On to Minneapolis
After leaving the Berkshires, we had a beautiful, leisurely drive through the Adirondack Mountains - a place that is famous for it’s beautiful mountain lodges and resorts. We took the scenic route and passed through many lovely little mountain villages separated by long stretches of nothing but evergreen trees, scenic lakes and valleys.



It was nearing lunchtime when we reached Lake Placid, home of the Winter Olympics several years ago and still trading on that claim to fame. Everything looked so commercialized that we breezed right through, knowing we’d find a charming lodge nestled by a lake to have our lunch. Well, two hours later and quite hungry, we vowed to stop at the next place we came to and it didn’t look like much from the outside but in we went. It was actually very good and we had their specialty - a perfectly cooked sirloin burger on a home-made onion bun. The young owner and chef came out to chat and we learned that he caters to students from the local college nearby and has darts, pool tables, live music on weekends, and an internet juke box with thousands of songs (each time a song is chosen, it’s downloaded through the internet - a first for us). He was doing quite a business in what appeared to be “the middle of nowhere.” We continued on into Canada, crossing the border, barely showing our passports, and that night we stayed in a small town in Ontario, Canada.


Continuing on the next day, we entered the U.S. at Sault Ste. Marie, crossed Wisconsin into Minnesota and arrived in Minneapolis just before rush hour.
We’re staying with younger son Scott, his wife Raelene, and their two boys - Taylor (9) and Zach (6) at their home in Bloomington. We tend to forget what a busy time of life it is at their ages - working, taking care of a home and raising a family - especially with two very active kids who are involved in several sports. Saturday morning we attended Taylor’s hockey game and then all met up with older son, Craig and family for lunch. We spent the afternoon at Craig’s, in St. Louis Park, with wife Leslie, Michele (21), Kristina (19) and Scott (16). Sunday, we met daughter, Dawn, and her two kids - Daniel (13) and Carly (11) - for lunch; then met up with Scott and family to see Shreck III and again back to Scott’s for dinner. (Scott likes to cook, is very good at it and thinks nothing of having 20 or 30 people over for a cookout or holiday dinner.)
Monday morning I attended Zach’s hockey workshop before Doug and I set out for downtown Minneapolis to apply for our multiple-entry visas for China and for Doug to get a yellow fever vaccine (I got mine in San Diego), for our freighter trip in August. We weren’t successful with either one, but had a delightful lunch in town. That evening we attended Taylor’s baseball game - they didn’t win but it was a very close game and he did well as pitcher.

Tuesday morning Doug went to Zach’s hockey workshop. We are always amazed at how well these six and seven year olds handle themselves on the ice.

At 10:30 we left to take Daniel and Carly to the Science Museum in St. Paul. We had a great time seeing all the exhibits and viewing an I-Max type movie on the Australian outback.


We returned them in time for Carly to attend a birthday party (she’d already had golf camp that morning). Daniel is also a golfer. That evening we enjoyed Zach play baseball and were pleased that he got to play his favorite position - catcher.



Wednesday morning we left for the cabin feeling a bit exhausted - not from anything we’d done but just from watching how busy everyone is with all their activities.