Grandkids Visit

The grandkids spent the weekend with us. G'pa has found taking them along when he takes the van to the car wash is a good form of entertainment. They stopped at a park playground on the way home. Miss W and I made blueberry muffins again and baked a birthday cake for her daddy, Our Favorite Son.

On Saturday we visited the local zoo for their Zoofari event. We were not sure what to expect, but we were certain there would be activities for the kids. It was wonderful. We spent two hours walking around, tasting food, watching the entertainment, and seeing the animals.

we all miss the penguins

they were able to 'milk' the cow

there was face painting

Mcbe is a tiger

Miss W got a flower

there was African dancing

an Irish jig dancer

watching the entertainment and eating food

the baby bison was out and about

Mcbe actually fed the goats...first time EVER

getting a horsey ride, "like at the grocery store"

Miss W tried 'marbleized' painting on paper

very pretty and proud

sitting on the bear

hiding behind the bear

Native American dancers

beautiful costumes

baby peafowl

a tiger in a nest

OFS & FDIL and the other grandpa and grandma joined us for lunch on Sunday to celebrate OFS's birthday. I had fresh strawberries and whipped topping for the angel food birthday cake Miss W and I had baked Saturday afternoon. She asked if she could help cut the strawberries and I said, "No." She asked if she could put the strawberries on the pieces of cake. I explained that I had planned to put the bowl of strawberries on the table and let people help themselves to the amount they wanted. She was VERY disappointed in my plan. She insisted she would put the strawberries on Daddy's birthday cake. I relented and said she could help do that. Then she asked for a piece of paper because she wanted to write a note. I gave her a little notepad from the drawer, but when I realized what she wanted to write, we opted for a LARGE piece of paper. I told her she had to start on the left side of the paper at the top of the page. Well, we got the left side, but you read it from the bottom to the top. This is her note:

"help you put the strawberries on the cake"

She did and all was well.

Bemidji, Home of Paul Bunyan & Babe, the Blue Ox

Our destination last Friday was Bemidji MN, another community I probably had never visited before.  (If I have, it was back in 1970.) We were there to meet a crew of geocachers who left Maple Grove at midnight. Minnesota cachers were attending events in 8 communities in the state (north to south, east to west) in a 24 hour period. We planned on attending four of the day's events.

We arrived Friday afternoon with time to explore the community, find some geocaches, locate our hotel and enjoy a delicious meal. Here are some of the sights from this northern Minnesota community.

Paul & Babe are located along the shore at the Visitor's Center

the area was undergoing some construction

the Mississippi River headwaters is 

very near the community

Bemidji - First City on the Mississippi 

some of the statue artwork in downtown Bemidji

interesting colors and mosaic

the kitty is looking up at the girl reading her book

the dog is wanting some ice cream, too

the boy is also reading a book

mural on the side of a building

depicting the history of the land and the lake 

We drove from Bemidji to Crookston where the cachers met at a McDonalds for lunch. The real cool part of that stop was meeting someone from Grand Forks whose mother had the same last name and spelling of Hubby. The two guys had a very nice visit. We also connected with 2 geocachers we had met at events we had attended in Minneapolis in May, and another cacher we had met in Sioux Falls at an event last month. The third event was at a park in Fergus Falls where we met a MN cacher we had met for the first time at an event in the Black Hills last summer. We made the final event, just before 9:00 PM at Redwood Falls. We said our hellos and goodbyes and headed home.

The bonus to the day's adventure was receiving a Magical Mystery Tour geo-coin at each event. The center multi-colored 'coin' was given to us by a cacher who ordered her own coins just for the 24 hour adventure. Neat!

This is the woman responsible for organizing the Magical Mystery Tour. I bet you can recognize a theme for the day. Another fun day and a successful geocaching adventure.

Wahpeton & Breckenridge

These two communities are divided by the Red River, putting the first community in North Dakota and the second in Minnesota. This was our first stop on our caching adventure last weekend. It had been years since I had been to either community. Our Favorite Son was just a toddler when a friend and I took our kids to the zoo and the guys attended a college football game. Our Favorite Son turned 34 on Wednesday, so when I say YEARS, I did mean YEARS since our last visit.

Of course this visit was short;  a potty break, grab some junk food for the road, a couple of geocaches, and we were on our way. But I did get some photos before leaving the two communities.

Wahpeton, North Dakota

building across from county government building

Leach Public Library

I liked the words engraved below the arch

and above the entrance

"FREE TO ALL"

words such as these were engraved on the two sides 

(probably all four) of the library

statue at the corner across the street

memorial to "Richland County Citizens

who rendered service to our country during

The Great World War' 1917-1918

the County Courthouse copula 

courthouse across the street from the library

Brekenridge, Minnesota

This monument was placed at the

headwaters of the Red River of the North

as it begins its 550 mile northward journey at this point

it flows to Lake Winnipeg, Winnipeg Canada

it is the longest north flowing river 

I happened to notice the public library building across the river in Brekenridge was a modern building with sleek lines and angles; no stately Carnegie Library building.

This was Friday morning, gray overcast skies and a breeze strong enough to keep most of the bugs at bay. Our weekend adventure covered 825 miles, just to attend 4 geocaching events in 1 day. The bonus was the great people we got to meet and the interesting places we saw along the way. Those ingredients make for a successful road trip.

Vining MN

Vining,  Minnesota would not be on my list of places to visit. Fewer than 100 people live in the little hamlet beside the highway, near a lake. (Everywhere is near a lake in that part of Minnesota.) We did not drive all the streets. I believe there are two businesses, maybe three on what must be Vining's Main Street.

So why would we stop in Vining MN? Geocaching, of course. We were on our way to Bemidji MN to join the Magical Mystery Tour, a twenty-four hour adventure (starting at midnight and ending at midnight) visiting 8 MN communities, covering about 900 miles, creating 8 events. Our plan was to participate in 4 of those events.

So what brought us to Vining? The Foot.

This 12' tall foot was built by Ken Nyberg using 10-guage steel. He created The Foot in 1988. Why? "I just thought Vining needed something different," he says.

Nyberg, now retired, was a welder and professional construction foreman.

A 20' tall clothespin between the Vining Post Office and

one of the two visible businesses along the Main Street.

The Indian on horseback was created from 1200 pieces of multi-shaped metal.

Located east of the Main Street buildings and next to the gas station and convenience store is the park of more statues.

The giant square knot is 10' tall and weighs more than half a ton.

 

life-size welder

amazing detail 

Some locals were at The Foot when we stopped. They shared Nyberg lives nearby and if we had the time, we should drive out to his shop. More of his creations reside there.

We decided we had quite the variety in the Nyberg Park, so we did not drive to his shop.

I learned the elephant is created from lawn mower parts, mostly blades.

Nyberg is 77 years old. He is a very modest man. Take the time to watch this Interview from 2011.

When asked why he does it, creating scrap-metal sculptures, Nyberg says, "I get to choose what I do and when and how long I work on things. What could be better than that?"

giant hook and chain

knife cutting an apple

Nyberg's daughter Karen, is an astronaut. She has worked on and lived on the international space station, twice. 

my favorite metal art

to show how big the structures are

cricket on the pliers

free standing coffee mug spilling coffee

Nyberg has donated statues to other communities in Otter Tail County, MN. We missed the one in Fergus Falls, nor did we see the Extension Cord or the Door and Doorknob statues. Maybe the next time. One never knows...