1993/07 Rockies trip - White Bear Lake |
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Dear All,
This started out as a letter partway into our vacation trip, but it didn't get finished until the last day of the trip. As a result, it covered just about the whole time that John and Edna were with us, so I've turned it into a record of their trip. Of course, it is only our view of their trip, as there were a few things that we missed. If you want to know more about John's ski run down the Athabasca Glacier, or Edna's arm-wrestling the bear into posing for her, then you'll have to ask them. You might also want to ask John about his owl pictures.
In 2023 we added pictures taken on the trip. We did not have an inkjet printer until 1995.
Before their arrival, we'd had a busy time. Sandie was working extra nights as she was transferring to another floor without completely finishing with the one she had before. Joanna was babysitting, and Karen had started a summer class at the U, and was also working as a rethermalizer. Just in case you didn't know, a rethermalizer is someone who heats up food and serves it to the patients at the University Hospital, just across the road from her college hall. She was hired to do this for the maternity ward, but somehow ended up on the psych wards.
She came home from the hall on Wednesday, and the kids finished their school on the Thursday. The previous Sunday, I still had the kitchen cabinets spread all over the basement, with the last coat drying, and with most of the contents of the kitchen spread over the rest of the house. So, in a couple of evenings, we got the cabinets back in, filled them up, moved ourselves down to the basement, and started to think about tidying up! We're still looking for things we lost during this process. However, the work on the cabinets was worthwhile. They look quite good considering they're about 25 years old.
Thursday June 10th
John and Edna had come on a round-the-world ticket and had visited Bangkok, Amsterdam, and England before coming to us.
They were lucky enough to arrive early, but it was a close thing for the move crew working back at the house. Somehow, 
everything important got put into place, eventually. John and Edna probably thought it was jet lag that was causing the house to look different every time they woke up.
They had much better suntans than any of the Minnesotans, as our summer had been slow to start. However, after nearly twenty years, we had more to talk about than the weather, and they were determined to enjoy their holiday regardless of the weather, so things worked out well.
Fri 11th - Wed 16th
We took them to all the usual places: Minnesota Zoo, Como Park, Omnitheater (to see a program on sharks, shot-by our Science Museum in Australia!), Minnehaha Falls, Fort Snelling, etc.
We shared out the driving according to who was off work and adjusted the destinations according to the weather, so there was always something to do. 
We even found a Sioux powwow out at the Jackpot Junction casino, about a hundred miles SW of the cities. The casino's enormous and obviously a success, but the powwow was a mile away, and really a family affair for the local Sioux. Lots of good costumes and dancing and drum bashing, and it was the authentic stuff, put on for their own benefit, not for us few palefaces.