Our mini visit to "Mini"

If you are familiar with the bloggers on this site, you will know that when most of them return home from their world trip, they take time to recall the adventure, and write a summary of the best moments, or their most recommended sites. And many of the entries are quite creative. I had planned on attempting just that- but since we landed back on American soil, we haven't slowed down, and I haven't had time to blog! Maybe a retrospective will come later...

One much anticipated aspect of being home has been to be with our children and family. So off we go to the Mid-west, the land of "ten thousand lakes" Minnesota, to visit our daughter, who no longer lives in our little town, but, has flown-the-coop, up north, to the big city.
This blog is actually to let all of you know that I have both kids hooked on this Travel Blog thing! Katie, my fabulous daughter is http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/katie-cartie/. And my son, who is equaly as fabulous, but hasn't published an entry in a long time is http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Capt--Hank/ Yep. shameless plugs. Hey, I'm their mother!

Minneapolis is beautiful this time of year, the tulips are up, trees are blooming, and the dandelions have taken over almost every green space!
Home owners must be waging chemical warfare on the little weeds, because almost every other lawn and field is blanketed in yellow. Keith and I talked my parents into traveling with us, so Katie was innudated with her parents and the grandparents. She was the perfect hostess, welcoming us into her cute home, introduced us to her friends, toured us around Minneapolis and her place of employment, even took us to my favorite antique shop. She is every mother's dream daughter.


Minneapolis is on the Mississippi River, way up from where we lived in Memphis. The river is a focal point of the city, two cities, actually, Minneapolis and St. Paul. I used to tell Katie to toss a bottle with a note in it, into the river and maybe it would float down to us in Tennessee. The only real falls on the river are near here, St. Anthony Falls. Way up from the city, is the source of this "Great River", at Lake Itasca. ( An interesting fact is, that it is the fourth longest river in the world. Not largest, but one of the longest. )

A place I wanted to see on this visit, was the Minnehaha Falls. Since Katie had to go to work, and couldn't be with us, she downloaded directions to Minnehaha Park. In her haste she entered the wrong address, and thus sent us on a wild goose chase. Although we did end up driving through a lovely neighborhood, and along some nice lakes within the city. (I think she is as passive agressive as her father.) Closeby we had a nice lunch with my parents at a cafe in the park. There is a statue here, commemorating the poem by Longfellow about the Indian lovers, Hiawatha and Minnehaha.
"By the shores of Gitche Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,
Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.
Dark behind it rose the forest,
Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees,
Rose the firs with cones upon them;
Bright before it beat the water,
Beat the clear and sunny water,
Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.
..."


The Twins baseball game was fun, had a beer and a Domedog, http://metrodome.blogspot.com/2009/06/metrodome-food-all-rage.html , we sang our national anthem with the crowd, and people watched, one of my favorite activities. We got a kick out of comparing our baseball fans to the locals we have seen while touring Europe! It's the last season for the Twins under the Metrodome, and the sentiment is high. Next year they will be out under the stars, in a brand new stadium.



Our time in Minneapolis was a very short, but for two travel weary people, attending a night-time baseball game "the all American passtime", strolling around a park named after an American Indian Princess, and spending time with family was as memorable as any world famous sight we have seen.

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