Monday, August 20, 2018

Trip up north to visit family...Part 1...Minnesota...


I try to get my Mom up to visit her (our) family at least once a year....we just made our long weekend trip and had a great time!

Mom and I in the back seat while my Auntie M is driving around trying to find the restaurant/bar...in a town of like 50 people!  Okay, it is a little over 3,000.  Ha ha!  That is one thing I look forward to when we go visit...the laughter!   






We went to surprise my Aunt Judy.  Oh my goodness, she was sooooo surprised!  She had no idea we were coming! 





Then there is Aunti M. who doesn't know how to make silly faces.  She only looks cute! 












Mom and Aunt Judy....Mom is the baby of the group.





Mom, Aunt Judy and Uncle Carl (Judy's other half).  We had lunch at Kim's Saloon and Grill.  It was busy but not too busy so we had time for lunch and time to visit a while.  My Taco Salad was yummy!






My cousins are raising deer!  These are two bottle babies...and they are so friendly! 
They were curious about Mom.





Mom got to feed the youngest one.





This is not Daddy but he will be a Daddy someday.  Meet Stoney!








He let me touch the velvet on his antlers....it was so soft!  There is a doe that lives with him but she has not been handled.  I still don't know anything about raising deer but I know a lot more than I did before I got there.  You don't just 'catch' deer and pen them up.  There are a lot of rules and regs! 






While Mom was getting some visit time in I took a bike ride!  Yep, I took my bike with me 'just in case I had time to ride."  :-)

We were in the town of Wabasha, MN - it is next to the Mississippi River and a beautiful little town!  On our way to visit my Uncle in the nursing home I saw the entrance to a bike path...it wound around the edge of a pond thing then down town along the river.





Wabasha is a beautiful town....this is a town I could move to but it would have to be the old part in an older river house.  I rode through a newer section with some big new homes and no....






See that bridge?  That is the one I am going to ride over!  Funny thing is I knew how to get to the bridge by car, but for some reason I had to make two loops around town to finally get to the bridge entrance.  I see things very different while riding a bike!





I am under the bridge I will be riding across.  How cool is that?  Pretty darn cool!
This was my second loop around to get to the bridge entrance....I was getting closer!  Ha ha!





There is a lot to see along the river road (small street that follows the river then circles around back into town).





While making my second loop around town I saw this black squirrel.  I saw a few black ones while I was there and they are so pretty!  I was told there is another section of town with white ones...I never saw them.







WELCOME TO WISCONSIN!!!! 
And so it begins.....I rode across the bridge and am now in Wisconsin!  My goal was to make it to the Creamery in Nelson, WI so I could get an ice cream cone.  Funny thing....I got there at 6:04 and they close at 6:00.  If I would not have had to ride around town twice to find the opening to the bridge I would have made it!  Ha ha !  That is okay....we are leaving in the morning to visit another Aunt and Uncle....the Creamery opens at 9:00 a.m.!  Ice cream cone - getting my calcium group for breakfast!  (And I did too!)





There are some parking lots and boat ramps along the road from MN to WI.  People also canoe and kayak in these waters and I am not 100% sure, but I thought I saw some water trail signs with arrows.  I am assuming that is for the paddlers so they know where to get out.  My next goal is to kayak out there....so many birds!  And maybe a sea monster!





On my way back to MN....the water was like glass!






Most of the time I had a pretty wide shoulder to ride on.  The other half of the time I did not have a lot of room.  I am still trying to find my comfort zone riding on the roads....yep, very scary but also very fun and exciting!  I felt so free! 




WELCOME TO MINNESOTA!!!
Almost back to the big bridge.  It is not steep riding over it but it is long and uphill so I got a workout!  You would have thought I would lose some weight.  Well, not if I am eating ice cream cones for breakfast.  ;-)








There is enough shoulder on the bridge...I had to stop to take a picture of the evening boaters on the Mississippi River.





WOO HOO!  I AM RIDING OVER THE BIG BRIDGE!
Why is this so exciting other than the fact that I put on my big girl panties and did it?
I love bridges!  This is sooooooo awesome!




I got back to town, made another loop then found the bike path that went down another main road.  I rode it to the end and back...




My bike ride was 17.25 miles and wonderful!  It felt good to get out and it felt good knowing Mom and Auntie M could visit without worrying about me.

The next post....visiting my Aunt and Uncle in La Crosse, WI








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