Author: Greg

When I worked for Wells Fargo Bank, I hired a woman named Jenn Green. Jenn  worked from her home in Bemidji, Minnesota, which is located in the North Country. This is where temperatures plunge below zero in the winter, the lakes freeze solid, and the wind howls.

Just before Jenn joined my team, we were chatting on the phone and I asked her what her plans were for the weekend. She replied “I’ll be spending it butchering chickens and castrating pigs.” That was a first.  A few years later, Bev met Jenn and from that moment on, “visit Bemidji” was on our bucket list. This week we finally checked that box.

Jenn no longer owns chickens or pigs, but she and her fiancé, Shane,  live in the country and are high on our list of people we will run to when the zombie apocalypse arrives. These two could survive anything. We got a tour of Bemidji and rode all over the property in their Polaris Rzr (a high performance all-terrain vehicle). Shane was pleasantly surprised when Bev let out a big approving “whoo!” as he hit 70mph on their dirt road. We checked out their new fish house (for ice fishing), ate grilled venison dogs (made from a deer they killed), and made s’mores over their fire pit. We didn’t want to leave and can’t wait to go back. Jenn says we need to return in winter to do some snowshoeing and ice fishing. Maybe. Just maybe.

Just a few days ago we were in northern Illinois hanging out at a wine bar with family. Since then we’ve blown through Wisconsin, been embraced by old friends in Minnesota, and made our way across North Dakota, stopping to see a lot of cool stuff (YES – in North Dakota!).

We said goodbye to Illinois and headed to Minneapolis, where we would spend a couple of nights and reunite with some of my former colleagues and dear friends. Along the way to the Twin Cities, we made a pit stop in Wisconsin Dells that turned into a research opportunity, where I hoped to gain some inspiration for my Western “look” from the Cowboy Muffler Man.

Before retiring, I always knew that there would be a small handful of people I worked with over the years who would be friends for life. I can count them on two hands, so it was a real treat to have four of them join us for happy hour in Minneapolis. It was wonderful to visit with my kind, passionate, wickedly funny, and hysterically cynical colleagues.

We spent the remainder of our time in Minneapolis exploring the city on foot. We learned about the history of milling on the Mississippi River and got a ranger-led tour of the St. Anthony Falls and Lock, which are maintained by the National Park Service and critical to the Twin Cities. We walked across the Mississippi on the Stone Arch Bridge, a feat of engineering built in 1883.

Minneapolis also has a new indoor stadium, home to the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings. The stadium is designed to look like a ship run aground and it definitely gives that appearance on the skyline.

The approach to the stadium features a Viking ship, where Bev climbed “aboard” and waved from the deck. From the outside, this stadium looks amazing and we’ve been told that the inside is even more impressive. It sure beats the hell out of the old Metrodome, which was a horrible venue that deserved to be imploded so that this new one could be built on the existing site.

We finished our day on foot by walking across town to the Walker Art Center and the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. The garden is immense and full of unique artwork, including the famous Spoonbridge and Cherry sculpture.

What a great visit to a diverse and vibrant city. We love Minneapolis!

It’s been a year since we’ve posted anything here but we’ve fired up the blog again with another “bucket list” adventure. We’ll post periodically and hope that you’ll tag along with us on a road trip to Montana, where we’ll hike in Glacier National Park, explore part of Yellowstone, and I’ll get to live out my dream of fly fishing and herding cattle on a dude ranch. Some have described the ranch as a spa where animals happen to roam around and while that may be true, it is a working ranch. Yes, we’ve both ridden horses. Yes, we will be in chaps and jeans. I will be sporting a cowboy hat, while Bev is planning to go with the classic baseball cap, à la Billy Crystal. Yes, there will be photos and they will be AWESOME.

As we packed for the trip, I remained undecided on a “look” for my time on the ranch, but narrowed it down to a few possibilities:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I ruled out one style:

 

 

 

 

Along the way we’ll stop for bizarre road trip sights, visit with family and old friends and experience things that you only get from wandering on the road. I can’t wait to see what we encounter, although I hope it doesn’t include a grizzly bear.

On our first day on the road, from Knoxville to northern Illinois, we saw what is arguably the World’s Largest Rocking Chair in Franklin, Indiana. Several other cities make this claim but this one is called Big John and is 32 feet tall. That’s BIG!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, we saw endless fields of corn. This led to a full discussion about movies that featured cornfields and how nearly every one of them are horror films (the exceptions being Field of Dreams and The Wizard of Oz). We came to the conclusion that the only things in cornfields are zombies, ghouls, aliens, the occasional dead baseball player and live, heartless scarecrows. Never go in one.