Quite a place — Minnesota in late July and early August! A hot 90o during the day and perfect for open-the-windows-sleeping 60o after sunset. (And, or course, Minnesota 13! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_13
Mother Nature put on quite a show. My 16 days spent in Little Falls, Pine River, Morrison County, Crow Wing County and Brainerd were a combination of good/bad and beautiful/ugly.
The good: wonderful friends. The bad: a death. The beautiful: natural wonders. The ugly: a broken finger.
This story will be mostly pictures. I broke the tip of my left hand ring finger the day after I arrived. (Photographing wildflowers and milkweed instead of being careful, I slammed the truck door on my hand. OW!!) Trip to the ER indicated a closed fracture of tuft of distal phalanx of the finger; not displaced and should heal without a problem. Wore a splint for 2 weeks. Typing is still painful. Absolutely destroyed my once-a-year manicure...
My first outing was with my long-time friend Judy, touring her family farm in Little Falls. MN. I was determined to see native milkweed in its natural environment. One drive down a dirt road in farm country was ultimately rewarding.
We went to work face painting on Saturday 7/28/18 at the Pine River Festival. Not many people in attendance; made a whopping $15.
Back to Judy’s house in little Falls, MN — home base — for two days to enjoy the garden.
Very interesting potted plants in Judy’s garden
Then we were on to the Crow Wing County Fair to face paint and airbrush temporary tattoos (Tues-Sat: 10am-10pm). Ran into a few storms on the way. Should have warned us of what was to come…
Twiddled our thumbs for 90% the first 2 days. So we explored the fair.
I didn’t take pics of bunnies, chickens, roosters, pigeons, geese etc. Too busy eating battered and fried cheese curds, a specialty of Minnesota fairs! At least 6 variations to enjoy.
On Thursday a terrifying thunderstorm prefaced with cold, violent wind outflow (maybe wind shear?) exploded onto the scene — flooded our booth and sent everyone scrambling for more permanent shelter. Two booths next to us collapsed.
The crops were in desperate need of rain so some good came out of the storm. Along with hundreds of magnificent cloud photos.
Our tent withstood the storm!! We spent Friday morning putting our hurriedly stacked supplies back in order and arranging rubber entrance mats to cover 12” deep mud holes. Holes required a full front loader scoop of gravel to fill. Friday afternoon and all day Saturday were productive and profitable.
Back to Little Falls and local farming communities, we stopped to see the Swanson Store — in business for more than 100 years. People lined up for gasoline.
Then on to visit Judy’s friend Colleen; large house on an undisturbed organic 160 acre property (huge amounts of milkweed) located on an unnamed lake somewhere in Crow Wing County MN. Massive gardens (both flower and food). Surprised to find something unusual: blooming hens-and-chicks!
Back in Little Falls, we visited the Great River Arts Gallery. Wonderful art. (Judy has shown her work there). One day to pack and say goodbyes, then off to Minneapolis airport (3 hr shuttle ride). Flight delayed 2 hours. Long travel day… I was notified earlier in the week that my daughter-in-law’s father died after a long battle with cancer. I missed the funeral...
16 days was not enough to explore Minnesota. The work schedule didn’t permit us to get a tour of the hydroelectric plant or to visit the Mississippi headwaters in Itasca MN (long drive) or to see the Charles Lindbergh house and museum in his hometown of Little Falls. What perfect justification for another trip!
Texas enjoyed cool temperatures and rain early this week. Now back to 99o and very humid. Spent a day working in my gardens cleaning up all the dead potted plants that no one watered while I was gone. The flame acanthus and turks cap are in full bloom; hummingbirds abound.