Number of Miles Driven: 167 (Day 17); 173 (Day 18)
States Driven Through: Minnesota
Hours Driven: 3 hours (Day 17); 3 hours (Day 18)
Day 17 - Rochester to Sauk Rapids
Michael wanted to stop in a brewery outside of Minneapolis
that had good ratings, but it didn’t open until 11, so we got to have a slower
start to our morning. I set my alarm for 7 because I figured we still needed to
get up before the kids, but Michael wasn’t thrilled when he heard it go off. He
was planning for an alarm-free morning. All the kids ended up sleeping in until
at least 7:45 am. – oh well...we got a good start!
The kids were very helpful in getting things ready – too
helpful. Andrew and Carolyn started fighting over who got to “decorate” the
couch and each one thought the other was making it “ugly.” We gave them two
minutes to work together or they would lose tablet time. Carolyn fairly quickly
started giving in (just to get tablet, I’m sure), and we said she had to
actually work through it. Andrew was more stubborn, but they eventually (and
reluctantly) came to a compromise – took about 3 minutes though. (Emily later texted and said she needed us to come and clean her entire house based on how the basement looked - I gave credit to the kids)
We headed out around 9:40 which put us at Bricksworth right
at 11 am. Unfortunately, the “guy who puts the beer in the growlers” had been
out so they had none to sell. Michael tasted a few that were on tap and thought
they were good. Luckily, one of the employees recommended their sister brewery,
Black Stack, and not only were they open on Monday (when we planned to be in
Minneapolis) but the beers were consistently rated over 4 – so we added it to
our to-do list for Monday.
We stopped at Dairy Queen for lunch and then headed on to
Rebecca’s house. We arrived around 1:30 and did all the family introductions.
Our families are like stair steps – Andrew 11, Clare – 10 (almost 11), Carolyn
– 10, Henry – 9, Matthew – 7, Elise – 6, Dani – 5. Henry greeted us with a Michael
Jordan basketball jersey on, and Clare immediately took the kids on a tour of
the basement and we didn’t see them again – ha! By the time we made it down to
the basement to see where we were staying, it looked like they had found every
single toy – it was great to see how easily they started playing with each
other. Meanwhile, we got to meet Todd and fell right in place with Rebecca.
Just like our time with the Franks and Emily, it was amazing that we just
picked up as if no time had passed – even though it had been 16 years since we
last saw Rebecca.
They had arranged to get a pontoon boat from their neighbors
so we could take a ride on the Mississippi River which was right across the
street from them. It was a beautiful day, but extremely windy, and the boat
ride was so nice. Todd let the kids “drive” the boat for a few minutes each and
we docked on a sand bar briefly for the kids to swim in the river. We were only
out for about 1.5-2 hours, but it was such a fun time. Also hard to believe that we were swimming in the Mississippi when I'm used to the version that dumps out at the Gulf of Mexico.
We were aiming for a 9 pm bedtime for the kids, but it ended
up being closer to 10 because they were having so much fun. After getting them
settled in, we continued catching up and called it a night around 11:30.
Day 18 – Sauk Rapids and Minneapolis
The kids treated us to breakfast this morning. Clare and
Carolyn made pancakes while Henry made sausage. It was all great!
We decided to divide and conquer today. Andrew and I went to
Minneapolis so I could have lunch with an old friend and Andrew wanted a U of M
hockey puck. Meanwhile Michael and the kids stayed at Rebecca’s house.
Desiree and Andrew’s
Day
The trip into Minneapolis was 1.5 hours but the traffic was fairly easy. The Mississippi River curves right through Minneapolis/St. Paul, and U of M is right in the middle of it all. Andrew got to ride shotgun and was excitedly taking pictures of the downtown landscape. We pulled right into a parking garage for U of M and walked around looking for the bookstore. The campus didn’t feel like it was right in the middle of downtown and was nice (not as picturesque as ND though). Andrew grabbed a picture with Goldy, but unfortunately, the bookstore didn’t have a hockey puck. Boooo… It was the whole reason he joined me on the trip. He handled it well and didn’t seem too bummed.
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| Mac's Fish and Chips |
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| Lunch with AJ - the walleye was delicious! After lunch, Andrew and I swung through Goldy’s Locker Room to see if they had hockey pucks. They had Minnesota Wild pucks but no Gopher pucks, so we grabbed a couple of Wild pucks. I think Andrew was satisfied. Next, we stopped by Black Stack which was luckily open on a Monday. The brewery was really cool – it was in an old factory with an industrial look and had a large area with lots of tables. I wish Michael was able to see it and that we could just hang out and grab a drink, but we were on a quick mission to just get a couple of beers to go. They only had a few canned, but they all had good ratings and two of them were hazy IPAs. I even grabbed a sour. I wish we could have stayed in Minneapolis longer – it looked like a like cool city and AJ had put together so many sites for us to see – including the Como Conservatory, Sculpture Garden and Mall of America. But we were excited to get back and spend more time with the Schroeder family. |
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| Andrew's photography skills as we drove through downtown Minneapolis |
Michael, Carolyn, Matthew, and Dani’s Day
Michael got some work done in the morning while the kids took a walk with Rebecca and Todd around the neighborhood to explore. Rebecca commented that Dani was brave because she just grabbed their hands and wasn’t even bothered that neither me nor Desiree was with her. We had a quick lunch at home - chicken fries, sandwiches, and fruit. Matthew and Dani were uncertain about the chicken fries, and initially asked for a small amount. Matthew ended up getting a little more and then finishing off the rest of what was left on the plate – so I guess he liked them! Dani ended up having more than she started with too. After lunch, we saw where Rebecca works (Sartell Pediatrics) and then went to “Burger King Park,” called such because it’s behind the Burger King. It has an official name that neither Todd nor Rebecca could remember, but it was right on the Mississippi River about 1 mile south of the dam. While there all the kids frolicked in the fountains which served as a splash pad of sorts and then either sunned themselves or played on the playground, taking multiple turns on the zipline. We then walked down to the Mississippi River where it shallow enough we could have walked across the whole river if we wanted to.
After a little more exploring (and collecting of rocks and shells) we headed out for St. Cloud University. We walked around campus for about 10 minutes looking for the bookstore to purchase hockey pucks for Andrew and Matthew. Dani also found a St. Cloud State University Huskie.
Back at the house, the kids played together and we all hung out until Andrew and Desiree got home.
All together again…
Todd made sloppy joes for dinner and they were delicious. I’m pretty sure it’s the first time our kids have had sloppy joes, and Andrew and Carolyn liked them. Matthew and Dani weren’t as big of fans. After dinner, we went to Henry’s baseball game (Todd is the head coach), but we stopped by Mr. Twisty on our way for an ice cream. All the cones had candy eyes on them. Henry had a large cheering squad with all of us there. The girls created a cheer/dance for Henry and then played on the playground. We met Elise’s godparents who have two sons – one of whom is interested in Psychology and might major in that when he goes to college next year.
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| Mr. Twisty...Look closely and you'll see the eyes |
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| Creating a cheer for Henry |
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| Fun at the playground at the ballpark |
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| Part of Henry's cheering section |
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| Dani and Elise cheering on Henry (playing Catcher) |
We got back to the house around 9:45/10 and the kids had a
cheese/cracker snack and then got ready for bed. Clare was so sweet and said it
felt “sad/weird” for us to be leaving, and we’ve “analyzed” that to mean she
was surprised at how much she would be sad for us to leave. They truly did get
along so well and thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company – especially Carolyn
and Clare.
Rebecca decided to bake a rhubarb coffee cake while Todd
made chocolate chip cookies. Earlier I had said that I loved chocolate chip
cookies and was always so frustrated that they didn’t come out consistently, so
we exchanged ideas for why they sometimes came out flat. We all stayed up until
after midnight just so we could have some hot fresh chocolate chip cookies –
they were delicious!
It was hard to say goodnight because it meant the end of our
visit for the most part, but we were all exhausted!
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| A final goodbye the next morning |
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