Sandie's Memories Revisited: MINNESOTA & WISCONSIN

MINNESOTA – LAND OF 10,000 LAKES

Flying to Chicago from Toronto was smooth – but not much to see as we were flying above clouds. However descending into Chicago gave me a vastly different perception of my preconceived ideas of that city. Somehow I thought it would be all grey tall buildings and hardly any trees. Quite the opposite! The suburbs under the flight path all seemed to be full of neat homes, lots of trees and heaps of parkland both treed and for sports. Also lots of lakes. (Later in the week I did fly over a more industrial area but it still had lots of trees and parks, although not as much as in the residential areas.)

The flight to Minneapolis was with American Airlines – and I will never fly with them again if I have a choice. First the flight was delayed over an hour due to maintenance problems in St Louis but more about AA later! The scenery over Michigan and Wisconsin was scattered with lots of lakes but lots of the paddocks were as brown as Australia in summer. I found out later that this has been a hot dry summer here and everything is parched for lack of rain. Back to AA! Coming down into Minneapolis-St Paul airport, the plane seemed to touch down too fast and the pilot had to brake a lot. Each time, the plane jerked and shuddered as the wheels seemed to “grab” the runway. After a few false stops and starts we made it to the Terminal docking area – only to turn around and taxi way out to a lonely part of the airport near the maintenance hangars. Two fire trucks then appeared on the scene!! The captain announced that due to the brakes overheating, we had to sit out there until they cooled down sufficiently for it to be safe for the ground staff to approach the plane at the terminal area! When we finally arrived at the Terminal (25 minutes later!) and the captain “welcomed” us to Minneapolis, everyone cheered!! Perhaps I was unlucky enough to have an inexperienced pilot on that flight, who knows. But AA are in serious financial difficulties also, and lots of their flights are being cancelled. It makes you wonder if they are scrimping on their maintenance a bit, to save money!!

Poor Nancy had been waiting for me for almost three hours by this time but our reunion (after 45 years) was great. We had no trouble recognising each other even though the intervening years have changed us both. And we still think on the same wavelength as each other.

We drove that night to her son’s home in Minneapolis. Early on Saturday Jay dropped us off for a guided walking tour along Summit Avenue to see (outside) the homes of the rich moguls who built the huge homes in the late 19^th century. Our tour guide was a fountain of information about the architecture and family histories of all these magnificent old homes.

Jay’s partner, Emily, then picked us up at the conclusion of the tour and took us to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts for lunch first and then a tour of the famous Rembrandt exhibition, which is being shown here at the moment. This was extremely interesting and I had no idea that such a lot of supposed originals have now been proved to be done by some of the Master’s pupils! Too bad for the people who paid a fortune for what they thought was original, only to find out now that it isn’t. The museum here also has some wonderful exhibits, especially of Asian culture. We topped the day off with some gourmet home-made ice-cream from a local store which sells every flavour you could possibly think of.

Nancy and I went to a Mass at the old and impressive St Paul Cathedral on Sunday morning. What a huge Cathedral it is (but Bruce: you could get a good job there sorting out their P.A. system!! It was quite hard to understand the service and the massive, soaring vaulted roof didn’t help with the acoustics either).

We walked in warm sunny conditions a few blocks to a lovely garden restaurant where Jay and his two daughters met us for a gourmet style brunch which was really more lunch, as it was after 12.30 by this time. Nancy and I then set of for the 90 minute drive to her home just outside the town of Eau Claire, in Wisconsin. Eau Claire is about the same size as Bendigo and Nancy lives with her other son and his family. (Brittney: I have a tiny clip of Ana on a movie on my computer – remind me to let you see it).

A big highlight of my visit here was on Monday morning when Nancy had organised a tour of an organic dairy farm which has robotic milking machines. Wow! How impressive was that. The farm is run by two brothers who are now the fifth generation running the farm, and I believe their next innovation will be automatic calf feeders. It was fascinating to watch the cows gathering in the small holding yard, waiting to enter the robot, and then to see the process in action.

That day I experienced one of my few days of rain during this trip, but it was only gentle and cleared off after lunch. Had no gumboots with me, but had an old pair of sneakers so was able to dispose of them in the rubbish bin after the farm tour so I won’t upset Australian customs when I re-enter the country!!

After lunch of hearty home-made potato soup in a small café we went to the Chippewa Valley Historical Museum which had exhibits right from the days of the Indians up to modern times. The early pioneers here certainly had their problems . This is actually Laura Ingalls Wilder territory and a highway here is named after her (Little House on the Prairie fame).

On Tuesday we visited the local TV station to see around the complex and actually sit in the studio while the presenter did her morning program and interviewed a couple of guests (no, not us, thank goodness!). Nancy’s late husband used to be a weather presenter at this station and everyone remembered him very fondly.

Driving on the backroads through Wisconsin farmlands on the way back to St Paul was wonderful. Although it is a bit early for most of the trees to be changing colour into their vivid autumn hues, some of them have already started. And Tuesday morning early probably brought a few more along, as it was about 1 degree Celsius!!! In Fahrenheit it was 33 degrees. More than a bit chilly. The countryside here is mostly gently rolling hills with farmlands and woods and rivers and lakes. Very beautiful.

Arriving back in Minneapolis-St Paul we visited the world famous Mall of America which is the largest mall in the USA and I think might be the second largest in the world, after the one in Toronto. All you shopaholics out there – you would go crazy there!!! I have never seen so many shops ever. Being a Tuesday it wasn’t very crowded so we were able to wander at leisure. The whole centre court is taken up by a gigantic children’s entertainment area with so many different types of rides etc. Just like a giant funfair. There is also an enormous Legoland and it has an area for children to sit and play and make their own constructions.

This was my last night in St Paul so we went out for dinner again (I’m rapidly learning the North American way to tip! Over the next week in Canada I will be on my own with no-one to supervise me so I hope I don’t get it wrong there!!).

My time with Nancy, her sons and their families has been wonderful – thank you to all of you for everything you have done. I certainly hope to see lots of you in Australia for visits (but Emily – don’t forget to keep buying the Lotto tickets!! And Ana: we’ll see you in a few years as a Backpacker I hope).

I’m now sitting in Chicago airport after a short but bumpy ride from Minneapolis-St Paul. My flight to Winnipeg is almost due to be called, and tomorrow starts my long rail journey across Canada and down through the Rockies to Vancouver – and it won’t be long before I’m home. Yippee! It has been a fabulous trip but I find I am now longing to be back in the swing of things back in Sunbury. And also being able to see my OWN family as well!!!

Hopefully I can get connected to a WIFI to get this and the photos posted soon.