August 10 - 2018 Gistrup, Denmark

 

We have worked on our Top 10 list for quite a while.
After we came back to Minnesota so many people asked what was the best thing we saw. That made us think once again, but we have seen so much that it is impossible to name only a few.

But we finally settled on a “Top 10” list. Except for it has over 20 items on it 😊

To rank them is simply not possible. And below the top 10 are lots and lots of things we saw and did that were almost as interesting and exciting as the ones we picked (like the San Antonio River Walk etc. etc.).

Some cover multiple attractions (like Washington DC and Fall Colors) others just a single one (like Crater Lake).

Here goes:

Fall Colors (for over a month)	M & JJ
Falcons-Vikings NFL game in Atlanta	M & JJ
Nashville	M & JJ
Highway 1 near Bodega Bay, California	M & JJ
Yellowstone	M & JJ
Crater Lake	M & JJ
Visiting (Toronto, Vermont, Chattanooga,
Phoenix, San Francisco, Minnesota)	M & JJ
Arches	M & JJ
Antelope Canyon	M & JJ
Bryce Canyon	M & JJ
Mesa Verde	M
Tucson (Saguaro National Park + Campground)	M
New York City	M
Niagara Falls	JJ
Washington DC	JJ
Gettysburg	JJ
Luckenbach Texas	JJ
Zion Canyon	JJ
Philadelphia	JJ
Boston	JJ
Redwoods	JJ
Dallas	JJ

Thus ends our adventure and blog. What a year it has been! We are so thankful, that we have been able to fullfill this dream. We have learned so much. And we have good memories to last us the rest of our lives. 

Written by Mary and JJ  

August 9 - 2018 Gistrup, Denmark

We made it home safely - once again.

Our trip home went well. It was a long one, but no problems and no delays.

That we have been gone for a while becomes obvious when we look at the picture of our yard from March when we left and then what it looked like when we came home yesterday.

Denmark has had one of the hottest and driest summers in many many years - if ever. The lawn is half dead. Trees are dying and all the plants are struggling to survive. It will be a while before we have everything looking nice again.



March 12

August 8

The house was in good shape though, and somehow we managed to avoid getting burglarized (indbrud) during our 8½ months away from home. All this is thanks to our good neighbors, who kept such good care of our place.

The next couple of weeks we will spend unpacking, getting reorganized and not least catch up with family and friends and current affairs in Denmark.

And then 😊, it is time to start looking at what retired life is going to be, a year after our official retirement 😊.

As far as the blog is concerned we have one thing left to do : To post our top 10 list.

Written by JJ and Mary

July 30-August 7 - 2018 Birchwood, Minnesota

Sunday evening, the 30th, we moved from White Bear Lake to Michelle and Peter in Birchwood
(our shortest move: 5 miles / 8 km 😊).

We spent time visiting, and at the same time made ourselves useful by helping out with a painting project. Front entrance deck and steps. First, we needed to remove the old paint so we spent a lot of time sanding.  Like it is with that kind of projects they usually take longer than anticipated.  We sanded for 2½ days!! And were still not done.







Before and After

Thursday afternoon/evening, we visited our friend Bob in Stillwater. We saw him at the “Denmark-reunion” a couple of weeks ago, but didn’t have that much time to talk. This time we had time to get caught up on current affairs and world politics. We also did our traditional trip to Nelson’s for ice cream. We forgot to take a picture so we have to reuse one from last year’s visit.



Kid size!!  The smallest you can get.

Friday it was back to sanding deck and steps in Birchwood. We finally made it down to bare wood and got it all painted. 

The week-end was off (fri) and we didn’t do a whole lot. We did get to see most of Michelle and Peter’s family (Mary had “birthday breakfast” with their daughter Colleen on Saturday, and we saw their son Lee and his family on Sunday).

Monday we spent most of the day packing our suitcases. Even though we have done it again and again over the last 30 some years it is still a major project.


Before



4 hours later - 300 lbs. /150 kg of luggage

This morning, Tuesday the 7th we went to the Minneapolis airport to pick up a rental car, in order to drive to Chicago from where we are flying back to Denmark.

The immigration officer in Miami in March said that if I  (JJ) were in the US for 8½ month in a 12 month period that I practically lived here! That made me decide that in order to live up to that I, at some point would have to go to McDonald's. (McDonald's being the epitome (indbegerebet) of American fast food😊). So right before we got to O'Hare Airport in Chicago we stopped and visited the Golden Arches.

We are now in the airport waiting for our departure.

Written by JJ and Mary

July 27-29 - 2018 White Bear Lake, Minnesota

Friday, the 27th, we moved from Watertown to White Bear Lake (a suburb (forstad) to the Twin Cities) to visit Scott and Cindy. They picked us up in Watertown. We thought that by now we were done with sightseeing and events, but Scott and Cindy had made plans for the week-end.

On the way to White Bear Lake we stopped at a Big Stone Mini Golf and Sculpture Garden. The mini golf course (banen) is definitely different. There are sculptures in and around all the holes.
We had fun playing a round. Afterwards we toured the Sculpture Garden. Lots of interesting sculptures.

Saturday the 28th we went to see the Niagara Cave in Harmony in southern Minnesota. According to the owners one of the top ten caves in the US.

 

 

The cave was discovered in 1924 when 3 pigs fell into a hole in the ground. When the farmer went into the hole to rescue his pigs he found the cave.  We walked a mile into the cave. The formations in the cave reminded us quite a bit of our favorite canyon, Antelope Canyon in Arizona. The difference is the canyon is open, the cave is closed. And once again we experienced total darkness when the guide turned off the lights. The owners may well be right when they rate their cave among the best in the US.

As usual we talked on end  about just about anything (also the trip our families took together almost 25 years ago to South Dakota, where we founded the idea about a road trip around the US once we retired ( which seemed pretty far away at that time 😊))

On Sunday, Mary and Cindy’s friend Peggy visited. Fun to see her again, and do some catching up and reminiscing😊

Mary managed to get a picture of a pretty Blue Jay in Scott and Cindy's yard.

 

A very nice week-end in White Bear Lake.

Written by JJ

July 20-27 - 2018 Watertown, Minnesota

The last many days, have been spent with family and friends. It is so nice to get to see everyone again.

Here are some of the things we have experienced and people we have seen:

I was at the family cabin with JJ’s brother’s family and my brother Joe.

 

 

 Watertown had their town festival (byfest) – Rails to Trails.

 


There I met up with some of my high school friends.



 We spent a few days at my brother Matt’s house. We went sailing with “skipper” Matt and wife Ashley on their pontoon boat.

There was a reunion of the people I went to Denmark with the first time - 40 years ago!!

This week, we have mostly been in Watertown, at my brother Phil’s house. I enjoy walking around town, seeing places that have such good memories for me – the river, the high school, the church, the nature trails…. It has been great to have time to do that.

We have also been helping around the house and yard with small projects. We like relaxing, but we don’t like sitting around all day, so it is good to have something to do. Phil and his wife Mindy have done so much for us (finding our car and camper, helping us with banking and insurance, being our “mailing address” in the US, letting us stay so long…), we are happy to be able to do something for them. And it is nice to do something constructive, after so many months of travel.

July 26 was JJ’s birthday. The “Watertown gang” came over for supper and birthday cake😊

 

Today (July 27) we move on to White Bear Lake, where we will stay with some friends for the weekend. After that, we will stay at my sister Michelle’s house, until we leave for Denmark on August 7. We hope to be able to see more friends and family while we are there.

 
Written by Mary

July 10-19 - 2018 Watertown, Minnesota

We spent another 5 days at the cabin up north. And we enjoyed it in full.
Relaxing, swimming in the lake, the sunsets etc. etc.

Two of the days we spent helping Mary’s aunt JoAnn (who lives nearby) move from her cabin in Breezy Point to a new house in nearby Pequot Lakes. Aside from doing the actual move we also got a chance to visit with Mary’s cousin Mike and 4 of her other aunts and uncles (Tom & Kathy, Mary & Jerry).
Not your typical way to spend a vacation, but we were happy we could help out and enjoyed the company.

We are now back in Watertown. (the town where Mary grew up and where a big part of her family still lives).
We have spent time visiting with the family around here.

My brother, Per, turned 60 in June. Aside from having a big party (which we for good reasons missed ☹) he also decided to take his family on at trip to the US. They started out in Texas 3 weeks ago and worked their way north to Minnesota.

They arrived on Saturday (the 14th), just in time to attend the big Watertown Rib Fest.
Around 25 teams (one of them being Phil & Mindy) competed about making the best barbequed ribs (ribben).
It took place on the local golf course. Nice weather, lots of food and music.

On Sunday (the 17th) the Maiers (Marys familie) had arranged a family reunion in Watertown.
It is a big family and it is just impossible to arrange it so everybody can attend. As many as possibly could, showed up and together with my family it turned out to be a pretty big group.
Too big to fit in anybody’s house, so we went to a nearby park and had a really nice afternoon with lots of talking and lots of food and not least nice weather.



The part of the Maiers family that attended

5 of Mary's brothers


On Monday, the 18th, my family went to the cabin, so they could experience one of the most popular pastimes in Minnesota: “Going to the cabin” / “Going up North”. They had a great time. Thursday they went back to Denmark.
Other than that, we are just hanging out and taking it easy.

Written by JJ

P.S. Mosquitos

The official Minnesota State Bird is the Loon (lom). A pretty bird that has a significant call that you can hear, especially when you are around one of the thousands of lakes.

 

The unofficial state bird is the mosquito!! Minnesota has 52 different kinds!
Even though authorities (myndighederne) are fighting them vigorously, and probably killing of 80% of them at this time of the year, there are still plenty live ones to go around.

They can really be a pest, and at times when they get rally bad they will send people inside their houses. To get stung is one thing, the worst part is that the stings itch (klør) for days.

Mosquitoes are found pretty much all over the US, but the Minnesota ones have a certain reputation. As a 15 year old wrote a 125 years ago when her family was crossing Minnesota in a covered wagon (prærievogn) ; "They are bigger than elephants".

Every Minnesotan has their own personal belief in how to fight them and avoid bites. My experience is that none of it works ☹. I have scars (ar) from 2016-bites, 2017-bites and lots of new 2018 bites !!
Like I read in the newspaper: "If you're in a group of people, there's always that unlucky person who gets bitten a lot!!" That's ME! Maybe because I represent new blood. 😊

July 10 - 2018 Deerwood, Minnesota

Minnesota is known as "the land of 10000 lakes". There are actually more like 15000 lakes over 10 acres (4 hektar) in size
(and many others, that are smaller). One of these lakes is Lake Itasca. That is where the Mississippi River starts.
On July 10, we drove 100 miles /160 km to see where the mighty river begins.

I have wanted to see the Mississippi headwaters (udspring) since I was a girl. I saw pictures of people walking across the narrow river, and I wished to do it myself. Never made it – it is a long way from anything. Today I did😊

 

Some facts about the Mississippi River:

The name Mississippi comes from the Ojibwe word for “river spread over a large area”.
(Ojibwe er en indianerstamme der var/er i Minnesota).

The river by itself, is the fourth longest river in the world. It is 2552 miles long. 694 of those miles are in Minnesota.

It has many tributary streams and rivers (andre vandløb der løber ind i Mississippi floden), the 2 largest are the Missouri and Ohio Rivers. The combined river system is about 15000 miles long.

A raindrop falling in Lake Itasca would take about 90 days to reach the Gulf of Mexico.

The average flow of the river is 6 cubic ft./sec. (30-60 gallons) at the headwaters. It is 468000 cubic ft/sec. (4.5-5.5 million gallons) at the Gulf of Mexico (about 80000 times more).

The width coming out of Lake Itasca is 18 ft/5,5m (and a little later as narrow as 10 ft(3m)). At the Gulf of Mexico it is 2 miles wide (ca. 3 km).



Above the rocks: Lake Itasca - below the rocks: The Mississippi river

The Mighty Mississippi River

We were almost at the end of the Mississippi River, when we were in New Orleans. After that, I REALLY wanted to see the start. This is one of the last “to see” things on our list.

It was a nice day.

Written by Mary

P.S.

JJ read that the water lily (åkande) is the largest wild flower in Minnesota. Here is a really nice example of the flower, that we saw on our trip today.

P.P.S.
Although the "big trip" has come to an end and all the must sees have been ticked off, we still have almost a month left in Minnesota. Since the blog is also our diary (dagbog) we will still post once in a while.

P.P.P.S.
We are still working on our top-10 list(s)😊.