10,000 LAKES AND MILLIONS OF GREAT PEOPLE!

YEP, YOU BETCHA!  THE LAND IS FILLED WITH LAKES AND SOME OF THE BEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD.

If you thought that all of the corn in the USA was in Kansas or Nebraska, think again. Corn, hay, soybeans and more corn are everywhere in the great state of Minnesota!

Some of the surprises include the fact that the land isn’t flat! I had always thought the northern plains states were flat. Where we were in Plainview and the surrounding areas like Rochester are really big “hills” as the locals call them………..well, I call them pretty good mountains by my book! The Mississippi River starts in upper state Minnesota with a flow from an underground spring! Then other streams join in and finally wind up in New Orleans! I found a wonderful house boat that I could easily live in! Grain being loaded onto barges. Life along the Mississippi! Beautiful!

The purpose of the trip was to help restore a 1928 Model AA Ford truck of friend who was “found on Ford Barn”. Over the last few years the friend and the family have become close friends so the trip was a visit with a mission! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

ROCHESTER, has one of the branches of the famous MAYO CLINIC. PLAINVIEW is close by and is one of the farming areas. WABASHA  is on the Mississippi River and host to the National Eagle Center. We visited a small part of the state but expect the rest of the it to be just as beautiful and interesting.

To keep the economy going we took a truck load of car parts up there and brought back a truck load of plants! Being a plant person I was interested in what plants they have in MN that we don’t have down South. One in particular tree that is everywhere is the “dark wine colored maple”……………We had seen them on other trips up North before but I was never able to find a small enough tree like them to bring back home. BUT a wonderful lady dug up two small ones and we brought them home! (It has small leaves on it now!). Another family gave us a “regular” maple tree and a cutting from a raspberry bush. One day trip to the Family Tree Nursery led to a $500.00 purchase of the those (not usually seen down South plants)! Those included a yellow Japanese magnolia and also a purple one, a nine barks tree and a variegated weeping willow tree and bush! Several others bushes were included and to date ( 4-5 weeks later) all plants have survived! A report next year will give an update!

A day trip to Anderson Gardens which exhibits a variety of plants and extraordinary roses to include the “Hope for Humanity Rose” and also is a memorial location for war veterans. It is a small really unique place in this world and should be seen if you are ever in the area of Wabasha.

It is amazing that the ideas and expectations we have about all of the places in this world are probably wrong! One of the great authors of this world said that “To really know a place, get up before sunrise and walk the streets and watch the people and truly learn what it is all about”! And to really know a place and its people……………..go there and spend some time. 10-1 you’ll leave feeling that yes, I could live there! And as for the North Plains States, I could live there, EXCEPT DURING THE WINTER TIME (-30 degrees below)………………

WHAT MAKES THE STATE SO GREAT IS THE PEOPLE! GOOD HEARTED LOVING PEOPLE!

That’s my story and I’m stick’n to it!