Summer 2011

Today started quite cool, in the mid 40s and never made it out of the 60s. The good thing was that it was only partly cloudy and there was enough sun peeking through to feel the warmth of its rays. However, when the sun went behind the clouds, it was not at all comfortable. It feels kind of odd to wear a heavy sweatshirt when you should be wearing shorts.

Joy and Doug took us around the area, showing us their home and a little of downtown Minneapolis. Susie wanted to go back to Anoka, a nice small town not far from our RV Park. We had spent two nights in an Anoka RV dealer's parking lot waiting to have an axle replaced so we went into town then. The downtown, which is only a few blocks in any direction, is located near the junction of the Rum River and the Mississippi. It has an interesting mixture of business, a lot of antique dealers and a lot eating and drinking establishments.

The draw in Anoka for Susie is a quilting shop that we visited last year. I knew she could not be this close and not stop in. I thought I might get away with her just looking, but, she found some material that she didn't have. I like this store because it has two computer controlled long arm quilting machines and that intrigues the gadget nut in me. Fortunately, there is no chance that we will be buying one of these machines since each costs as much as a car (around $30,000).

After an afternoon of roaming around the area, we headed back to the RV Park for dinner at Joy and Doug's trailer. We finished the evening sitting around the fire "schmoozing." We want thank Joy and Doug for their hospitality and for showing us around their neck of the woods.

We didn't get into Minneapolis proper. This is a view of the downtown area from I-35W