2018: Staying Home for Awhile, September

Lake Superior sunset

October 1, 2018

We know that September has only 30 days, but did this past month just seem to fly by for you? It did for us. Some time at the North Shore, a mini getaway to Minneapolis and celebrating old and new “friends” had us busy for most of September.

Fun at our cabin on Lake Superior

After saying good-bye to Deb and Rebecca as they returned home to the Boston area, we picked up Chris’ sister Kathy and headed up to the North Shore. We stayed at a “mom and pop” cabin lodging in Little Marais, right at the edge of the mighty Lake Superior. This was our 4th time at this cabin and Ed noticed that the shoreline seemed “higher” than last year. In talking with Dean (the “pop”), Ed learned that in the fall of 2017, the shoreline at the cabins at Little Marais experienced a battering of 30 foot waves that washed away some of the shoreline. In the spring, as part of the restoration from the damage, they decided to add more dirt to create a little wall above the rocks.

The first home of the 3M Corporation

One of our regular stops when traveling to the North Shore, the Duluth Rose Garden

The weather was generally quite nice and we were able to enjoy walks and drives in the area. In Two Harbors, we introduced Kathy to the 3M museum. In this small town in 1902, today’s huge conglomerate named 3M (formerly named Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing) had its origins. The museum is small but cute, run by the local town, not the corporation.

Mid-month we had an urgent request from an Evergreener from North Carolina asking if she could spend a week with us to flee from Hurricane Florence. She had stayed with us in August and has 2 sisters in the Minneapolis area; however, both have dogs and she is allergic to animal fur. We were able to host her for the time and believe her house in Raleigh was not damaged.

The Mississippi National River and Recreation Area closed its coverage at the St. Anthony Falls in Minneapolis at the end of September. Ed did several 6-hour volunteer shifts there throughout the month and had his last shift on 9/28. He locked his keys in the car that day, so Chris enjoyed the nice fall day to bus/light rail to bring over her key set. Ed is continuing his National Park volunteering at the main visitor center in St. Paul on Thursday and both Ed and Chris are volunteer docents on Tuesdays at the Bell Museum.

The Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank

Speaking of Minneapolis, we had an evening fundraiser (for the Mississippi River) to attend in Minneapolis and decided to stay overnight (for 2 nights) to “walk around” town. The day for our exploration was not raining but a bit chilly. However, we tried out new restaurants for breakfast and lunch, had a wonderful tour of the Federal Reserve Bank in Minneapolis and ended the day with 11 miles on our step counter.

The train ride in Osceola WI

We celebrated our 46th wedding anniversary this month by taking in a lovely fall train ride from Osceola, Wisconsin to Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota.

Some animals from the MN Zoo

One of Ed’s National Park volunteers arranged for an outing to the Minnesota Zoo with a talk there by a naturalist on mussels. Mussels originally had been very plentiful in the Mississippi River but had been harvested for years to make buttons. Plastic is now the material of choice for buttons. There are efforts underway to restore the river’s mussel population.

Some of our hikes during September

While it seemed that we had a lot of rainy days in September, there were enough nice fall days to get us walking to area local parks. We are so very, very fortunate to have a fabulous free park system near to us, from right across the street, to right over the bridge, to an easy bike ride, to a short drive. We enjoy water, trees, wildflowers, occasionally animals, and plentiful birds. Sometimes we have been the only car in the parking lot and see no one on our hikes. We bring a picnic lunch and for a short time are able to forget about the conflicts in our country.

Some views on the Nooks and Crannies Tour at MN Landmark Center

Last week, we went to another evening function, the 40th anniversary of the Minnesota Landmark Center. This elaborate old federal building was on the verge of being demolished when two women joined together and began a succesful movement to save, restore and re-use it. Ed’s mom was a volunteer here for numerous years before she died in 2007. Over the years we have attended events here but at its 40th anniversary celebration we were able to take a “Nooks and Crannies” tour. Highlights included the enormous old boiler room, the Elvis memorabilia display kept by the maintenance staff, and an amazing view of the St. Paul skyline from one of the open air towers.

Coon Rapids dam on the Mississippi River

Chris and Ed
Oct. 1, 2018