August 21-26, 2019
Airstream Park, St Cloud, Minnesota
Day 68-73
Cold morning!!! Closed all the windows and put on the heat (propane). Oops, that wasn't a good idea because it was still humid so all the windows fogged up. I quickly shut off the heat and put on the AC to dry out. Next time I will put on the furnace (electric), which is dry air. The Ranger made his rounds again. They like to check in with all their campers, even when they checkout. Fine by me.
Going back roads, it took about three hours to get to St Cloud. Along the roads, lots of wildflowers and lilies. Towards the end, I had to get on the Interstate for a short distance; I hated it.
Camp is GREAT! There are over 100 slots and it’s 100% Airstreams. Vintage and new, short and long, and even a rare “slide out”; full timers, seasonal and weekenders. The lot sizes are nice, there’s a pool and gold course too. Wish I was spending more time here.
I'm here in Minneapolis to meet my friend Teresa (and her sister and local friend Nannette). It’s her birthday weekend, and she is celebrating it all weekend long at the Minnesota State Fair. It’s supposed to be the number one fair in the country you know, even better than Texas. That’s how she rolls, only the best. I have never been to a State Fair, so I am really excited, and to see her too!
Unhitched, got set up and then went to find lunch. But first, we went to meet Travis at Hidden Acres Pet Resort nearby; it was a referral from the camp. I am leaving Sparky here for a few days, so I can join my friend Teresa at the MN State Fair. It's a really nice place that does hunting training too. I feel apprehensive about leaving Sparky, though I know he will be safe and well cared for. He'll check-in tomorrow and out on Saturday afternoon. Finally I find to a lunch spot with a nice patio. Enjoyed a much-needed bloody Mary, burger (GF bun) and fries. What a treat.
Then called Ford about getting an appointment for service. They said I don’t need an appointment and can just go to their “Quick Lane”, which is open to 7pm. Awesome!! I went immediately after lunch. Met a nice older couple in the waiting room. Their dog passed away last year. The wife isn’t sure if she is ready yet for another dog, but Sparky immediately took to her, and she was so happy. Asked them for any local suggestions of what to see, but they couldn’t think of any. My service guy chimed in though and suggested the beautiful campus of St John’s University and Munsinger Gardens.
St Johns ending up taking longer to get to because of a inconvenient detour (road construction is everywhere here in summer). There were lots of handsome, well-groomed young men everywhere. The church was modern and very unique, not my style but quite impressive. I wouldn’t have suggested this as a tourist site; maybe he went to school here and is very proud of the campus. Still, it was nice that he suggested it. I didn’t take any pics, just drove around. Musinger Gardens though was very lovely. Not dog friendly because most of the plants are annuals and perennials. We just drove around there too. Now it’s about 6:15 pm, and I am getting tired from all the driving. No Whole Foods here, but I do find a pretty good grocery store and I stock up.
I couldn't get a camp site closer to town because spaces fill up far in advance for the fair, plus there was so much flooding this spring that many of the county parks were closed for repair. The drive is about 1+ hours to downtown Minneapolis. I pack a bag for Thursday and Friday nights and crash at her friend’s house.
Day 2 – Dropped Sparky off at dog resort. Ordered him extra cuddle time, extra walks and a shampoo and nail trim; pricey, but worth it.
Drive into Minneapolis was not too bad. The highway was mostly under construction so a little stressful, even without the trailer. Squeezed in a stop at the Mary Tyler Moore apartment house! Beautiful neighborhood. Also drove into downtown to see her statue. The statue's face doesn’t really look like her, but the spirit of Mary Richards is there. Both are worth the trip if you liked the show. There is so much construction downtown, but it is clean, and the traffic is really civilized, almost nice. I love how they have the above ground walkways between the buildings; it really reduces j-walking and traffic. I don’t see any homeless either. City was bustling.
Today is Teresa’s birthday – to protect the innocent, I will not reveal her age. Besides we are really only as old as we feel, and she feels 50. I am also meeting her sister and friend at Jax’s Café, a local institution much like John’s Grill in SF. I’m running early so I got to explore and found a great vintage clothing store that is as good as anything in SF, but a lot more affordable. I pick up an adorable turquoise dress.
Back at Jax’s, we get a great table outside and have a nice lunch including some huckleberry champagne (that I picked-up in Idaho). Then we all went back at Nannette’s house for naps followed by dinner out with more friends of Teresa’s.
Day 3 – Up early and wanting to avoid driving, we take Lyft to the fair grounds. This was the 2nd day of the fair and, even a mile out, traffic was at a standstill. The fair is huge!!! They said that yesterday was a record day with over 157,000 people! Today’s weather is sunny and hot and should be just as busy too. I am here for two days of the fair and they for three.
Starting off with a gondola ride (yes, I survived it), we then went thru the Agriculture Hall (corn art, best scarecrow and more), Colesseum (draft horses and prize winning cows), International Bazaar (food and imported retail), Merchandise Mart (as “seen on tv”) and ending with a Belinda Carlisle concert.
Lots of walking. Especially at the end of the day when we were trying to get to the Lyft pickup area…so far away from the exit. We thought we were taking a short cut but it ended up being worse, including walking on the busy road and getting up on the embankment. Now both my knee and hip are hurting me. We were all so tired. When we were finally dropped off by our Lyft driver, Teresa almost entered the neighbor’s house across the street instead. So funny, I couldn't stop laughing.
Too many carbs today. Fair food isn’t known for being healthy, and in my case was really hard to navigate. What’s nice about this fair is its very family orientated. People were genuinely nice, orderly and organized. No riff raff. There was a sea of people (they say attendance today was 125,000); felt like more. I also really liked how they displayed ALL the registered entries. I couldn’t believe how many pies, jams, pickles, etc there were. Maybe overkill, but I took as many pictures as possible within a category to get the complete scope of how big fair is, and how big of a deal it is to those who compete.
Day 4 – It’s Saturday morning and we left even earlier, but I drove. I got one of those neighborhood parking spaces, on a lawn across the street, for $30. A deal! It was so close to the entrance; it will be easy for me to leave later.
One event we were hoping to see this morning was the mini horses at the Colosseum. It was in the brochure for 9am. Turns out that wasn't correct, it's later this afternoon. I'll miss that, but Teresa and her sister Julie will see it. Bummer, sounded so cute.
Other than food everywhere, there's shopping. Most is typical fair stuff, but the collection of shops in the Grand Stand offers more unique shopping. For the most part, I sit it out – I don’t really need anything, plus my hip is hurting (I’ll see a doctor in Madison next week). Teresa loves to shop, and she does it so well.
Next building we visit is the Fine Arts Building, which is really just that. Set-up like a NY gallery, there are paintings and other mediums of fine art, some to buy. Then we visit the 4-H hall. Looking at all the displays, I can only imagine how proud some parents are. It’s really impressive and you can tell the kids love it too. Then we go to the Educational Building which has artwork and projects from regular school grades. So impressive! Some of the artwork from kids in grade school is amazing. Yes, I took pictures of that too. Some you will want to zoom in on. I might have overdone it with pictures, but honestly you can’t understand the scope of this fair without it. The Creative Activities Annex was on steroids. I have never seen so much quilting, knitting, food items and miscellaneous artwork on display. I can’t say I liked all of it, but I did enjoy it all.
Stepping outside, I am immediately greeted by a parade on “main” street that felt like a scene from the Music Man. Priceless. My last stop before heading out is back at the AG Hall to take pictures of the seed art. It's a very popular exhibit; there's a huge line going in one direction. I raise my phone and click away in the opposite direction. Some of the artwork is so good, you would never know it's seed. And, to top it all off, there was corn trivia!
I go back and say goodbye to Teresa and Julie, and head off to pick up Sparky. I've missed him so much but putting boarding him was really the best thing to do. They said they really enjoyed having him. He’s super clean and fluffy, but he’s squinting. I think they left some shampoo in his eyes, so we take some saline to flush it out. It’s better, but his eye is irritated. Nothing to get upset about, it will just take a little time for redness to go away. He’s happy to see me, though a little stressed out.
We get home, take a nap and then a walk around camp. I just love it here! We meet a neighbor who invites us over to their bonfire later with four other couples who summer here. All are really nice. Their rigs are mostly in vintage or a few years old. Later I get driven home in a golf cart! Love it.
Day 5 – I am so happy my fly traps are working!!! The hanging cup version has several floating and the strip has a few stuck. Originally, I was going to drive to the Upper Lakes today (about 2+ hours north), but instead decide to rest and play catchup on laundry, future camp reservations and emails. It was nice to stay in all day😊.
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