Tag: Vacation

We returned home to resupply and then headed to the Macalester College campus for a taping of A Prairie Home Companion. It was the 1,433rd show.  We arrived just after the gates had opened so we could find a good seat on the lawn.

Good seats obtained, program and ticket were photographed.

Then it was time to eat.  We had more than just plates.  There were sandwiches and salads and olives.  It was a feast.

I spotted this NPR shirt, probably a pledge gift.

In the middle of our feast/waiting, a band of pipers came by.  Just you wait, they will return.

Sara and I went to wander/find more beverage (it was very hot in the sun)/perhaps locate bubble tea.  We did not find bubble tea, but we did find lemonade.

I took pictures of the lineups for this show.

 

This smartly dressed ice cream seller was hanging out on the outside of the fence.  I liked his style.

And his display board.

Waiting around feet shot.  You can see we’ve been eating cherries.

As the show began, we broke out the dessert: angel food cake with strawberries.

Because we were so early, we got to hear Jearlyn and Jevetta Steele rehearse, and see them perform.

Joe Newberry told us a story and sang us some songs.

I really liked this woman’s skirt.

Fred Newman, Tim Russell and Sue Scott perform the Lives of the Cowboys.

JD McPherson was once a middle school art teacher. But he was laid off.  So he became a singer songwriter and brought along a band.  The saxophone looks like he’s not far out of middle school.

I like to take pictures of the camera guy. And I enjoyed the “On Air” sign.

Mr Keillor reads from his script.  I didn’t grab a picture of him telling us about the “Quiet week in Lake Wobegone” but he does that extemporaneously.  This picture makes him look like a scary old man, but I like it.  He can be quite curmudgeonly.

This guy found a good tree.  My hips didn’t like sitting on the ground for so long.

Look who came back! It’s the Macalester College Pipe Band!  I didn’t realize that when they were wandering through before it was their rehearsal.

Self-Portraits are everywhere!

Fred Newman is my favorite part of the show.

I was quite happy to (finally) see a live taping, especially since Garrison Keillor’s retirement from PHC is immanent.  I figured they taped the show and then cut it down, but our performance came in right at 2 hours, so they must not do as much cutting as I think.

St Paul’s neighborhood of St. Anthony Park has its own parade, which ends at Langford Park.  We went to take a look.

Here’s our pre-parade self portrait in which I’m noticing the increasing amount of “salt” in my formally all-peppered hair.

The parade begins with the flag and the Boy Scouts.

Here’s the Pig’s Eye Jass Band, which plays traditional Jazz.

Regimented hula hoopers.

Advertising for the St. Anthony Park Garden Tour.

State Senator.  At some point I noticed how all the placards were hand written, which was cool.

Another politician, this time a Representative.

One of the mascots for the Minnesota State Fair.  (which I hope to someday attend.)  I’m guessing that guy in the background is being above board and not unzipping his pants to expose himself, as he sort of looks like in this picture.

Spirit of the Park!  I don’t know what this means, but I very much like the car he is riding in.

Why not have the Board of Education in the parade?

Middle school students.

And their principal.

And why not have the elementary school principal too?

And, of course the high school is in attendance.

And a track star and Como Park’s coaching legend.

This truck of soccer kids was fun.  The ones in the truck tossed the soccer ball to the guys on the ground who would head it back to the truck.

This tractor and float advertises a tree farm.

Clown with cannon.  We saw him later in the park and the cannon shoots bubbles, which is fun.

Probably my favorite of the walking participants.

And what’s a parade without the Anaphylaxis and Food Allergy Association of Minnesota?

We’ve got a veteran.

Here’s the council.

Encourage a lifestyle with fewer cars.  I like their “drop a car” logo.

Here’s the Methodist Church.  It’s too late for Vacation Bible School this year, but perhaps you can plan it for next year.

The truck with the parade’s sponsors.

A quartet of pipers.

I’m glad we’ve moved through that period of yellow fire trucks.  They never looked quite right.

At the end of the parade are two people with a long jump rope stretched between them.  They hold back the bike parade and all the “joiners.”  That’s right!  At the end of this parade, you the onlooker gets to stand up and walk to the parade’s terminus in Langford Park.

We were looking out for Old Navy flag shirts.

 

 

At the park the Saint Anthony Park Community Band was playing.

I noticed the Pig’s Eye Jass Band was hanging about to listen to the Community Band Performance.

Though we did not stay to hear the Patriotic Essay Contest winners, it was still a grand start to our Independence Day.

Are you ready for a fabulous children’s bookstore? (with a so-so website)

You know what they have besides books?  Cats.  Also many other animal friends.

In the bathroom you can find a fish tank where the mirror usually is.

As well as these tiles signed by visiting authors and illustrators.

This is where all the scary books live.

Some chinchilla friends.

Everyone should have a boat and a lake on their ceiling.

 In addition we found Waldo (part of a local business campaign for the month of July) and I bought a packet of Where’s Waldo postcards for my Postcrossing friends.

To fit my theme of “Houses and Homes,” we visited the American Swedish Institute, which is also the home of the Turnblad Mansion.  Settle in, because this is a very long post.

The modern side of the museum, with the Turnblad Mansion in the background.

Another view.

The joining of the mansion and the modern part of the museum was seamless and gave us this opportunity to see this great drainpipe.

On the first floor this is the main foyer with a two-story clock and fireplace.

Sitting on the stairs.

Beautiful room with a harpsichord.

Fabulous detail from the ceiling.

Music room. Noticing the detail on the upper moldings along the ceiling.  We could see the other side of parts of the moldings, and we checked to see if both sides were elaborately carved.  They were.

Nice vase.

View of the side street and gate.

Ceiling detail.

Flower arrangement in the dining room window.

Fireplace in dining room detail.

Gorgeous, if blurry, sideboard featuring convex and concave glass.

In the kitchen we explored the flour bins.

And noted how the shelves were adjustable.

The porte cochere entrance.

The mansion has 11 tile stoves, which were purchased out of a Swedish catalog picked out by Mr. Turnblad himself.

Ceiling detail.

Stained glass detail.  This is outside the solarium.

The solarium was wonderful, and would probably be quite lovely in the middle of winter.

Headed upstairs to the ballroom.

Wall paneling detail.

On the third floor I caught a glimpse of this gnome.

More tile stove.  The TV is an exhibit of the history of Swedish Music in three minutes.

More stove.

This might be my favorite lighting fixture.

More stove.

And more stove.  There was a postcard with pictures of all the stoves.  I sent it to someone.

This is a downstairs stove.

More lighting fixture.

More stove.

More fixtures.

Outside the house on the roof:  bees!

A sign that cracks me up.

The Turnblads had one daughter and she was an artist. This stove is in her studio.

After rocking out with the guitar/keytar cutouts you can see on the right, Sara and I played Mad Libs.

Our final product.

And yet more stove.

And more light!

A nice view of the ecoroof on the new building.

 

Here we are in the ballroom, which has a stage.

 

Portraits of famous Swedes.  Sara assumes the pose.

As does Shawn.

We were encouraged to play the piano.  Shawn did.

More drainpipe.

Good roof detail.

Look at this craftsman with his horse.

Which Sara went for a ride on.

Outside views.  The solarium and the porte cochere.

 

 

 

Good view of the tower.

The front entrance.

 

 

More front entrance.

One last self portrait.

Here is the building in Dinkytown (the neighborhood by the University of Minnesota) where Bob Dylan was rumored to have lived when he attended college.

Al’s Diner is an institution.  There might not have been a line if we had arrived at its 6am opening.  However, due to our late night we wandered down mid-morning. Plus it was a holiday (Independence Day Friday). So we waited in line.

After you wait outside, you get to wait inside. That’s us standing against the wall waiting for a counter space. At this point, we’re the next to be seated.  And you don’t sit down until you are told, because sometimes they have people slide down, so they can fit entire parties together.  I was quite impressed with how well we operated in each others’ bubbles.

Orders being taken.  In the background you can see the pay-ahead tabs.  They are fronted with yellow slips of paper with the person or parties name on them.  In the far background you can see one of the work spaces where the cooking happens.  There is another one to the left of this picture.  But the place is tiny.

My meal.

My bill.

We visited the Guthrie Theater for a performance of one of my favorite musicals.

It was a thrust stage and we had very good seats.  One thing I noticed about the perspective that the thrust theater offered is that I could see how much spittle flew out of the actors’ mouths when they talked.

After the show we visited the Prohibition Bar in the Forshay Tower, which was a skyscraper modeled after the Washington Monument. Originally, this was Mr. Forshay’s private retreat on the 27th and 28th floors.  Then the market crashed and Mr. Forshay lost his fortune.  He never got to live here.  But we got to buy fancy drinks.  Also, John Philip Sousa wrote a march for the dedication of the building, but the check bounced, so it was only played once.  At least until 1988 when some investors paid off the debt.

Our fancy drinks.  They were quite delicious.

Though we walked to the Mill City Museum over the Stone Arch Bridge, we crossed the Third Avenue Bridge coming back.  But first we were waylaid by this fabulous Post Office.  

I love this great infinity view.  This was built at a time when we believe government provided serveices and solutions.  It shows in the mammoth scale and the multitude of details.

Wonderful typeface.

We are lacking in bulletins today.

Gorgeous drop box.

Who wouldn’t be happy to finish addressing their mail here?

On the other side of the river we found the Ard Godfry House.  As the earliest surviving frame house it fit my vacation theme of “Houses and Homes.”

As I enjoyed saying ,”Did you know that the Women’s Club of Minneapolis restored this house?” Because you can’t read about the Ard Godfry house without hearing about the Women’s Club of Minneapolis.

We walked by Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church.  This was originally a Universalist Church.  In 1877, the Catholics bought it and made it Catholic fancy.  You can see where the front part was grafted onto the original Greek Revival style.

We also visited Kramarczuk’s Sausage Company, where Sara got Borscht and a roll and I had sauerkraut soup with ham, a roll and a very delicious beet vinaigrette salad that I think was Ukrainian.

As we were talking, Sara’s eyes lit up.  A couple passed our booth and we guessed they might have gotten married, based on their outfits. I caught this picture, of the couple, Sara, and a perfect shirt.  This is my favorite picture from the entire trip.

On our way out we looked at the various sausage products available.

Our first stop of the day was the Mill City Museum.

We were scheduled for a Flour Tower multimedia tour, but had some time to kill, so we took this self-portrait in front of the big Bisquick package.

We could have also designed our own cereal box, but we did not.

The Flour Tour took place in an old freight elevator.

Our guide gave us information about the flour mill before beginning our multi-media experience.

I was interested in this camp which seemed to have a cool activity every single day.  I wouldn’t mind going to that camp.

The multi-media experience did not allow photographs, but it was very cool. The elevator moved to different floors and then told us some part of the history of the mill.  After the multi-media experience we were deposited on the top floor of the mill and learned how very important the dust collectors are.  Apparently, if you don’t have them, your factory explodes and kills many people and destroys several other factories.  This mill would know, because it happened here, once upon a time.

The mill met its end in the 60s when yet another fire (I think there were four total?) decimated the building.  Today, the walls make an attractive courtyard.

Our view of the Mississippi and St. Anthony falls.  These falls are what brought the power and made this a great site for flour and other mills.

There was also an extensive museum commemorating and celebrating General Mills products.  Here’s the story of one of the winners of the Pillsbury Bake-Off.  They had a fabulous video too.

On the way to watch a demonstration of how dust can cause an explosion, I took this picture.

I also loved these Fire Alarm Signals, leftover from back before intercom systems allowed verbal communication.

We were quite good at stacking the blocks and building some towers.

We also viewed a history of Minneapolis in 19 minutes flat, which was a great introduction to the city for me.  You can see a 30 second trailer here.

Sara and I did some planning via phone and email.  I was amused to see our different note taking styles join together. I’m on the left, Sara’s on the right.