Tag: travel

What’s Next?

I finally had a moment to make a page dedicated to our 520 days living in Estella and traveling the country. If you haven’t seen it, you can find it here: https://mshapsandestella.com/where-we-stayed/. Some days, it feels like that time passed in a blink of an eye, and other days, I am so exhausted when I think back to all the places we traveled.

We have narrowed our list for phase two of the journey, and I’ve updated the page to reflect that we’re on to our next thing – just me (Ms. Haps) and Arthur. If you missed it, I started jotting down ratings of the cities that I thought could possibly be our new home. When we were in Texas, I narrowed the list down to a few of my favorites and eliminated some others.

Chicagoland, IL

I initially didn’t have this on the list because Chicago is huge, but there were a few things that swayed me to add it. There are a lot of potential suburban areas that aren’t as big as Chicago itself. It’s easier to find a condo where I would have zero yard work. And, most importantly, it’s really close to my family and friends in Minnesota.

Grand Rapids / Ann Arbor, MI

I really enjoyed my time in Michigan. Both Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor are great-sized cities, and they both have a lot to offer in terms of medical care, diversity, climate, and all the other things on my list. This was an easy choice to add.

Buffalo, NY Area

I just fell in love with East Aurora, NY, and the towns in that area. I could take or leave Buffalo itself, but the surrounding communities and the proximity to the Great Lakes and the East Coast vibe were definitely drawing me in.

Why didn’t those other highly rated cities make the list?

If I only had to give one reason why most of them didn’t make it, it would be because it would too hot in the summer. Prescott, AZ, Albuquerque, NM, and Austin, TX were all really great, but I know the summers would do me in. Missoula, MT was right up there in the running, but in the end, it was too small for what I was looking for and maybe a bit too remote. Salem, OR, was highly rated, but the west coast seemed just too far west. Prince Edward Island (yes, all of it) was my hands down favorite, but Canada just isn’t in the cards for me yet.

So, back in April, Estella was stored in one of my parents’ out buildings, and Arthur and I left for Chicagoland – Evanston, IL, to be exact. We will spend a couple of months in each of the areas and have a longer stint in the Buffalo area. I know IL and MI winters, but a winter in Buffalo is something I’ve never experienced, so we will be spending the 2025-26 winter there to see if we can endure it. It’s been over a decade since I experienced a real winter; I just want to make sure I’m still made of the stuff that can take it.

We will be living in furnished places in all of these areas. While we were in Texas, I booked AirBnBs and places through Furnished Finder for the next 12 months, signed leases, and tried to explain to Arthur that we weren’t done just yet.

What if they don’t work out?

It’s a distinct possibility that we’ll travel to all these great areas and not be as enamored with any of them as I had hoped. I’ve kept Estella just in case that’s what happens, and we’ll head back out again. I’ve been lucky enough to live in all sorts of places, so I think, at the end of the day, it’ll either be somewhere I’ve lived before or one of these new areas.

I hope you’ll stick with us even if we’re not traveling in the RV anymore. There are many more adventures to come as we continue the search for our Unicorn City.

Keeping Austin Weird – Part 1

It’s almost been two months since I’ve had a chance to sit down and write. Between work, getting out and about, and adjusting to living in spaces larger than a van, I’ve been busy, but it’s time to finish up our RV journey and talk about how our search for our Unicorn City is going.

I’ve always known that Texas would not be my final destination for one reason >> the seemingly never-ending, oppressively hot summers that start in March and last through October. If you ask a Texan, they’d probably disagree and tell you that it’s “really nice in March, April, September, and October”, but I am here to say that 100 in September is not “really nice” in my book.

So, January and February in Austin were perfect for me, Arthur, and Estella. On January 17, we left Houston and headed to Austin, and I planned a three-hour drive for many reasons but mostly because Arthur hadn’t been on the move for over two months. He did pretty well considering, but when we stopped in Bastrop for provisions, his will to continue had completed depleted.

Since we were only about 30 minutes from our RV park, the howling was tolerable. We stayed at Austonia outside of the city, and it was one of the very best parks we stayed at. When I made the reservation, they were undergoing a renovation but were certain they would be done by the time we arrived. The bathrooms were fantastic. The shower rooms were so spacious and clean, which was great for our two-month stay. They were also a lot more comfortable about water usage during the winter, and that was refreshing.

On our second night, we got snow! It wasn’t a lot, but it was really nice to have some snow and feel a little winter.

This was the view out of Estella’s front window.

I picked up a rental car after being in Austin for about two weeks. Time to get out and explore! I went out to get my hair done, found a Sbarro for a slice of pizza, and got ready to head to San Antonio for work. Once again, I found a wonderful Arthur sitter through Rover.com, so I knew he would be in good hands while I was away.

My drive to San Antonio was a reminder of what happens to highway infrastructure when cities grow faster than the roads. There was a lot of road construction, and the traffic was more than your average city’s rush hour. Even though Houston’s labyrinth of highways and frontage roads were daunting, it efficient.

In San Antonio, I had some credits to use, so I stayed at the Eilan Hotel & Spa. This place was massive, but my room was the perfect size with a balcony and plenty of space to spread out.

Great views from my hotel room balcony.

Since I didn’t get into San Antonio until late afternoon, I didn’t do a lot of exploring. I did try Raising Cane’s and went to see “A Complete Unknown” in Boerne. I had heard so many good things about Raising Cane’s and about their sauce. I thought it was fine. The chicken was good, but the sauce – to me – was meh.

I was treated to this beautiful sunset as I was leaving Raising Cane’s and headed to the movie.

On Sunday, I met with some friends at the historic Pearl district near downtown for lunch at Brasserie Mon Chou Chou, and we had great conversation and a lot of laughs. The food was delicious as well. We walked around after lunch and visited a gorgeous market. I also stopped at Bakery Lorraine for an almond chocolate croissant and cookies. A tres manifique day!

The rest of my time in San Antonio flew by. I was able to work in the company office in downtown San Antonio and then had a delicious dinner with a friend, his wife, and their kids at Dough Pizzeria Napoletana.

Arthur enjoyed looking out the window at our neighbors throughout our time in Austin.

Destination: Houston

We woke up on Saturday outside of Columbus, GA, at a Boondockers Welcome location in Fortson. They had a great set-up with parking spot on their extended driveway by a utility shed. The host walked down to see me and brought an extension cord that I could use since the shed was a bit further than my cords would reach. We even had a nice chat. I woke up to Arthur sharing my pillow because I was late with breakfast.

Saturday was our longest drive from Fortson to Livingston Lakeside RV Resort in Louisiana – just to the east of Baton Rogue. I’d never driven across southern LA before, and it was a lot different drive than what I expected. It was amazing to drive over the waterways and see the people driving their boats and living as they normally do. Those little slices of life really make the 400+ mile journey meaningful. The RV resort was very sunny and a bit warm, but it was peaceful and safe, so well worth the side-eye looks I got. I’m guessing they don’t see a lot of Asian ladies camping with their cat in these parts. 🍫

On Sunday, we left for the last leg of our 1000 mile journey into Houston, TX. We stopped at a not-so-busy Buc-ee’s outside of Houston to fill up and head to the Laurel Springs RV Resort in the Kingwood area of Houston. As of 2023, Houston is the fourth largest metropolitan area, trailing New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago, but I was still surprised at the sheer size when we first arrived. It has all the things other large cities have – major highway systems, every store imaginable, many, many neighborhoods and areas. Our spot was in the northeast corner of the region and in a quiet alcove near Spring Creek.

When we arrived on Sunday, the office wasn’t open, so I had a bit of a scramble to find the email with our spot location. We easily parked and got set-up for the next two months. I wanted to winter in TX to try to escape some of the more extreme temperatures, but when we arrived in November, it was warm and humid.

Arthur was really happy in Houston. With all the driving we’d done, he deserved the rest – we all did. We did quite a bit while we were in Houston. More on that next time!

Georgia On My Mind

Another co-worker lives near Gainesville, so we had a chance to grab dinner at Pig Tales on the shores of Lake Lanier after I did a bunch of laundry and some grocery shopping. Dinner was fun, and it was great to meet my co-worker’s wife and talk about books and teaching and about how they met. They dropped me off at the RV and got to meet Arthur and see Estella in all her glory, and my co-worker’s wife described Arthur as a sweet little pumpkin – a keen observation.

The following weekend, I got up early on Saturday to stop at Danny’s Donuts for an apple fritter and then run down to Atlanta again and visit the Carter Presidential Museum and Library. There was a farmer’s market in the park near the museum, so the area was busy, but the museum was quiet. To this point in my travels, the Carter museum was one of my favorites.

There was a beautiful courtyard at the entrance of the museum, and there were a lot of unique gifts and displays.

For lunch, I met up with another co-worker and his girlfriend at Food Terminal, and they brought me delicious baked goods from a local Asian bakery. The restaurant had delivery robots and unique food, and we had an engaging conversation. I followed up that delightful lunch with a massage, a stop at a Trader Joe’s that had an actual parking lot, more laundry, and picked up another Amazon package at the Piggly Wiggly that was kinda in the middle of nowhere.

I returned the rental car on Saturday night and spent Sunday morning getting ready to hit the road. Our next stop was the Myrtle Beach Hideaway RV Park. The drive to SC was uneventful, but I did see a dog in the back of a pickup truck, going 70 mph down the highway. The dog was having a great time – just never seen that before, but I also haven’t spent a lot of time in the south either….

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.

Literally the Land of Lincoln

In early June, I headed for an extended stay in Springfield, Illinois – one of the lesser known Springfields that dot the US. This Springfield had been on my radar because it had a presidential museum, and it was centrally located with a small college. It was close enough to St. Louis to run down if I wanted something in a city or to catch a plane but small enough to feel build a sense of community – not just be one of many.

As with all of the best laid plans, I had to make some adjustments once I made it to the IL State Fairgrounds where I planned to camp for the month of June. It wasn’t on their website, and no one mentioned it to me when I called, but you are only allowed to stay for 14 consecutive nights. 🍫🍫🍫🍫 The kind security guard must have noticed my disappointment (or how my hair instantly went a shade more grey) at this news because he did give me the senior citizen discount, which brought the cost down to $20 per night.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever really explained the logistic work that it takes to manage this lifestyle, but this was my first real challenge. Typically, I book when I’m going to stay months in advance and do not cancel or make changes. What can I say? I’m a planner. I was wary of staying at IL State Fairground because they don’t take reservations, but when I called, they were pretty confident it wouldn’t be a problem. Indeed, space was not the issue, but the amount of time I could stay there was. So, I had to scramble. I looked at county and state parks nearby as well as campgrounds and eventually called Double J Campground – just outside of Springfield. Thankfully, they had space for the dates that I needed, so I made my reservation and was all set. Then I needed to navigate my rental car.

Arthur still isn’t in love with riding in Estella for errands or when we travel between locations, so renting a car is an easy way for me to explore without traumatizing him. I planned to have a rental for most of my time in Springfield, so I had to figure out how to get Estella to the new campsite and then retrieve my rental car. It wasn’t hard, but I also wasn’t expecting to have to do it.

Alas, there’s so much more to talk about, so let me move on.

My first week in Springfield was very low key with work and rest, and I needed it. During the course of about a month, we had driven over 1,000 miles and set-up/tore down camp at least 14 times. 🍫 That’s a lot of transitions, and I was exhausted. The part of the campground with sewer hook-ups was basically a parking lot. In hindsight, I didn’t need the sewer hook-up, and I should’ve opted to stay in the treed, grassy part of the campground. The showers were pretty awful, and that’s all I’m going to say about that.

By Friday, I was more than ready to pick up my rental car and start checking out the area. I had done some planning online and found a tour that started at the Springfield Lincoln Library, which is not the same as the presidential library. It was a walking tour of the city and a discussion of historic events in the downtown area — This Pride Month, join Lincoln Library’s Sangamon Valley Collection for a free walking tour of historic LGBT+ sites in Downtown Springfield. We followed a bright, knowledgeable guide with their rainbow umbrella down the streets of the city for a couple of hours, and I learned much from the guide and the other participants. I also was able to page through a 1st edition of a gorgeous illustrated book by Robert Lewis Stevenson and illustrated by E. Mars and M.H. Squire.

Just beautiful. Also, the library has an abundance of events and is located across the street from historic Lincoln home site. It absolutely checks the boxes for the kind of library I am looking for in my unicorn city.

I was feeling ambitious, so I also tackled the Lincoln Presidential Library as well as the home site.

(Left) The Lincoln Presidential Museum – I heard – was developed by some of the Imagineers from Disney, so there were a lot of animatronics – including this one-room cabin replica where Lincoln grew up, and it was very interactive. It was definitely one of the best presidential museums I’ve had the chance to visit. (Middle) I’m a sucker for a transom window; look how cool this one is! (Right) A street view of the Lincoln’s home and the historic street recreated on this home site.

On Sunday, I schedule a tour of the FLW house in Springfield – the Dana-Thomas house. This home was massive and a renovation gone wild. With an unlimited budget and a lot of requests, Frank went to town. There were multiple musician balconies, an expansive dining room, multiple sitting areas, and some lovely art glass corridors. We couldn’t take pictures inside, but their website has an extensive gallery of photos.

This picture doesn’t really do its grandeur any justice. I wish there was a picture of the entry way on their website as it was just lovely.

Unfortunately, no one showed to give the tour of the Vachel Lindsay House. A couple from another part of IL had also signed up and thought that I was the tour guide. I had left in such a hurry that I put two different flip flops on, and I must’ve looked like a mess. 🍫🍫🍫 We had a good laugh about the shoes, and then we left after waiting about 15 minutes.

We were in Springfield for almost a month, so more to come!

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….