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Family and State Fairs August 22 - September 8, 2002 Pictures at the bottom (maybe too many!) David and I have spent nearly a month in Minnesota and Iowa with a little side trip to Wisconsin. We have enjoyed spending time with the Ptak clan - the kind of time you can only spend when you have time. We have loved being a part of David's brother and sister's lives for this month. Tomorrow we leave the bosom of the family and head back to the road. After we left the Ptak family at the lake (our last travelogue), we took a long, sentimental route back to Minneapolis. We visited Duluth and Lake Superior (which was so fogged over I didn't even believe there was a pond out there much less a lake that has tides). Then we drove to Nevis, the town near David's grandparent's summer getaway. David got to revisit the world's largest Tiger Muskie and on the way we even let the world's largest Paul Bunyan take care of Pluto for a while. David's grandparents used to summer on Crow Wing 6 Lake. We visited their old location and got a very long and detailed tour from the new owner who has turned it in to quite a family resort. And the lake is now surrounded with weekend getaway cabins, when it used to be almost all woodland 20 years ago. It certainly wasn't the same as David's memories, but we both felt like the owner was taking excellent care of the land. Change is inevitable, but our memories can always bring back the past. Back in Minneapolis we put the last minute organizational blitz into our wedding picnic and then enjoyed the day. About 60 of David's relatives joined us for barbecue and visiting. I enjoyed meeting all of my new extended family. The highlight of the day was Uncle Chester leading his kids and grand kids in a Polish blessing for our wedding. We also gave tours of Tiny and everyone was quite impressed. I have joined quite a nice family. I missed my family, but my mom sent down some gorgeous table flowers to brighten up the tables. After all the social activities, David and I enjoyed relaxing at My Big Fat Greek Wedding, a very enjoyable comedy about joining families. I could even recommend it to my mom! Another highlight of our time in Minneapolis was our trip(s) to the Minnesota State Fair (The Great Minnesota Get-together). What a treat! I LOVE STATE FAIRS. They are like the best of national park ranger programs and small towns put together. Earlier in the trip, we had gone to a fair that claimed to be Montana's State Fair (travelogue linked), but it turned out to be more of a regional thing. My thoughts on that day are here. The Minnesota State Fair was HUGE. There were 168,000 people there when David and I went with his old high school friends (Angie, Dan, Martin, and Lois). We saw butter sculptures, honey demonstrations, cows, horses, marching bands, oh my. I had such a great time, and was so convinced that I had missed just too much, that I went back by myself for another day (David went to a Minnesota Twins game). On my second day I saw chain saw sculptures, a pet training exhibition, milking, MN's biggest boar and the Oink booth, more horses, roosters, and lots of 4-H exhibits. I was then honored to attend a Lyle Lovett / Bonnie Raitt concert that was truly special. Bonnie Raitt had family at the concert and we were honored with an emotional "Angel From Montgomery" dedicated to her mom. David's friends only had one extra ticket and David knew I was a big Bonnie Raitt fan so he let me go while he went to the game. I enjoyed the evening with David's high school friends Dan, Ruthy, and Anne. The food at the fair was uhhh - fried and on a stick. Some of our delicacies included the following deep-fried items: hot dogs, cheese curds, macaroni and cheese (really!), pickles, and candy bars. I enjoyed them all. Following our stay in Minneapolis, we got to join in on a Labor Day weekend gathering up at the Lippin family cabin, with many of David's high school friends. We had a marvelous time with 12 adults, 2 kids, and 6 dogs. On our way up, we happened upon an outdoor sculpture park on 15 acres with HUGE installations (this link is actually quite cool!). This was one of those great "we've got time, why not" moments. We actually drove by it, ending up parking about 15 minutes later and decided to unhook the Honda and drive back to see the sculpture garden. It was very worth it, just for the sheer size of the art and the middle of nowhere location. Following the weekend we traveled to Iowa, stopping off at the Spam Factory in Austin, MN and an eccentric site called Rock in a House. Seven years ago a 55-ton rock smashed into the bedroom of a house. They have left the rock in the house and have opened up a tourist site (voluntary 1 dollar donation). There is a picture below. In Iowa, we have enjoyed the hospitality of David's sister, Michelle, and her husband, John. Michelle took a few days off to vacation with us. There has been much golf, relaxing, a few long showers, two plays, and a visit to the John Deere factory. We have also enjoyed Michelle's cable modem! I finally have the web site in reasonable shape now! http://www.ptak.org P.S. For the pictures below, click on any one to see a larger version. If you want to see all the big ones, just loop through using the arrow keys on any of the “big picture” pages.
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