Easter Rambles

I hope you all had a stupdenous Easter with friends and/or family! I'll start this off with an Easter pun. What do you call a bunny in a kilt?

Hopscotch! Sorry, I just had to because it made me giggle when I heard it.

To make up for that bad bit of business, I will share with you a powerful video of Dolly Parton singing "He's Alive." If you've heard it before, please enjoy it again. If you've never heard it, please take the time to listen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBJF3_IZwnk

This year for Easter, we got together with my family on Saturday at Big Brother’s house in New Hope.  My mom rode up with us, so we had a nice visit in the car.  We only took one wrong turn on the way there.  For us, that’s a red letter day!

Mama Bear was having a long-overdue girls’ day with some high school friends, so Young Man, Molly, and Cubby all came together.

Baby Brother and his family, including their new puppy, Pippa, were already there.  

Cubby had slept on the way up and, finding herself in completely unfamiliar territory upon awakening, was just a touch on the crabby side.  After some time on Daddy’s lap to make sure there were no invading aliens looking to attack, she decided it was friendly territory and got down to explore.  She found the buttons on the room fan and pushed every button then laughed like a loon when they beeped.  Then she found Pippa and had a good time letting the puppy lick her face.

We had quite the spread of food: ham, cheesy potatoes, scalloped corn, relish tray, and deviled eggs.  Beverages of choice including the two wines I had picked up at Carlos Creek Winery in Alexandria.  Of course, we all just ate way too much!

We took some time to relax and digest food before the Egg Hunt was on.  Big Brother’s back yard is a masterpiece of pebbled paths, bridges, ponds, and plants/trees with a plethora of hiding places for plastic eggs filled with candy and/or pennies.  Oh yeah, and George the Duck who returns every spring to live in their yard with his wife, Mrs. George the Duck.  

This was Cubby’s first Egg Hunt.  It took maybe two eggs before she caught on to the game and there was no stopping her!  Sometimes Daddy had to lift her (termed “Super Baby mode”) so she could reach, but only after she pointed at the egg first.  There are no “gimmes” in Egg Hunt!

Then it was back inside for cookies and ice cream and games for the women and children, while the men had a good time just chatting and catching up.  The game of choice this time was Apples to Apples.  I suck at this game, but I gave it the old college try!

By 6:30, we’d pretty much wrapped it all up and we headed home in a heavy drizzle.  We took a wrong turn again but it turned out okay because it ended up being faster than the original route.  Go us!

We got home by 8, Mom went on her way home, and we collapsed in our chairs.  

Easter Sunday we spent by ourselves due to Brogan Easter being next weekend.  After 7:30 mass in Rochester, we headed on a road trip to Winona.  After breakfast at Perkins, we headed south on Highway 61 to Great River Bluffs state park.  We stayed there about 15 years ago with the kids but wanted to check it out again.  The road to the campground was closed, but we were able to drive to the picnic/hiking area and got a great view of the river valley from the overlook.

Then it was back north on Highway 61 where we, by complete happenstance, saw a tow boat and barge were going south through one of the locks.  Luckily we found a place to turn around and head back so we could get out and watch and get some photos.  That whole lock and dam system is pretty ingenious!  Did you know between Minneapolis/Saint Paul and Saint Louis there are 29 lock and dam locations?  See the things I learn on our explorations and can pass on to you?!

We also learned that each tow boat has 10 crew members who spend seven days one way towing barges between The Cities and Saint Louis.  Just imagine the scenery that they get to see on their trips!  

Back on the road, we headed for Wabasha to maybe catch sight of some eagles.  On the way, we detoured into John Latsch State Park so we could check that off our list.  We’ll have to go back to that one because the hiking trails weren’t inviting yesterday.

In Wabasha, we only saw one eagle soaring around, but we got to see a different tow boat and barge going north.  There was a family with young children also out watching, and the tow boat...driver?  I guess he’d be a captain, right?  So the captain made sure to blow the ship horn good and loud for the kids.

By now it was getting to be mid afternoon, so we headed home via Highway 60 through Zumbro Falls and Mazeppa.  While we were out and about, the Easter Bunny stopped by our house. Apparently he didn't get the memo that our children no longer live here! And I note he did not leave a basket for me...just Captain and the kids. Where's the justice?

We are so excited that it’s getting nice enough out again that we can get out and do our exploring on Sundays.  We never really go far or spend much money, but we learn all kinds of stuff just by making unscheduled stops and taking detours.  I guess Robert Frost was right in promoting the road less traveled, because we always find some new thing on our rambles.

Easter Blessings to you all!