to dehydrate and finished up the rest at home. We also brought some of the veggies to Ross and Kara—and the hot peppers to Richard and Paul.
It’s always so wonderful to visit family.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
California—land of the gold rush, Hollywood, and lots of people and freeways. One of my favorite cities is in California—San Francisco. And we were lucky enough to visit there. We flew in to San Francisco airport and drove into the city.
We stopped for lunch at Pier 39 at a wonderful seafood place. We even had a great view of the Bay and Alcatraz. I was surprised at Alcatraz—you can see condos or something built up on one side of it. The last time we were there—which was over 10 years ago—we took a tour out there and the only thing on the island was the dock, some run-down buildings and the prison. Now it looks like a tourist spot. Pier 39 is where all the sea lions climb up on the docks and lay there barking. They are fun to watch—although you can smell they pretty good. We walked around the area a bit, but—as usual for San Francisco—it was cool and very windy.
We had a hotel reserved in San Rafel, which is north of San Francisco. We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge—I love big bridges! And the Golden Gate is one of my favorites. We stopped at a wayside rest right after we got off the bridge to look around. The wind was so strong; it was hard to walk against it. But at least it was bright and sunny and no fog.
That night we met up with a cyber friend that I have. It was the first time we had met in person and we talked like we were old friends. Bob is such a sweetheart—he just sat and listened and didn’t even get bored. We were at a neat microbrewery in Larkspur.
The next day, we drove north on Hwy 1. We traveled through the Muir Woods—which is really a wonderful winding road through the mountains. From there, we went through the Napa Valley and on to Sacramento where the retreat was being held. That’s a beautiful area.
The retreat was held on the Delta King, which is an old riverboat that has been converted to a hotel and convention center. It floats right on the river (although you couldn’t feel the boat move at all) and is located in Old Sacramento. This area has cobblestone streets, a great pathway along the river, and lots of docks area. There were also some museums, the old railroad depot, some tourist things like tour boats and trains, neat restaurants overlooking the river, and lots of unique little shops.
We had some time in the afternoon, so walked along the river and found an ice cream shop. There was a Pony Express Gathering in a park. We saw lots of shirts with Pony Express and then different states on the back. I guess this organization reenacts the Pony Express Route. They were having a barbeque, complete with a band. We sat and listened to the music for a while—they were really good.
That evening, 40 people from our group—which included advisors and some of their spouses—went to a murder mystery dinner theatre. It was so much fun. The host for the evening was Rowbar and he was hysterical. He had the highest voice, wore different gloves for each course that was served and a big feather boa. There was a really bad magician—who didn’t speak, but did some tricks. His manager kept saying he was so wonderful and the women all loved him. This guy came in and shot him and the sheriff shot the killer. Several audience members were given latex gloves and were called on to haul them out. Between courses, two more people were poisoned. Throughout the evening, people would be questioned about what they saw. It was funny because when they asked a lot of the people what they did for a living—so many were professors.
One funny thing that happened was one of the men in our group had gone to the bathroom and when he came out, a woman started to kiss him. He mentioned it to the actors and they really took off with it. It turned out that this woman (who had had a few drinks—surprise) mistook him for her boyfriend. They were both wearing brown shirts. It made for lots of funny jokes. At the end of the evening, the man who was playing the sheriff came out with a trophy for the person who figured out who the killer was. He had a tiny pair of nylon shorts and a tight, bright orange muscle shirt on. He strutted back and forth with the trophy. We were laughing so hard!
After the retreat, 14 of us went out for supper. We were going to Joe’s Crab shack, but there was 1 ½ hour wait, so we ended up at the Rio Café—which had great seafood and a little more classy (and expensive) than Joe’s. We had a lot of fun.
Since we were free after 10 am on Sunday and didn’t leave until Monday, we decided to drive up to Lake Tahoe. I worked there in 1971 with my two roommates from college. We were motel maids at a Rodeway Inn and lived in a little cabin. Bob and I had driven through there in 1973, but hadn’t been back since—so I was curious at how much it had changed. And it had quite a bit.
We did find a Rodeway Inn, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the one where we worked. The one where we worked had quite a long driveway, with the parking lot between the hotel and the lake and a nice big beach. Well, of course, it’s grown up so much that there are no long driveways and every inch near the beach has a large hotel on it. We went to a great restaurant that had a huge buffet—all the breakfast foods, plus crab legs, shrimp, crab stuffed sole, carved prime rib and turkey—just to name a few things. I should avoid buffets, because I overeat. But it sure was good. We sat out on the deck—it was really warm in the sun, but when the shade covered us—it got a little cool. We walked on the beach a little ways, although you couldn’t walk very far because there was private land next to the restaurant and marina.
When we were there in ’71 there were hardly any docks or boats in the lake. I remember them saying Lake Tahoe is very deep and because it’s so high in the mountains and it’s very cold and blue. Now there were lots of marinas and boats moored out in the lake, plus places you could rent jet skis. The lake is still very blue, but it must be getting a little polluted, because some bumper stickers say “Keep Lake Tahoe Blue”.
We found the post office where we used to pick up our mail and the area where our cabin was, but didn’t find anything that looked like our cabin. The road is much wider than what I remember, so it might have disappeared so the road could be widened.
We had a four-hour drive back to San Francisco, so had to get going fairly early. I really want to go back and spend a week or two there. On the way back, we drove up to Echo Lake. I remember Kathy, Jean and I picnicking there on some of our days off. We hiked down a fairly steep path to the lake and walked around a bit. Then had to climb back up—we took it easy, because we weren’t use to the altitude.
We stayed in Berkley for the night and then left the next day for home. As much as I love to travel and wander, I also enjoy coming home and relaxing in our solarium! It sure beats the traffic and crowds of people.
We stopped for lunch at Pier 39 at a wonderful seafood place. We even had a great view of the Bay and Alcatraz. I was surprised at Alcatraz—you can see condos or something built up on one side of it. The last time we were there—which was over 10 years ago—we took a tour out there and the only thing on the island was the dock, some run-down buildings and the prison. Now it looks like a tourist spot. Pier 39 is where all the sea lions climb up on the docks and lay there barking. They are fun to watch—although you can smell they pretty good. We walked around the area a bit, but—as usual for San Francisco—it was cool and very windy.We had a hotel reserved in San Rafel, which is north of San Francisco. We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge—I love big bridges! And the Golden Gate is one of my favorites. We stopped at a wayside rest right after we got off the bridge to look around. The wind was so strong; it was hard to walk against it. But at least it was bright and sunny and no fog.
That night we met up with a cyber friend that I have. It was the first time we had met in person and we talked like we were old friends. Bob is such a sweetheart—he just sat and listened and didn’t even get bored. We were at a neat microbrewery in Larkspur.The next day, we drove north on Hwy 1. We traveled through the Muir Woods—which is really a wonderful winding road through the mountains. From there, we went through the Napa Valley and on to Sacramento where the retreat was being held. That’s a beautiful area.
The retreat was held on the Delta King, which is an old riverboat that has been converted to a hotel and convention center. It floats right on the river (although you couldn’t feel the boat move at all) and is located in Old Sacramento. This area has cobblestone streets, a great pathway along the river, and lots of docks area. There were also some museums, the old railroad depot, some tourist things like tour boats and trains, neat restaurants overlooking the river, and lots of unique little shops.We had some time in the afternoon, so walked along the river and found an ice cream shop. There was a Pony Express Gathering in a park. We saw lots of shirts with Pony Express and then different states on the back. I guess this organization reenacts the Pony Express Route. They were having a barbeque, complete with a band. We sat and listened to the music for a while—they were really good.
That evening, 40 people from our group—which included advisors and some of their spouses—went to a murder mystery dinner theatre. It was so much fun. The host for the evening was Rowbar and he was hysterical. He had the highest voice, wore different gloves for each course that was served and a big feather boa. There was a really bad magician—who didn’t speak, but did some tricks. His manager kept saying he was so wonderful and the women all loved him. This guy came in and shot him and the sheriff shot the killer. Several audience members were given latex gloves and were called on to haul them out. Between courses, two more people were poisoned. Throughout the evening, people would be questioned about what they saw. It was funny because when they asked a lot of the people what they did for a living—so many were professors.
One funny thing that happened was one of the men in our group had gone to the bathroom and when he came out, a woman started to kiss him. He mentioned it to the actors and they really took off with it. It turned out that this woman (who had had a few drinks—surprise) mistook him for her boyfriend. They were both wearing brown shirts. It made for lots of funny jokes. At the end of the evening, the man who was playing the sheriff came out with a trophy for the person who figured out who the killer was. He had a tiny pair of nylon shorts and a tight, bright orange muscle shirt on. He strutted back and forth with the trophy. We were laughing so hard!
After the retreat, 14 of us went out for supper. We were going to Joe’s Crab shack, but there was 1 ½ hour wait, so we ended up at the Rio Café—which had great seafood and a little more classy (and expensive) than Joe’s. We had a lot of fun.
Since we were free after 10 am on Sunday and didn’t leave until Monday, we decided to drive up to Lake Tahoe. I worked there in 1971 with my two roommates from college. We were motel maids at a Rodeway Inn and lived in a little cabin. Bob and I had driven through there in 1973, but hadn’t been back since—so I was curious at how much it had changed. And it had quite a bit.
We did find a Rodeway Inn, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the one where we worked. The one where we worked had quite a long driveway, with the parking lot between the hotel and the lake and a nice big beach. Well, of course, it’s grown up so much that there are no long driveways and every inch near the beach has a large hotel on it. We went to a great restaurant that had a huge buffet—all the breakfast foods, plus crab legs, shrimp, crab stuffed sole, carved prime rib and turkey—just to name a few things. I should avoid buffets, because I overeat. But it sure was good. We sat out on the deck—it was really warm in the sun, but when the shade covered us—it got a little cool. We walked on the beach a little ways, although you couldn’t walk very far because there was private land next to the restaurant and marina.
When we were there in ’71 there were hardly any docks or boats in the lake. I remember them saying Lake Tahoe is very deep and because it’s so high in the mountains and it’s very cold and blue. Now there were lots of marinas and boats moored out in the lake, plus places you could rent jet skis. The lake is still very blue, but it must be getting a little polluted, because some bumper stickers say “Keep Lake Tahoe Blue”.
We found the post office where we used to pick up our mail and the area where our cabin was, but didn’t find anything that looked like our cabin. The road is much wider than what I remember, so it might have disappeared so the road could be widened.
We had a four-hour drive back to San Francisco, so had to get going fairly early. I really want to go back and spend a week or two there. On the way back, we drove up to Echo Lake. I remember Kathy, Jean and I picnicking there on some of our days off. We hiked down a fairly steep path to the lake and walked around a bit. Then had to climb back up—we took it easy, because we weren’t use to the altitude.
We stayed in Berkley for the night and then left the next day for home. As much as I love to travel and wander, I also enjoy coming home and relaxing in our solarium! It sure beats the traffic and crowds of people.
