Minneapolis, Minnesota

It is about time that we bring our readers up to speed on where we have been and what we have been doing. From Missouri we traveled to Minnesota last week. We are parked in a campground in St.Paul, the nearest we can be located to our niece Kathy, her husband Doug and three children. Saturday we drove to Northfield, Minnesota to attend the end- of- year concert performed by the St. Olaf choir, band and orchestra. Needless to say, all of the music was outstanding as per usual. Sunday was the baccalaureate service and graduation ceremony for the class of 2012. Our nephew Kaleb was in that class- he is the son of our niece Miriam and husband Kraig. It was our third attendance at a St.Olaf graduation. Our niece Kathy graduated from St.Olaf in 1990,  and son Daniel in 20004. Time does fly by so quickly! Certainly the weather has changed here over those years. It use to be that the weather on graduation day here could be counted on to still be a bit cool. Sunday it was 90 degrees- we sat out under the scorching sun with no shade (umbrellas were held by many) for two hours. Well, there was a little breeze, otherwise it would have been unbearable. However, the weather certainly did not diminish the joy of the day for many of the graduates and their families! Unfortunately, I forgot my camera Sunday, so I have no photographs to share. On Memorial Day we toured the riverfront of Minneapolis. Below is a picture of the stone arch bridge, built in 1883 as a railroad track which brought grain from northern Minnesota to the mills of Minneapolis. It is now a pedestrian bridge. In the background is the new I-35west highway bridge ( you may remember that in 20007 the previous one collapsed with the loss of 12 lives).

The Guthrie Theater can also be seen from the waterfront. Built in 2006 it houses three theaters. The very modern-appearing building has a 178-foot cantilevered bridge (called the "Endless Bridge").