Category: Camp Sites

Live Free or Die?

New Hampshire’s state motto feels a little dramatic, but when it was written by General John Stark in 1809, it was the reality and an inspiration. My time in NH was, thankfully, less extreme.

On the way to our campsite in Bethlehem, we made stops in Manchester and Concord. There are two Frank Lloyd Wright houses in Manchester – curated through the Currier Museum of Art. I was able to get a tour time to see both homes and spend some time in the museum itself.

The Zimmerman house was built using the Usonian design and was set on this beautiful lot surrounded by trees and lush landscape. It felt like a family home – same uncomfortable-looking furniture but a warmer, lived-in feel. The kitchen still had the original appliances, including that neat in-sink dishwasher, an efficient sized fridge, and a huge chest freezer.

The house features these mitered window panes in the entry way (pictured above), which created this seamless view, bringing the outside in. I’m not sure how stable or wind resistant those windows were, but they were lovely to look out.

We were able to just stroll down the street to the second FLW house in Manchester, the Kalil Usonian Automatic house. In contrast to the Zimmerman house, the Kalil felt very modern and cold due to the hundreds of concrete bricks that made up its walls.

I thought this set of photos would be a good contrast the ones from the Zimmerman house. The Kalil house is a combination of solid blocks and blocks with windows. There was a lot of natural light, but you can tell by the first two pictures how industrial it felt. There was a mother-in-law building behind the house. Both homes were surrounded by trees, which added much to the atmosphere of living in nature.

The small building in the back had details about how the bricks were individually made and then stacked together to provide the structure of the house.

After the house tours, I spent a little time enjoying the Currier Museum itself and grabbed a quick lunch in the museum cafe. We made a pit stop on the way to Bethlehem in Concord for groceries, and then we were off.

We set-up to stay a week at the Apple Hill Campground. When you drive into a lot of RV parks, it can be hard to tell what to expect. Driving down to our site was like driving into a park. Our site was great – lots of trees and very quiet. We had some nice neighbors who were up from the DC area. The husband was an author, and the wife taught piano, but they were mostly retired. It was nice to chat with them and learn more about their travels. You can read more about them at their site: Greedy Travelers.

On Sunday, a co-worker who has a home in the area, stopped by, and we went for breakfast at the famous Polly’s Pancake Parlor. Thankfully, I was with a local who knew the ropes to getting a table and avoiding the lines. Polly’s started in what looked pretty much like a shack, but as it grew in popularity, they’ve built a really impressive restaurant. You can customize your pancakes, so I got three different ones – plain batter with blueberries, gingerbread with walnuts, and chocolate-covered maple toffee in the plain batter. They were all fantastic. If you go, call ahead for a reservation and go hungry. I wish I could’ve eaten more.

After pancakes, we drove over to Bretton Woods, which sits in the shadow of Mount Washington. It was a little overcast, so we couldn’t see the summit, but we did drive up to the Omni Mount Washington and got a great view of the area. It’s nice to drive around with a friend who is a local and can tell you all kinds of stories about the wonderful times that they’ve had in the area with their family.

We enjoyed the rest of the week, Arthur got some restful cat naps, and work felt manageable in the woods. The only real downside to this park was the showers. 🍫🍫🍫🍫 If I ever stayed there again, I would figure something else out for showers.

Maple Syrup and Other Tales

I don’t really like maple syrup. I see recipes all the time that call for it as a sweetener, but it’s not really my thing. I do like a pancake or a waffle with a bit of butter, then peanut butter, and then I dip it in maple syrup, but that’s it. Maybe I’ve never had really good maple syrup or maybe I have something against maple trees. Just kidding. I love all trees.

After our two-week stint in New York, we headed off to the great state of Vermont for some trees and some mountains and maybe some maple syrup. It was mid-August, so I knew we wouldn’t encounter any leaf peepers (too early), and the forecast looked pretty good.

The drive was memorable – to say the least. My first clue should’ve been when we were in line to dump our tanks. There was only one RV ahead of us, so I thought we’d be on the road fairly quickly. I was wrong. In RVing, you really have to roll with the punches, especially when dealing with other campers. Typically, it’ll take me and Estella about 10 minutes to get out the waste hoses, hook-up, dump, pack up the hoses, and get on the road. Her tanks aren’t that large, so – even when full – ten minutes is generous. The couple in front of me were at the dump station before I pulled up to wait, but let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and say they had just arrived.

They had a Class C RV, which is bigger than Estella and probably had bigger tanks than E has. Fine; it’ll take a bit longer to dump. They were there for over a half hour. The dump station – which was really well thought out – had a semi-circle drive that had a nice hedge and other foliage around it. The waiting area was just across the way and also a half circle. Like I said – a nice set-up. I could see them futzing with the waste hose – AKA the Stinky Slinky – and then came the hooking up of the car they tow behind the RV. The waste station – in all of its semi-circle glory – is not made to hook up a towable car. As you can imagine, the struggle was real – for all of us. 🍫🍫

This seems like a great time to share my Ms Haps (mishaps) rating scale. I’m using a chocolate bar (🍫) scale (🍫 = minor; 🍫🍫 = ordinary; 🍫🍫🍫 = embarrassing; 🍫🍫🍫🍫 = terrible; 🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫 = not enough chocolate in the RV to recover).

Finally on the Road

I’m far too Minnesotan to get out of my RV and tell them that the reason they are struggling to hook up their tow is because they are not in a straight line. This feels very obvious, but we weren’t in a hurry, and – sometimes – when you struggle, it’s kinda nice to see other people learning and growing as painfully as you are. Such is life.

Like I said, this situation should’ve been a sign. Our mapped drive to Shelburne, Vermont, estimated about 5 hours of travel time. This is usually a decent amount of travel for Arthur. He prefers less, but I don’t, so 5 hours is like a compromise. While absolutely lovely, it was a hilly and somewhat bumpy ride. Arthur did not do well. There was puking and peeing and overall discontent – for all involved. 🍫🍫🍫🍫

We arrived at the Shelburne Camping Area after making one pitstop. The RV park was pretty basic. It has a nice restaurant on the road into the park, and it’s off the main road through town. Once you get into the park, there are a handful of cabins. There was no one there to check-in with, so we just found our paperwork and drove to our site. It was a small site but had all the hook-ups that we needed even if most the water and electric were on the wrong side. The bathrooms / showers were not memorable – bad or good – so nothing more to add on that.

It was also a very, very busy work week, which was fine because it ended up raining most of the week while we were there. On Thursday, we did a software release, which had some unintended consequences and made my Friday a bit of a nightmare. I did pause to take a break and go for a walk into town to the Shelburne Country Store and a local bookshop called The Flying Pig.

^ This was my standard work set-up on a release night, and the only picture I took while I was in Vermont. From left to right: second monitor, work laptop, iPad for testing, reMarkable for notes, MacBook Air for testing. Not pictured: my mobile phone – also for testing.

The country store is exactly how you would picture a quaint store in one of those fall Hallmark movies where the sad, single lady goes back to her hometown to be depressed until she runs into the local fill-in-the-blank guy that she went to high school with and then falls in love. It was crammed with Vermont-based goodies, and I got postcards, stamps, my VT magnet, some maple syrup (for my parents), and some red pepper jelly, which I enjoyed with my Vermont butter and crackers. The Vermont butter I picked up was quite tasty, but I forget what it was – maybe Cabot?

At the bookstore, I browsed and just enjoyed the atmosphere of being in books. I picked up This Summer Will be Different by Carley Fortune. It’s a great “beach read” and set on Prince Edward Island where I was headed in the next month, so it was perfect for getting a glimpse at what to see on the island. My other selection was a book of poems by Chard deNiord who I had never heard of, but whose poems I instantly enjoyed while I was paging through In My Unknowing. I think I perplexed the person when I checked out with two such varied choices, but – what can I say – I’m complex, which is perplexing.

What I haven’t mentioned yet was the walk to town. There was a sidewalk, but it was next to a very busy road, and it seemed like no one walks it based on the amount of staring I received on the way there and back. Since it was one of the only days where it was sunny, I was surprised by how warm I was by the time I got to the country store and was grateful that the sun started to set on my trek back to Estella and Arthur.

Another AI generated image, but you get the general idea.

August in New York

After our stop in PA, we headed up to the Syracuse, New York, region to stay at the Oneida Shores Campground near Brewerton. While relatively small, this was a really nice campground with just electric and water hook-ups but with a dump station. There was plenty of area to walk around and sit by Oneida Lake. The shower area was pretty good as well, so overall, it was a nice two-week stay, and I was glad we made the stop.

I rented a car to go out and see some of the sites and explore Syracuse and Ithaca and the Finger Lakes areas. I made two different trips into the Finger Lakes region and really enjoyed the community of Auburn and Seneca Falls.

On whim, I drove to Ithaca. Cornell was a school that really interested me when I was high school. At the time, it just seemed too far away for school and too expensive, so I set it aside. Driving around Ithaca, I think it would’ve been a good fit for that young Ms Haps. The old Ms Haps thinks the steep hills and winters might not be the best fit now. I bought a new pliers since I left mine somewhere. 🍫 I had a drive around town, enjoyed the scenery, and then had a lovely drive in the countryside to a small Finger Lakes community called Auburn.

What a great surprise this little town was. I happened upon one of their last summer Downtown Auburn Saturday Markets that they were having. They had live music, and I had lunch at a local spot – Parker’s Grill and Tap House. The food was fine, the cider was good, but the atmosphere was lively and fun. I went for a nice walk around town and discovered a few things that I really found appealing for a return trip.

One of the many beautiful historic homes in Auburn is The Seward House, and it is available for tour, so I stopped in to see the beautiful woodwork and the rustic kitchen. Seward served as the Secretary of State for both President Lincoln and Johnson, and it was a gorgeous home filled with books and many pictures from all of Sewards international connections.

While I was at the Seward House, they also gave me a map to the local cemetery where the Sewards and Harriet Tubman are buried. There were beautiful tributes to them as well as a just a well-kept resting place for all the loved ones there.

Arthur had a good rest in NY and enjoyed the lake breezes at the campground.

Next up – more New York exploration in Seneca Falls and Buffalo.

Key Stops in the Keystone State

The end of July took us to the Pittsburgh area to visit to some family. We had a nice lunch out, a wander around the mall, and some fun time with the grand puppy.

After our layover outside Pittsburgh, we headed further north to Evans City to stay at a peaceful Boondockers Welcome host. I had managed to wrench my back at some point on our way to PA, so I was wearing, what I like to call, my championship belt – which actually is a back support brace. 🍫🍫 I was moving pretty slow, so it was nice to be at a stop where I didn’t have to do too much to hook up to power and then just settle in. The host was very friendly, and we had a great chat one of the three evenings I stayed there.

Our next drive took us into Potter County – a place that holds a lot of memories for me. It was a beautiful route into the Galeton area. We stopped for groceries and set up at Crooked Creek Campground, which was on the banks of the Pine River. We had some rain, but it was beautiful and peaceful.

There were a couple of nice nights where I could take a little walk. Arthur slept well while we were there, but he seems to sleep well everywhere…. The creek was idyllically calm.

We stayed for a week, and then we were off to our next stop – New York State.

On our way out of Pennsylvania, we made a stop at the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon. It’s not as impressive as the Grand Canyon, but it has fond memories for me, and it was good to see it one more time.

The Rest of Michigan

It really flew by. Before we left Jenison, we made a stop by Speed Wrench to get our sensors checked out and fixed. We had a great tech who had stopped out to see us at the campground and offered to work after his workday to get us back on the road. The service was fantastic, and we were back on the road for another night before leaving Jenison. And we’re back with no threat of limp mode!

We made our way to the Wayne County Fairgrounds in Bellevue, MI, next. This fairgrounds had GREAT shower facilities.

From time to time, I have to travel for work, and it’s really convenient to work with a cat sitter from Rover.com. In July, I had about 2 hours to get checked in, set-up the RV, meet the Rover sitter, and get to the airport. I did it, but it was not ideal.

Our spot at the campground was in full sun, so I left the AC running while I was gone to try to keep it as cool as possible. While I was in Florida, I received daily updates from the sitter, and Arthur did so well. It definitely gives me peace of mind, knowing someone is taking good care of him while I’m away. The AC did not like being on 24/7 while I was away, so I had to deal with some condensation and dripping water when I got back. 🍫🍫

After FL, I was able to head into Ann Arbor to do some exploring. It just happened to be the art fair weekend and walking around had me reminiscing about the Uptown Art Fair in Minneapolis. While busy, it was a lovely late afternoon to walk around and get a sense of the downtown area. The campus feels integrated into the town, and the community is lively and involved. I had a nice cupcake at a newly opened bakery – Molly’s Cupcakes – on Liberty Street.

After my dinner cupcake, I headed over to the Majestic Theater. I am a sucker for an older movie theater, especially one with real butter for the popcorn. I saw Twisters, which was a summer delight – especially after making it through the early days tornado season in Kansas.

I also had time to head back to Grand Rapids to tour the Meyer May House – another beautiful Frank Lloyd Wright home.

A local company bought the home and restored it. They are sourcing the pieces of the home that were sold off and then found and restored. Just beautiful.

I did have to leave the fairgrounds since they were prepping for their county fair. I headed over to a Sun Outdoors campground – Kensington Valley. It was a really lovely property with a couple of small lakes and lovely sites. The bathroom facilities could use some updating, but the location gave me the opportunity to meet up with a friend and her family. They rented a house in Ann Arbor, so we had a lovely dinner, dessert, and conversation – so fun to be around a family and enjoy a meal together.

Hard to believe that I’m putting a bow on Michigan already. It was a great time, and we will be back in 2025.

More Michigan!

14 starts left after a stop for gas and another at Target to get more supplies for the coming week. After our errands, we headed up to Muskegon to tour the historic Hume and Hackley homes.

There were two really nice family stories that went with these two homes. They were both enormous old homes, but very different on the inside. The tour was informative but the decor really stole the show for me.

The transom windows and lovely fireplaces were just some of the highlights.

12 starts left when we left Muskegon for our campground outside of Jenison and after we checked in. The Steamboat Park Campground was a beautiful location on the shores of the Grand River. It had come highly recommended from my co-worker’s parents, and they weren’t kidding. Our site was close to the center of the park but very quiet and private. It’s great when you’re a short walk to the amenities, and when I say amenities – I mean the showers and the garbage. 🙂

Glamour shot of the Grand River. We did get a good amount of rain while we were there, so I was glad that we weren’t at one of the sites on the river. Really beautiful to walk by, but felt safer off the river bank. Our check-in experience was really great, and we were able to get deliveries, so stocking up on the supplies was easy. The showers were great and the laundry facilities were sparse but accessible.

I didn’t rent a car in Michigan, so I took a few Uber/Lyft rides to get into town and meet up with a college friend and her friends who were in town for a concert. We had a very delicious breakfast in downtown Grand Rapids at Social Misfits before we headed to the Ford Presidential Library. My friend is a real history buff, so she spent a good deal more time actually reading all of the displays.

In addition to the pretty dish ware and the Oval Office re-creation, there was a beautiful garden and walking area around the museum, which is on the banks of the Grand River.

I also got some more quality time with my co-worker and her family while I was closer to Grand Rapids. We had a lovely family dinner where I actually ate vegetables and a fun girls night out at a local cider joint – Farmhouse Cider Co. They had a food truck and flights of cider that were delightful – a lot like my first weeks in Michigan.

Also, I did try some things to see if I could clear the limp mode from Estella, but they were all to no avail. We’re down to 3 starts. 🍫🍫 🍫🍫 Time to call in the reinforcements.

On To The Mitten

(I’ve been on a break from blogging as we finished up 2024 with a lot of travel and some rest. Hope to keep a more regular schedule in the New Year.)

So long Illinois! After a month in IL, Arthur, Estella, and I were ready to make our move further east into Michigan. Our first stop was outside of Holland. We stayed at the Ottawa County Fairgrounds, which was very, very empty, but we did have some squirrel friends that kept Arthur entertained. RV camping at fairgrounds around the country has been hit or miss. This was kinda a miss. 🍫 Certain stays make you grateful for newer bathroom facilities and the safety of just having other campers around – this was one of them. We felt safe the whole time we were there, but it was definitely not the best fairgrounds for a week-long stay.

A lovely part of our location was its proximity to Lake Michigan. A co-worker who lives in the area drove over for dinner one night with her family. We had dinner at The Curragh in downtown Holland, which was a great Irish meal. We also ventured over to Kilwins for dessert. It was so lovely to hang out with their family as we drove around and took a trip out to the lake before they dropped me off. I had forgotten how fun conversation can be with two young boys!

On the Fourth of July, I walked to Holland State Park. For this part of our trip I went without a rental car, and my legs felt it. It was about 3.5 miles each way to the park, but it wasn’t too warm, and I made some stops along the mostly shaded walk and mostly overcast day. The park was packed! There were also numerous boats going through the channel and a lot of people taking in the lake and some beach time. The traffic into the park was unreal. I definitely beat many, many cars on foot.

I also made a pitstop at the Ottawa Beach General Store , which was very busy, but they had everything from ice cream to souvenirs to wine and beer. I picked up some post cards and a magnet and walked a little further down the sidewalk for a snack at Reservoir. I ended up having a Pina Colada, some broccolini, and garlic bread, but it was just want I needed to make it the last 2.5 miles back to the RV.

We spent the rest of the week just working and relaxing during our downtime. (Arthur demonstrating how relaxed he felt.)

A fun surprise greeted us when I started up Estella to head over to our next location. We had the dreaded you-only-have-so-many-starts-til-the-engine-goes-into-limp-mode message that Mercedes kindly provides when something is wrong. 🍫🍫🍫 We’d seen the message before when we were short on DEF fluid, but then it cleared when I put more fluid in. This time, I knew we were good on DEF, so no bueno.

I had already planned to check out of our campsite and drive up to the Hackley & Hume Historic Site in Muskegon, and since we still had 16 starts to go, we made the trip up.

Stay tuned…Did we make it to the next campsite without going into limp mode? Was the Hackley & Hume Historic Site cool? Did Arthur ever manage to catch any fish on the iPad?

More Time in IL

It’s the end of daylight savings today, so I thought I better use my extra hour to post some more blog goodness. We left off after my first week / weekend in Illinois.

One of the lovely parts of downtown Springfield is the ease at which one can find parking. It’s possibly because it’s an unpopular place to be, but it worked out great for me. On Friday night, I went to a community band concert that was hosted at the Lincoln Museum. It was a great concert and had a pretty good crowd.

My favorite was A House Divided by Brian Balmages and conducted by Harry Hill, who was recovering from a health issue, and this was his first concert back. The description read: This piece was inspired by Abraham Lincoln’s famous House Divided speech, which was delivered in Illinois’s statehouse, now called the Old State Capitol, on June 16, 1858. It invokes the dark and fractured feelings during the Civil War by using broken and twisted fragments of the song “America (My Country Tis of Thee)” before resolving into the hopeful melody in the final measures.

While I was not great at playing the trombone in middle or high school, I did enjoy being a drum major and have always loved band music since then. Hopefully, Mr. Lorensburg and Mr. Fuller are proud of the lifelong band-music lover I ended up being.

After the concert, I treated myself to a twist cone at Dairy Queen.

On Sunday, I had to move to our spot at the Double J campground, which was lovely. We had a great pull-through spot that was close to the bathrooms, which were a delight compared to the bathrooms at the fairground. I also ran some errands for groceries and other essentials, sent postcards and Father’s Day texts, and drove around to look at houses.

Arthur enjoyed a cuddle once we got to our new spot.

I made the most of the week after Father’s Day weekend. Tuesday night I did some laundry at New Generation Laundry, which was in the nearby town of Chatham. It was clean, quiet, and not very expensive – all great.

Wednesday was a day off for me because it was Juneteenth. The first time I celebrated Juneteenth was when I moved to Maryland. That first summer, a co-worker invited me out to a celebration. Because I grew up in MN, and, at that time, it was not a federal holiday, I was completely ignorant to the meaning and importance of this holiday. If you don’t know much about it, read more here: https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/historical-legacy-juneteenth.

In the morning, I had a massage at Spavia in Springfield, which is a great massage chain. If you live near one, check out their monthly membership deal. I had a pedicure after at Westside Nails, which was a lovely nail salon owned by a couple from California. They were very helpful to speak with about the pros and cons of living in Springfield. Afterwards, I wanted something to eat and happened upon a tea room – Village Tea Room – in the same complex as the nail salon. I love getting tea.

I chose the lunch trio with the Caesar Salad, chicken salad sandwich, and the chocolate cake. I had a delicious herbal tea, but I have no idea which one it was – likely some berry tea.

It definitely turned into a self-care day, which I followed up with a hair appointment at Uptown Looks salon in downtown Springfield. It was odd that parking was so hard to find when I went to the appointment, but I soon figured out why. There was a fire about three blocks away from my appointment. 🍫🍫🍫🍫 The fire department had it under control by the time I got downtown, but – unfortunately – it did damage a few buildings.

The hair salon experience was the best I’ve had on my journey so far. The stylist was experienced, knowledgeable, and also the mayor of the small town she lives in. The salon was in a building that used to be the general store, which had some lovely woodwork accompanied by some beautiful sculptures that my stylist’s son had created.

In the evening, there was another event at the Lincoln Museum. The Nature of Freedom: A Literary Commemoration of Juneteenth was an impressive production in two parts. The first part was a performance of Small Beginnings followed by the reading excerpts by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Langston Hughes, Harriet Tubman, Dr. Maya Angelou, Robert Smalls, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Henry Bibb. It was very moving and well done.

One of the things that I really appreciate about Springfield is how much the community and the museum create events for the public.

On Wisconsin…and Iowa!

Over Memorial Day, I headed out to Wheeler, Wisconsin, to experience some wilderness and all that Menomonie had to offer. My friend and her hubby bought some land in Wheeler and have their camper trailer parked up there. So, for the long weekend, we ate pudgie pies, paged through magazines we’d subscribed to and never got around to reading, went a movie on a rainy day, drove around the UW Stout campus, and took in the sights of Menomonie – including the local Fleet Farm and a lovely greenhouse between Wheeler and Menomonie. We didn’t shower and sat close enough to the campfire that it didn’t matter.

We were basically boon docking, so I had a go at turning on my generator to get some power, and the good news is that it worked! It worked after several attempts, but it worked. 🍫🍫 I promptly celebrated with coffee and chocolate while charging my devices.

Our set-up in Wheeler and me, gaffawing at something very hilarious.

On to Iowa

Capping the trifecta of Midwestern states was a trip to Iowa. It’s possible that you’ve heard me refer to Iowa as Idiots Out Wandering Around, but it really isn’t that bad. I stayed outside of Ankeny and was able to visit my two favorite cousins who live in Iowa, go to Adventureland with a grad school friend and her family, and have dinner with a co-worker and her family at Hickory Park. Iowa was great.

I stayed at Cherry Glen Campground in Johnston, Iowa. They had great bathrooms, and their showers featured this push-button system, which is something I hadn’t encountered before. It was actually pretty great and probably even better for conserving water. The bathrooms were so clean – such a luxury. We had a limited view of the lake from our spot, and I even made a new friend when I went to take out the trash.

My new friend – just sunning itself and living life. Because I am a good friend, I just let it do its thing. 🍫 I did tell another camper about it, so he wouldn’t be surprised.

NOTE: WordPress has this feature where you can generate an AI image with a few key words. I went with “fun in Iowa alone”, and this is what I got. Absolutely brilliant output. While I do have other pictures in Iowa, there are kids in them, and that’s just not something I want to put on the internet.

Off to make some brownies. Only a short break. I’ll be back to discuss Springfield, Illinois, next.

More MN Time

Well, I’ve been waylaid on my journey by my own stupidity or wishful thinking, so I thought I should probably take advantage of the time and catch up on ye olde blog.

A glorious sunrise on the farm in early May.

Alway a Good Time on the Farm

Growing up on a farm leads to a wealth of knowledge that just never really seems to come up at a corporate job or when traveling in an RV around the U.S., so it’s always nice to go home and exercise the old brain box with talk of planting season, gardens, flowers, endless hours of mowing the lawn, and all the bits and bobbles it takes to keep a century farm running.

My parents have two rescue cats and a rescue puppy. As you can clearly see, the puppy is under monitoring at all times.

While I was back in early May, we went to a pancake supper fundraiser. I’m honestly not sure how it happens that I end up in my hometown when there’s a pancake supper, but I attended the one in November 2023 as well. (Also, it’s breakfast, dinner, and supper in the Midwest – or at least where I grew up – not breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You may be asking, “What happened to lunch?” Nobody knows.)

After the supper, my parents, aunt, and I went to hear Patty Wetterling speak at the Best Western at the north end of town. If you don’t know much about Mrs. Wetterling, here’s a video of an interview done by the MN Historical Society. Her son, Jacob, was abducted in his small MN town on October 22, 1989 (35 years ago), at only 11 years old. At that time, I was also 11, and this story shocked and frightened everyone across the state. Because of Mrs. Wetterling’s advocacy, much legislation and even more awareness has been raised to protect children. American Public Media (APM) did a recent podcast, covering the events and the investigation. If you’re interested in “true crime”, I recommend this one for the confounding nature of the investigation, and the keen journalism that went into reporting it.

Mrs. Wetterling and her co-author, Joy Baker, were compelling speakers and shared much of their journey authoring Dear Jacob: A Mother’s Journey of Hope. The ballroom of the hotel filled quickly, and there was barely a dry eye in the house when they finished.

When I was in southern MN, I also had a chance to reconnect with a dear friend from high school. We met at the Hi-Lo Supper Club in Lakefield, MN, to catch up. Later that week, the northern lights were showing off above the barn

I absolutely did laundry while I was there, had a facial, enjoyed a birthday dinner with family, made homemade cinnamon rolls for Mother’s Day, had an awkward conversation with my parents about where I want to be buried, and dined out at the Amboy Cottage Cafe with my parents and brother. We also made time to see Machinery Hill perform at the Red Rock Center for the Arts, a former church now arts venue. Since a couple of the members are from my hometown, they even played the school song while everyone sang along.

In mid-May, I continued my journey through MN and stayed at Town & Country Campground & RV Park in Savage, MN. I had a great spot under a tree, and Arthur and I spent many glorious evenings enjoying the pre-summer weather. Some days warmed up to the 70s, and we even used the AC a couple of times to mitigate the heat.

While we were in MN, I needed check some items off my list. My hair needed attention, so I went to the LolaMax Salon in Minneapolis and had a great experience with Tanya. Then I did one of those things I used to do when I lived there and just went over to a friend’s house and spent some time with her and her family. Being on the road helps you gain a lot of appreciation for the ability to just stop by and visit with someone.

I also needed to go to the dentist. 🍫🍫🍫 When I lived in Minneapolis, I had the best dental experience of my life, and – frankly – I’ve never found another dentist that compares. Lakeville Family Dental Centre is still amazing. I was able to make an appointment, get a referral to an oral surgeon, and get my pesky broken crown and root removed in a matter of days. My oral surgeon at Advanced Oral Surgery was amazing as well, and I felt no pain. I am grateful for an amazing friend from college who works from home and could cart me around that day and make sure I ate the soft foods I was supposed to.

Could I have walked? Maybe…but it was more fun to be carted around.

While I spent much of my time in MN with friends, family, and one fantastic former student, when I wasn’t working, I did make time on an exceptionally rainy evening to get a massage at Luxology. This had to be one of the best massages I’ve ever had. I highly recommend Ashley at this spa!!

I think MN will always feel like home to me. There are so many memories there, but I don’t think it’s where I will end up after this journey. I am so thankful for my decades in that state, and the growing I did there, but my unicorn city is still out there. So, on we go….