Wrappin it up!

It’s time to wrap things up in Minnesota. While we hate to leave all our family and friends, road itch has set in and it’s time to get on the road again.

Nick and Val wanted to see Minnehaha Falls. Near the end of the 30 mile long Minnehaha Creek, the falls is one of those “must see” destinations when you are in the Twin Cities. A large number of things are named after the fictional character in Longfellow’s 1855 epic poem The Song of Hiawatha. Even the name of the biggest city in the state is – originally named St. Anthony after the falls named by Father Hennepin, the name was later changed to Minneapolis – “Minne” for Minnehaha, and “polis”, the Greek word for city.

We hiked the trails below the falls, which took us out to the creek’s junction with the Mississippi River. We found ourselves below the former site of the Twin Cities Ford factory. The factory has long been closed and removed, but the dam and hydroelectric plant are still there. When we visited the Mill City Museum, a historian told us that while the Ford hydroelectric plant is not in operation, he said that all the equipment was still in place and functional – all they would have to do is open the sluice gates and power would be flowing. However, the plant was only connected to the Ford plant in its day – it was not connected to the cities’ electric grid, and it is too small to justify the cost of connecting it now, so it sits!

Only in Minnesota! I have never seen this before, but die hard fishermen can bring their fish houses with them here. For those of you who don’t know, in the winter in Minnesota, you haul a shed with no floor out onto the frozen lake, cut a big hole in the ice, and sit in your shed fishing for Walleye. Well, American ingenuity to the forefront – you just pull your camper out onto the frozen lake, and then you raise the wheels so the camper frame rests on the ice. In the middle of the floor is a hatch you can then open to cut your fishing hole – heat, stove, fridge (for beer) and bathroom (for beer) – genius!

Nick was on a mission to find the best burger in town. In addition to the Nook, we visited B-52’s in Inver Grove Heights that claims to have the best burgers in town. We also visited Matt’s in south Minneapolis where they claim to have invented the Jucy Lucy – a twin burger patty with cheese inbetween, pinched around the end to try to keep the melted cheese in. We still have one famous haunt on our list for our next visit – the 5-8 Club – which disputes Matt’s claim. While we enjoyed all the burgers, my pick for both great burger and great atmosphere would be the Nook.

One last visit before we leave is the Big Wood Brewery in White Bear Lake. 3 years ago the owner was a hardwood flooring retailer, so when he decided to open a brewery, what else could he name it but Big Wood. We visited the Taproom and had a flight of all their brews. My favorite is their chocolate stout, which they came up with a “high five” marketing name for – Morning Wood. Who would ever turn down a little Morning Wood!

We managed to hit the Science Museum of Minnesota before we left, and to see the Bougie clan one last time before we all head to the hinterlands. The collection here is great, especially the prehistoric fossils. Our niece, Stella, is only 2 years old, and as we walked among the skeletons, she would point and shout “Pterodactyl” and “Stegosaurus” and such, and she would nail it precisely each time. I guess that’s what happens when you’re the kid of a couple of PHD’d professors!Well, allergies are back in the Colectiva household, just in time to hit the road again. I don’t know if the Canadian Thistle, which seem to be actually exploding in the meadows, are causing the rebirth of allergies, but I wouldn’t doubt it. We will be wondering south along the Great Mississippi River Road to see what we can find. We are pretty good at that.

Talk to you soon!

Mill City Museum

Another gem we discovered is right on the banks of the Mississippi, overlooking the famous St. Anthony Falls. The falls were made known to Europeans in journals published by Father Louis Hennepin in 1680. Father Hennepin came to the area to convert the locals who tended to live near the falls due to the water source, the rich fertile lands and the abundant game. While the falls look nothing like they did in the 1600’s when viewed by Father Hennepin, they still are a very impressive sight.

We learned that the first grain mill was built along St. Anthony Falls in 1866. C. C. Washburn chose the site since power was needed to run the mill equipment, and in those days the only source of such power was water turbines. St. Anthony Falls would provide the power that would run this mill, and the river below the falls would also provide a transportation route both in and out – in for grain and out for processed flour.

The next decade saw the mill in full blown operation – that is until they discovered what full blown meant. In 1878, 18 workers in the mill were killed when the flour dust exploded and completely leveled the mill. Until that time it was believed that flour was an inert material and not combustible, but they learned the hard way that airborne flour dust was many times more combustible and explosive than dynamite. Apparently the blast took out windows all over downtown Minneapolis and was felt as far away as Hudson Wisconsin.

1880 saw the opening of the new mill, on a far greater scale than the original. And with it, Minneapolis became the largest world producer of processed flour, and held that status for half a century. It was this time period that gave Minneapolis the moniker Mill City.

Over the decades, the demand for raw flour was replaced to a great degree by processed and prepared dough, and the need for such a massive plant dissipated. In 1965 the plant was closed, and sat vacant for decades. Eventually it became unofficial housing for many of the city’s homeless, and during the winter of 1991, a fire broke out, likely set by accident due to a fire the unofficial residents were using for heat or cooking. Since the floors and support beams were all wood, the place went up like a tinderbox.

The Mill City Museum has been built in what remains of the walls and foundations of that second mill. The Minnesota Historical Society has done a great job of keeping some of the historic walls in their ruined state, while building the brand new museum sections within other areas of the original structure. In addition to all the general historical information about the history of milling and the people involved, as well as the numerous artifacts, there are two great feature attractions that should not be missed.

The first is an elevator ride up to the eighth floor observation deck – the original height of the mill buildings. On each floor of the ride, the elevator stops and an audio and visual display of historic footage, historic interviews with mill workers, or both are available to give you the feel of what it would have been like when the building was in full production. Each floor has a carefully done display along with the AV presentation showing artifacts arranged as they would have been during production.

The second attraction is a 350 year history of St. Anthony Falls and Minneapolis, done in both an humorous and informational video presentation. How they pack 350 years of history into a 19 minute video production is pretty fun.

After the Museum, we went to another historical landmark, this time in St. Paul – the Nook. A bar/restaurant sitting atop the basement level RanHam bowling alley on the corner of Randolph and Hamline Avenues, they are known for having the best burgers of anyplace in the cities. From what we ordered and experienced, we could not dispute that claim. If you are ever in St. Paul and want a really spectacular burger, find your way here.

Talk to you soon!

Twins night

Nick and Valerie wanted to treat us to a ball game at Target Field for a Father’s Day present. With no hesitation, we accepted the kind invitation.

However, Nick and Val had been surfing the website Reddit before coming to town. Nick says that anything you ever want to know about anything can be found on Reddit, so they found out what the buzz was as far as fun and interesting things to see and do in the Twin Cities. One such place is Betty Dangers.

Just a bit off the Mississippi River just northeast of downtown Minneapolis (locally referred to as “Nordeast”), Betty Dangers is a little like a combination bar, restaurant and amusement park. A mini-golf course runs through both the interior and exterior dining and bar areas. Guests are welcome to amuse themselves on the course while carrying their favorite beverages along, or even some snacks if they prefer.

A more recent addition is a good sized Ferris wheel right out in front of the building. The routine is pretty simple. You buy your ticket and order your food for the ride at the ticket window. You then head to the bar and order the adult beverage you plan to take along with you on the wheel. By the time you have your beverage and are ready to board the gondolas, your food arrives, you are seated with your food and beverage, and off you go.

Heights are not big favorites of the Woman. Nor are Ferris wheels, particularly when they start and stop and sway a bit from the change in flow. To allow for the food and beverage you have with you, your ride runs for 20 minutes so the Woman was even a bit less thrilled, but she was a trooper. Besides, the views of the river and the fantastic downtown skylines were worth the minor anxiety. All in all, we had a great time.

If you ever get a chance to visit Target Field for a Minnesota Twins baseball game, it is well worth taking the time to do so. The stadium is right in the midst of the downtown entertainment district, and the views of mostly glass sky scrapers towering above the action on the field is really very compelling. As the sun goes down and the mood lighting on the downtown buildings comes up the whole scene takes on another tone. It is well worth a visit.

It turned out we got lucky in a couple of ways with going to the game this day. First, the city was completely socked in by clouds in the morning and it was pouring rain. However, as the afternoon approached, it began to break up and by game time, there were only a few wispy clouds in the sky. The other reason we got lucky is that the Twins decided to put on a batting display. They managed to post 15 hits for the game, and no fewer than 4 of those hits were home runs! Every time the Twins hit a home run, a bank of fireworks erupt from behind the scoreboard and light up the sky. So we got to see that exciting display 4 times that evening.

All in all, it was a great day and a fun Father’s Day gift.

Talk to you soon!

Reunited again

The morning of the planned graveside service for our Mom brought a deafening downpour of rain. Just a half hour before we had to leave for Fort Snelling National Cemetery there was no break in sight. I began putting the rain coats and umbrellas in the car, and mentally preparing for the worst.

But all of a sudden the sound on Colectiva’s roof subsided considerably. The rain had stopped enough so that we could water Niko before we had to head out – nice!

By the time we got to Fort Snelling National Cemetery, the clouds had broken up so much that the sun was actually showing through brightly from time to time. Unfortunately, this is a very popular place. John, our fantastic representative from the Veterans Administration, told us that on most days in the summer they had to fit in an average of 36 services, and today was not any different. I can do the math. If you have them back to back over a 9 hour day, which means each service can have all of 15 minutes.

So the sun shined brightly on our 15 minutes at the graveside chapel. And in that miraculously nice weather, our Mom, Phyllis Caroline Bougie was reunited with her loving husband, Marine Staff Sargent Leon George Bougie, after having been apart for well over 40 years. While we were all sad and weepy, it did bring some peace to have them back together again, as they should always have been.

Talk to you soon!

Exploits in Minneapolis

At the urging of my older brother, Mike, the three Bougie brothers, along with Brenda and Robin, met for lunch at the Surly Brewing Company.

Surly’s is one of the new breed of micro-breweries. Gone are the smallish garage or warehouse based operations. Now, more of these craft breweries are building shiny new immense buildings with lots of glass to see into the brewing areas, and tremendously large restaurant/bar areas that draw in large crowds of young and old alike because the food they offer is really good, and the beer they offer covers a wide variety and is very different. We were there for lunch on a Friday afternoon and the place was packed!

The location was more true to the roots of craft brewing. In the heart of the early industrial section of Minneapolis, in the shadow of a towering abandoned concrete grain silo, the venue was compelling. The outer wall of the huge restaurant/bar had massive glass garage doors that, on a nice day (which today was) allowed the dining and imbibing area to spill out onto the large patio. The whole setup even included a nicely flowered grassy area with picnic tables, as well as a Corn Hole court with available equipment for the use of patrons. A couple of families were actively engaged in a competitive game while basking in the noon sun.

On leaving Surly’s, we caught a glimpse of something I don’t remember ever seeing before. High above the historic residential area of Prospect Park was what looked to be a water tower that had seen some years. We parked the Saturn and hiked on up.

What is commonly referred to as the Witches Hat Tower, this water tower was built in Prospect Park in 1913 to help increase the residential water pressure in the city. The location was selected as it was the highest spot in the entire city of Minneapolis, and quietly but majestically served the intended purpose until the year before I was born. The Witches Hat Tower was decommissioned in 1952 and now is on the National Register of Historic Places.

And the location lived up to its billing as the highest spot in the city. Despite being heavily covered by a dense urban forest of trees, the West facing crop of the hill still provides one of the best views of the Minneapolis downtown skyline I have ever seen. It was well worth the time and the short hike to visit this unique landmark.

Talk to you soon!

James J. Hill gives us another gift

I already told you about the James J. Hill mansion on Summit Avenue overlooking downtown St. Paul. But it turns out that Hill made other gifts that ended up being way cooler than this grand old house.

As I mentioned, Hill was the builder of the Great Northern and Northern Pacific railroads. Both those railroads laid thousands of miles of track all over the state of Minnesota, as well as other states. When all those old railroads ceased operations, they turned the land under the rail beds over to the states, and Minnesota has made most of those old rail beds into mixed use hiking and biking paths.

We found the Browns Creek trail, which runs from the center of downtown Stillwater next to the St. Croix River up the bluffs about 5 miles. As an old rail bed, even though the trail winds its way to the top of the steep St. Croix River bluffs, it maintains no more than a 3% grade, mostly by following the creek bed of Browns Creek. We biked up that trail to its end and back down again yesterday. It was grand and peaceful, mostly shaded, and basically flat.

We spotted this dead rattle snake about halfway through our ride. It was over 4 feet long – what a shame as it looked like someone had gone out of their way just to run it over – not cool! When we got to the end, we discovered another trail – the Gateway Trail – which also runs through an old Northern Pacific rail bed, the one that used to run from St. Paul to Duluth. The interpretive board about the trail indicated that the paved portion stretched from Pine Point Park about 20 miles into downtown St. Paul.

We found the park, and clipped off about 7 of the 20 miles today. The trail is great and more rural than the Browns Creek trail, so we heard very little except for the singing birds and the soft ripple of the winds. We turned at a small parking area which we will try to find another day and then complete the trail into downtown – it should be great fun.

Thank you Mr. Hill!

Talk to you soon!

Detroit

We had some time in the morning until our return flights, so checked out things I had not been able to see the few times I was here for client work early in my career. We hit the lobbies of three wonderful buildings built near the end of the 1920’s – the Guardian Building, the Book Building and the Fisher Building. All three were commercial office buildings with elaborate where some light retail and dining would have rested.

The Guardian Building, opened in 1929 as the headquarters for the Guardian Detroit Union Group, was all brick, with ornate tile decoration both on the outside and in. Nicknamed “The Cathedral of Finance”, it originally housed 40% of the banking resources in the Detroit area and claimed to represent 25% of the city’s depositors. Apparently the tangerine colored brick was specially developed just for this building, and the over 2 million orange tinged bricks used in its construction still catch your eye, even from afar just looking at the Detroit skyline. While we really enjoyed the lobby, which was all we could get to as the office floors are controlled.

The Book Building was built in 1926. It was named for the locally famous Book Brothers, and is a very gothic traditional design. It looked like something you might see in London or the governmental quarters in Quebec City.

The Fisher Building was named for the famed designers of all GM automobile bodies. This massive structure, completed in 1929, is often referred to as the physically largest piece of art in Detroit – or perhaps the world for that matter. The marble walls and floors coupled with the mosaic ceilings made this building a literal treat for the eye – even if, again, we only were able to explore the ground level.

Next we found the old Fox Theater. Opened in 1928 as a flagship venue for the Fox theater chain, it is noted to be the first theater that had built in speaker systems for “talkie” films. With nearly 5,200 seats, this was truly a sign of the times in the film industry.

Referred to as Fox Town, this entertainment district looks like it would be a fun place to visit when events are going on. Not only are their two theaters with live stage capabilities, across the street is Comerica Field where the Detroit Tigers play. We were there quite early in the morning, and some tailgaters were already gathering for the 4 PM Tigers game. Dedicated fans I guess!

Behind Comerica Field is Ford Field where the Lions play. We had hoped to tour the facility just to get a look as Ford Field was the last roofed stadium to be built in the NFL – other stadiums with retractable roofs have been built, but Ford Field’s roof is fixed. The new Vikings stadium scheduled to be completed in 2016 will take that claim to fame away from Detroit!

Since we were so close, we decided to visit Canada. Windsor Ontario is directly across the Detroit River from the central business district of Detroit. Our plan was to visit the River Walk, stroll the water’s edge and then grab some lunch in the historic Waterville warehouse district. The River walk was great, including the Dieppe Gardens which commemorate one of the European beach landings during WWII in which 80% of the forces were comprised of Canadian military forces. While the views of the Detroit skyline, the gardens and the stroll on the River Walk were special, the historic Waterville district was not so much – so we decided to grab our meal later.

Our last stop would be The Henry Ford. Apparently the inventor of the Model T and more importantly, the modern concept of the mass production manufacturing line, was the consummate collector. His wealth allowed him to amass a collection of very interesting things over time – not just really cool autos like pristine Edsels, Thunderbirds and Mustangs, but things you wouldn’t necessarily expect. Historic massive locomotive engines and vintage cars, entire buildings (gathered in the historic Greenfield Village display), vintage aircraft and all kinds of interesting stuff.

We specifically searched out three of items in the collection that most stimulated our imagination. The first was the Dymaxian House. Beechcraft Aircraft Corp was the largest manufacturer of small aircraft both for private flyers and the military back in the 1940’s. In 1946, the Company launched an innovative plan – to take what they learned in designing and manufacturing self-contained people environments (like the inside of an aircraft fuselage) using essentially space age materials (aluminum exteriors) and design what would essentially be a pre-fabricated home. The homes were circular – look a little like a donut – they are 1,000 square feet including two bedrooms, large living room with fireplace, and full kitchen and laundry. They are suspended above the ground tethered to a center pole, and are surrounded by brushed aluminum just like their planes looked. The whole idea was to utilize their excess manufacturing capability while providing very affordable, maintenance free housing. While the idea seemed promising, they only sold two of these homes before they discontinued the idea – one to Henry Ford apparently.

The second attraction that captured our imagination was the Rosa Parks bus. The exhibit was really cool – you got on the bus, there was an audio track that talked about the times and also some personal interviews with Rosa Parks herself. When Rosa was speaking, the light came on over the seat in which she was sitting when she refused to give it up for a white businessman. But what was most fun was that this was the actual bus on which Rosa had made her stand – not a recreation or a similar bus – the actual bus!

The third attraction was the actual upholstered chair in which President Abraham Lincoln was sitting when he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in the Ford Theater. In

our visiting the Springfield area last year we had seen quite a bit of real Lincoln artifacts, some of which linked back to this tragic event – like the hospital bed in which he died. But to see the actual chair out of the private box where he and Mary Todd were sitting was eerie – yet cool.

The final event of the day turned out to be the best. Around 1915, with the huge popularity of the Model T, Henry Ford decided he would create the perfect manufacturing plant. On the Rouge River about 6 miles from the business district, he began constructing the Rouge River manufacturing facility. When completed, the plant took all the needed raw materials in one door – coal, steel, etc. – and created all the needed parts necessary for a Model T to roll out the other door. At the time, it was the single most ambitious manufacturing facility in the world, and still may be.

Although it is nearly a century old, it is still a state of the art manufacturing plant. The plant is dedicated to the F 150 truck model. We got to stroll along a catwalk over the entire assembly floor, seeing all the amazing automation. After the complete body of each truck is painted, the cab, bed and doors are coded as they are taken apart and sent down separate lines for assembly – electronics, insulation, latches, windows, etc. are all installed in the individual pieces. Then, then matching doors, bed and cab are reunited – the purpose is to make sure they match in both fit and finish perfectly, so minor changes in tint cannot be detected – and placed onto the chassis, which has also been assembled in a similar line. Once happily together again, each completed truck is started and run through a series of tests to make sure they come off the line in pristine condition.

We enjoyed this tour a great deal – it reminded us of our tours of the Harley manufacturing facility in York Pennsylvania as well as our many RV factory tours – but the automation here is on steroids. As the assembled truck bodies travel down the line, they are sitting atop an accordion platform – as the body moves from space to space, it raises and lowers with a travel of maybe 6 feet up and down. That way, folk on the line working in the engine well can work at eye level, and then the next station working under the bumper has the whole vehicle raised 6 feet so they are working at eye level as well – very impressive!

The other reason that we enjoyed it is that Karen’s squeeze, Albert, drives an F 150. So we toured the plant where the truck he drives was originally manufactured.

Talk to you soon!

Definition of life in a motorhome ......

… is a series of near disasters!

So the next near disaster was avoided as we were leaving for our flight to Detroit. Colectiva has a hose fitting that allows you to rinse out the black tank – the toilet tank – with a high pressure spray if you connect up a hose to a residential water supply. Long ago, I bought a hose splitter – a “Y” junction so I could hook up two hoses to a single water supply. Each leg of hose has a shut-off knob so you can turn off each or both legs – you could have one running and the other shut off.

So, one leg was supplying water to Colectiva’s water system. The other leg was supplying the water for the black tank rinse feature. The Woman had requested that the tank be rinsed as she decided it hadn’t been rinsed for a while. So, I rinsed it out twice while we were packing for Detroit, and then shut off the water at the splitter on the tank rinse leg.

As we were getting ready to leave, I happened to notice that the water level in the toilet was high – about half way up the bowl. Usually there is only about an inch of water in the bottom of the bowl. When I hit the foot pedal to empty the bowl, an air bubble burped up, but the water didn’t move. Luckily I am getting quicker at diagnosis of issues – and realized that the black tank was completely full of water!

I ran outside and flipped on the macerator to empty the tank – and shut off the water at the source. I pulled off the splitter, and sure enough, the “shut-off” knob, even when in the “off” position, still let a small stream of water through.

So, had I not noticed the water in the bowl, the faulty splitter would have continued to shoot water into the black tank, until the toilet bowl overflowed – and would have continued for the entire 3 days we were gone. For the record, the Woman is really happy that I noticed that!

But then it gets better. We were off to the Humphrey terminal (named after the great senator and unsuccessful Presidential candidate, Hubert Humphrey – like the old Vikings domed stadium) and as the car was pulling up to the drop off outside the ticketing counters, my phone chimed the receipt of a text message. The message was from Southwest Airlines and indicated our flight to Chicago had been cancelled. Since we were already there, we just went inside to deal with it.

The agent told us that due to hurricane weather in Chicago and the related delays in flights, the amount of air traffic awaiting landing exceeded its capacity, therefore airlines were being told that certain flights that hadn’t yet departed would not be allowed to depart – including ours.

Southwest told us that the next flight to Chicago would still get us there in time to catch our connection to Detroit, as it also was delayed. The only problem was that flight was full, so we could only be booked standby. However, the agent told us that since flights were delayed and cancelled, it was very likely that people already booked on that flight would cancel rather than face the likely scenario of being stranded in Chicago for the evening. So we booked that flight, and began our patient waiting game to see if we would get on.

As the hours went by, more and more flights were being announced as having been cancelled flying out of Chicago and the mass of people in the gate started getting smaller, which cheered us up a bit given our predicament. But our smiles were a bit premature. About the time that the gate agents had told us that we would begin boarding the plane – which was attached to the jet way – the agent came on the PA and told us that the flight had also been cancelled – our last chance of getting into Detroit that evening – all other connections out of other cities had already had their last flights for today.

The line at the counter for rebooking was at least 50 people long – I chose rather to call Southwest and see what we could do. I managed to get us a flight out at 6 in the morning – the Woman not at all happy by the way – which would still get us into Detroit with just enough time to make the 50^th anniversary bash. I also managed to find a hotel near the airport that had complimentary shuttle service at a rate that was less than the cost of a cab ride back and forth from Colectiva for the night – don’t ask about the room, it wasn’t the Waldorf Astoria, but also not nearly as scary as it sounds. So, we are hoping all goes well tomorrow.

Talk to you soon!

At the airport again!

Well, we will be offline for a few days again. We are at the MSP airport again, heading to Detroit for the 50^th wedding anniversary party for our dear friends, Ken and Georgia Halloran. Ken is the world famous author of Travel Tales, a book you can get on Amazon if you wish, and we would strongly recommend it. Ken is much the inspiration that got us pursuing this lifestyle!

Talk to you soon!

James J Hill Mansion

James J. Hill, born in Ontario of a Scottish immigrant family, moved to St. Paul to seek his fortune working as a clerk on the levees of the bustling river transportation industry. After 20 years of very hard work in shipping he amassed enough money to purchase the nearly bankrupt St. Paul and Pacific Railroad in 1878.

Over the next two decades he pushed tirelessly to push the line into Southern Canada and across the Rockies to the Pacific Coast. Renamed the Great Northern Railroad in 1890, Hill’s hard work and intelligence helped it survive the depression of 1893 when many other railroads failed, such that it was still the dominant force on the rails when I was a young boy taking my Grandma Larsen to the depot catch the “Empire Builder” out West to visit her daughter Aunt Shirley. I always thought the “Empire Builder” was just a cool name for the Great Northern trains that went to the coast. But it turns out that Empire Builder was the moniker that the world knew Hill by.

Interestingly enough, in 1878 Hill purchased 3 lots up on Summit Hill, overlooking the decay of Irvine Park that his railroad had either caused or contributed to. In 1891 he completed construction of a 36,500 square foot stone home, designed primarily to help him to meet the demands that his success in business required. The home included an 88 foot reception hall that served dual purpose as a ball room for formal affairs, 13 baths, 22 fireplaces and 16 cut glass chandeliers. That funny little notch in the front steps was for when carriages pulled up to the front of the home - people could get down onto that step without having to put foot in the driveway!

Hill was progressive, but hedged his bets. His home was wired for electric, but all the chandeliers also were plumbed for gas. Hill had the makings of whole house air heating – he had massive radiators heated by the immense boiler and ducts that ran throughout the house so the impact of hot air rising would heat the home – yet he built the aforementioned 22 fireplaces. The home totaled out at $931,275 in 1891 – at that time, the average worker in St. Paul made a total of $400 per year – so Hill demonstrated his opulence and business success.

Hill passed away in 1916. In 1925 members of his family purchased the home from his estate and donated it to the Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul. The Archdiocese used the home as offices and as a presentation site for decades. In the late 1970’s, the Archdiocese moved its offices to new facilities and no longer found a need for the home. The Minnesota Historical Society purchased the home in 1978, and has worked to restore it to its look when the Empire Builder lived here. While little of the original furniture still exists, the mansion has been brought to near original form!

If you want a view of post-Civil War era St. Paul, this is the place to be.

Talk to you soon!

Minnesota History Center

This massive 427,000 square foot museum was built around the time we were in the process of moving to Las Vegas, so we had not managed to visit it before we left the state. With over a million artifacts available to display, we decided now was the time to pay a visit.

Anyone would enjoy touring this very interactive museum. If you never lived in Minnesota, the Center will give you an idea what it would be like if you had. It also would provide you with some time perspectives that you can use to think back to the days when you were a kid or a young adult and see how it might have been had you lived here. For those who grew up here, it also offers a time capsule trip down memory lane. Famous TV local faces and voices you know describe events that you remember.

The experiential exhibits were our favorites. One has you in a basement of a typical home, experiencing what it actually might have been like to have your community swept by a tornado – the sounds, the shaking of the entire foundation, the loud thuds as trees and other debris collide with the walls and roof of the home hopefully still standing above you. Or imagine sitting in the fuselage of a WWII B-29 as a paratrooper awaiting orders to drop behind enemy lines during the Invasion of Normandy, the plane lurching with each explosion of the anti-aircraft shells being volleyed all around you. There really is something for everyone here.

At first we thought we made a poor choice – we apparently were here on the last day of school, and there were field trips galore. The noise level was deafening and you really had to watch where you walked. But about an hour or so after we arrived, all the school kids disappeared and we almost had the place to ourselves – nice!

Did I happen to mention the snow here in June? Oh, I guess that isn’t snow – just the inches thick cover of residue fall from the Cottonwood Trees. Allergies are running on steroids now – oh boy!

Talk to you soon!

Alexander Ramsey Mansion

Although both of us had been to this mansion as part of an elementary school fieldtrip, we decided it was well worth a visit in our adult lives. Good news was we could kill two birds with one stone – the first Thursday of each month in the summer, the Minnesota Historical Society holds History Happy Hour at the mansion. On these days, the mansion is open to stroll around in, local Summit Brewery provides the adult beverages, and the historical Forepaughs across the street provides appetizers – bonus!

Alexander Ramsey was the first governor of the Territory of Minnesota, and the second governor of the State of Minnesota. In the 1850’s, Ramsey began building the mansion in what is now known as the Irvine Park area, where all the wealthy of St. Paul lived around the time of the Civil War. Irvine Park was just blocks from the central business district, and on the gentle slopes overlooking the Mississippi River. On his death, Ramsey, whose father cofounded the Minnesota Historical Society, gave his home to the MHS along with all its furnishings, so the mansion looks pretty much just like when Ramsey lived there.

After strolling through the home and filling up on the yummy appetizers, we were treated to a presentation by a young couple who 3 years ago purchased the Wright-Pendergast House. We learned that this home is the oldest remaining home in St. Paul that is still where it was built, and the second oldest home in the city. Apparently in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, homes were often relocated, even when they were huge. It’s hard to believe they had the technology to do that back then, but it was actually pretty common. The home, built by Isaac Wright, a St. Paul alderman, in 1851, is a massive Greek revival home with massive columns across its face.

After his death, the home was sold to James Joseph Pendergast, owner of a plumbing business, and whose father had laid the original foundation for Irvine Park. The home remained in the hands of descendants of the Pendergast-Daly family, ultimately Roger Daly, who in 2013 decided to sell it to Heath and Elyse Jensen, who now become only the 3^rd family to have owned this 150 year old mansion.

We learned how the wealthy built homes surrounding Irvine Park until after the railroad industry peaked in the late 1800’s. When the lines were built to service St. Paul, they were built along the banks of the Mississippi River. The gently slopes from Irvine Park down to the River were excavated to provide flat terrain for the rails, which put all these wealthy folks’ homes right above the ever increasing noisy and smelly rail traffic. As the 1800’s came to an end, those wealthy enough to build large homes no longer wanted to be in Irvine Park, and began building their homes further up the bluffs along Summit Avenue, where they still had the panoramic views of the River and downtown St. Paul, but minus the noise and stench that the rails had brought with them.

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, the Irvine Park area fell into decay. Transients who rode the rails would occupy the park. Many owners frustrated with the decay of the neighborhood but with no effective way to sell their homes simply abandoned them, and then the transients would take up residency, accelerating the decay. By the mid-1900’s, many of the homes remained had been rooming houses. By 1970, 96% of the neighborhoods housing was considered substandard, and the City had begun plans to tear down the entire area and build high density public housing. In fact, the City had already begun building public housing in the vacant lots where thoroughly decayed old homes had been removed. To prevent its destruction, locals formed the Irvine Park Historic District, focused their efforts to preserve and restore the homes in the area, and in 1973, the neighborhood was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

We are having a gas moving around in our home on wheels and digging deeper into the history, and learning so much about the places we visit and stay a while. We find it particularly interesting all the new things we learn, even when we are visiting an area where we had previously lived for over 40 years!

Talk to you soon!

Vegas is different viewed from the Strip

Since the Saturn was in Minnesota and I would have had no easy way to make my way from home to the partner meeting daily, my partners were kind enough to put me up at the Aria for the event. What a great resort the City Center is overall. The view from the room is to die for, and the mile walk to get anywhere provides great exercise!

I got in the day before the meeting and strolled as much of the strip as I could, taking in the kinds of touristy things you never do as a resident. I had a nice buffet breakfast in the shadow of the new High Roller observation wheel. I marveled at how much the skyline of the Strip had changed over the last 5 years – in many ways, I didn’t recognize my own city, it was so beautiful and yet cosmopolitan.

However, then I would come across things that would bring me back to reality and remind me that I was back in the city where what happens here, stays here!

The part of my visit that was not wrapped up in the Partner Meeting seemed to turn into a series of “Seconds” for me. When we were college age, my brother and I visited Vegas with our Mom and Grandmas. As we strolled the Strip back then in front of Bally’s (then it was the old MGM Grand), we were propositioned by a very attractive “working girl” – right in front of our Mom and Grandmas! Well, some 40 years later I finally managed to get propositioned by another very attractive “working girl” on the Las Vegas Strip, interestingly enough in front of Bally’s again – but this time it didn’t end up working so well for her!

On that same trip 40 years ago, I got my first ever royal flush on a video poker machine – again at Bally’s. My brother Jerry and I had been active late into the evening – it was like 4AM and we had a flight back home at 8AM – so we just decided we would snooze on the plane instead of heading back to the room. After a while the cash outflow seemed too much, so I just started putting one quarter into the machines, and of course, that is when I got the royal – I managed to win a whopping $62.50! When you hit a royal, the machine doesn’t pay, even a small amount like $62.50 – the machine just flashes and makes tremendous noise, and you have to be paid by the casino staff, which takes forever. Everyone who walked by congratulated me, then chided me when they saw I only had one quarter in the machine. Well 40 years made me a bit smarter. Now I can cross another thing off my bucket list – I finally have earned a Form 1099-G!

I did experience a couple of firsts as well. I completed my first 5K when most of the McGladrey Partner Meeting attendees raised $150,000 for Three Square, a local charity with the mission of eliminating hunger in the community. Not only did I do my first 5K (I will admit, I walked rather than ran), but I learned how to switch the camera on my phone so I could do a selfie!

But then, being technology challenged as my age of 62 brings on, I thought I had switched my phone back to its regular camera lens. Later I learned that I had a bunch of accidental selfies on my phone instead.

The Partner Meeting was spectacular. I got to network with dozens of folk that I worked with for over 34 years. McGladrey is celebrating its 90^th anniversary this year, so there were a lot of high profile things going on. Celebrating was the theme, and I did as much as I could manage.

On my way back I was reminded again how much of a technology dinosaur I am. This is the Delta waiting lounge in the Minneapolis airport. The entire waiting area is equipped with IPad’s – as you await your flight, you can surf the web, get e:mail, whatever you want. But, you can also order food and beverages, and someone from the nearby restaurants and bars will deliver them. If only I could figure out how to make it work!

Talk to you soon!