Magic of Minnesota

While many Americans have never been & it is not a top destination people cross the ocean for, Minnesota is one of the gems of the USA (in my somewhat biased opinion)

Fab water fun

With more than 10,000 lakes, the state IS water fun – we tube, ski, kayak & swim till the sun goes down

Quincy was reunited with his past love - the Paddle boat – but also took to driving the fishing boat - it petrified me to sit there while he drove – scary foreshadowing for car driving to come

Xavier and Zoe LOVE tubing – constantly flashing the thumb up signal to go faster

(Xavier took safety to the next level)

Comfort of deeply rooted traditions

We’ve been vacationing on Blanche my entire life – same for my Dad whose parents bought the cabin in 1944.  In addition to the water play, we have a very long list of 'must dos' while we are there...

Walks to Madsen's to buy treats...

Pin ball & slot machine fun...

Puzzle making...

Snacks & Taste offs... 

(Top the Tater added a Taco version - YUM!) 

Dinner at Stubs...

Festive family & friends

Minnesotans are ultra friendly, down to earth, frugal & crafty.   They’ll bring you a coffee cake to say hello (thanks Joean!) or share a coupon for a free ice cream (thanks JP!).  They’ll gather peat moss & miniature lanterns to make fairy-scapes & take the time to make homemade donuts (thanks Nana!) 

But best of all, they are fun & quick to get in the spirit!

This year we celebrated the 70^th anniversary of the July 1943 Full Moon Over Blanche – aka - my Dad’s conception.

Guests were greeted by the ‘Moon Fairy’ & a friendly sperm….

All enjoyed party games like egg & tadpole races…

(now you know what to do with those rain gutters laying around!)

And find the fertile egg…

(Xavier hid sperms in 4 of the ~80 eggs hours before resulting in quite the challenge to find 1 fertilized egg that hadn't fallen out) 

Treated with thematically appropriate cupcakes

Zoe surprised many a guest by asking "would you like a spermy cupcake?"

As well as a late night full moon & wine cruise for the stragglers

Clearly not a state that takes itself too seriously!

(Happy 70th year Gramps!)

NO SALES TAX ON CLOTHES + one huge mall = fab shopping  

For the past 3 years we’ve added the mission of building my niece Maggie’s back to school wardrobe while in Minnesota.....

At one of the nation’s largest malls – ‘The Mall of America”, we had shopping bags full & the credit card smoking after just 2 hours.

  

(With a 10-12% sales tax savings, you ‘gotta spend to save’!)

We headed out into the ~10 hour, 600 mile drive to Chicago with loads of fun memories, nice tans and sad to leave heavy hearts.

I guess being sad at the end of a vacation is like being sad when you have a big tax bill to pay – if only everyone was so lucky

So as the saying goes at the lake -

Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think!

Vienna beyond Schnitzel

Before heading home for the summer we stopped in Vienna to visit our friends the Gschwinters in their hometown – Vienna

I’d visited Vienna while backpacking Europe in college – so I came with expectations….

And while we enjoyed both fancy buildings & schnitzel, we most enjoyed getting to experience the city with a local’s perspective

The Highlights:

A cool lake beach 

And gotta love the 'screw it' attitude - big belly and topless = no problem!

Funky park features

OK - so the kids aren't magic......Suzie powered

Cleaning the ground with their hair...

Water fun...

A pee wee golf tournament on a course made by the kids

And climbing trees at the park... 

(can you find all 5 kids?)

Culture

A book tree instillation at an art exhibit... 

(I want one for our house!)

Shopping – Suzie and I picked out next year’s art group uniform

Wine tasting – and I thought Austria was only good at beer

Thanks Suzie, Lauren & Wendelin for showing us your town & Lea for your room!

Now back to scale management for us....

Happy Summer travels

Cruising to Norway

To celebrate my in-law’s 50^th wedding anniversary, the McDougal side of the family joined together for a cruise to Norway…..as a rookie to both (cruising and Norway) I didn’t know what to expect.  Headlines by part

Cruise = Tons to do....

Trivia: The ‘Dream Team’ was assembled with a mission to win

(took home 3 first place prizes!)

Games: like Scrabble in the library...

 Full size chess near the pool…. 

(The kids who weren’t playing literally stood in as pieces.  Brilliant - I want one!)

Ping pong tourney...

Pool & hot tub time...

The famed evening shows....

(No way we'd miss a show marketed as the 'French comedic juggler'!)

Cruise = Festive

A Dessert Extravaganza....

Fancy dinners were fun for getting primped & polished..

....but, as we know, looks can deceive 

Cruise = Gluttonous 

What started out as regular vacation indulgence built up to gluttony as the week went on  

First, we discovered the joy of coffee & fruit in-room delivery

adding essentially a pre-breakfast breakfast to each day...

(Zoe enjoyed being 'waitress')

Then we were coached (by more experienced cruisers) that there's no need to pick just one (entrée, dessert…), when 2 sound good...

  

The final straw was learning of the 11pm-midnight buffet 

& 24 hour in-room delivery menu….

 

(Somehow, the fact that you don't have to pay for it, made adding a midnight club sandwich to an already over the top day seem the responsible thing to do)

Cruising  = Easy

The huge advantage to cruising was getting around without packing and searching for Purple Baby or Bear Bear at every new location.  

And as one of the few families with young kids on board, we enjoyed the added benefit of staff doting on our kids....Lauren was on a first name basis with the ice cream guy - Tony.  Zoe frequently attracted smiling attendants to carry her buffet selections to the table...

However, I was struck with a guilty - albeit pleasant - surprise when I looked over at the kids table at dinner and saw the waiter leaning over cutting all 3 kids schnitzel

Net, net a cruise is so the way to go for a family of 15 spanning 3 generations and 7 decades.   

Norway  =  Peaceful, green & quaint  

That said, what we saw of Norway was pretty consistently small, quant clean towns with loads of lush green.  When we arrived at the last of the 4 ports, Quincy looked out the window & declared "This looks just like the last 3!"  (he went to the kids club that day)

Norway = CRAZY EXPENSIVE: 

I had heard to pack a load of cash - but dang - even a fast food meal deal burns a serious hole in one’s pocket….burger, fry + drink = over $20 for the small!

(the Norwegian Kroner / USD ~ 6 / 1)

Gas is ~$10/ gallon..

But worst yet – the beverage prices would force one off any sort of buzz…

A 2L coke ~$4, our (albeit large) beers ~$15 each

....and ironically  – then the bathroom charges are also silly at ~$2 a pee!

Net, net - Norway is beautiful place to hike & get a little nature - but pack your bags full of cash OR fill your pockets with crackers before you disembark the floating buffet.

Happy 50^th Bart & Nancy - here’s hoping the next decade is as good as the first and thanks for the fun introduction to cruising!