Minnesota, August 1 - 3

August 1, 2013 - We set our alarm early for our getaway to the airport where our Delta flight left Austin at 11:30 am to Minneapolis, Minnesota.  After the 2 ½ hour flight we collected our bag and rented our car from Avis before heading south.  First stop was the nearby Mall of the Americas with over 500 stores and a large amusement park in the middle.  We bought a bag of popcorn then walked the circumference for a brief look at this famous place.  It’s a good thing neither of us is a big shopper.

Next we headed south on Interstate 35 through green rolling countryside with lots of corn, sorghum, potatoes, and soy bean fields.  There were no billboard signs along the highway which made the scenery that much nicer.  Our stop was in the town of Albert Lea where Rita had great-great grandparents living in the late 1800s.  We ventured out for dinner (bland) then drove around the town set on some attractive lakes with nice houses on the banks.  We located the courthouse in the quiet downtown area and plan to go back tomorrow for Rita to do some genealogy research.

August 2 – Rita decided that she had most of the documents from the Freeborn County courthouse that she could get so we drove to the nearby town of Alden where her ancestors lived and are buried.  A nice lady in the town offices showed us a map of the cemetery and where exactly her g-g-grandfather is buried.  We also discovered the general area where he obtained his 160 acre land grant in 1870, which is in Faribault County, and drove around that area on gravel roads.  We continued along on county highway 109 to the town of Winnebago but, no, that is not where the RVs are manufactured.  Figure that one out.  We drove to Blue Earth and went into the Faribault County Courthouse where a nice lady showed us the land records from 1870 showing Rita’s g-g-grandfather’s obtaining the land grant.  It was time for lunch but not before we happened across the statue of the Jolly Green Giant which was a surprise to us.

We continued north on highway 15 to New Ulm.  My grandmother Franke was born in New Ulm, Texas, and so we have been there many times.  We have visited Ulm, Germany, with the highest cathedral steeple in Europe.  Now we have been to New Ulm, Minnesota, which was settled by Germans and Czechs in the mid-1800s.  We first drove to the Hermann Monument which is a large statue of a Germanic warrior known as Arminius (Hermann) of the Cherusci tribe that defeated a large force of Roman legions in 9 AD.  Locally he is known as Hermann the German.  The monument was funded by the Sons of Hermann fraternal society in the late 1800s.  I climbed up to the rooftop while Rita stayed below.  There were great views over the city of New Ulm.

Then we drove into the downtown area and parked the car.  We walked to German Park with its statue to German-Bohemian immigrants.  We saw the Defenders Monument to mark the city’s defense (and almost loss) against a large raid of Dakota Indians in 1862.  Most of the town was burned in that raid and many lives were lost.  We saw many historic buildings and a glockenspiel that played a cast of characters at 5:00 pm.  We drove to the August Schell Brewery which goes back to 1860 but did not tour the brewery.  We had a good German meal at Veigel’s Kaiserhoff and a Schell beer to go with our schnitzels. 

After dinner we walked down the main street and in a narrow alley by the B & L Pub they had the local oompah band playing German music followed by a group of musicians in lederhosen from Germany.  A large crown was drinking beer on the sidewalk and listening to the polka music.  The people were friendly and when someone asked me if we were visitors I told them that my grandmother was born in New Ulm but not this one – the New Ulm in Texas.  That surprised him and he told several others who came over and wanted to talk about the Germans in Texas.  Everyone was friendly and surprisingly many of the locals still speak German, even the younger ones.  After a good evening we retreated back to our hotel room for the night.

August 3 – Today started with breakfast at a Perkins restaurant, a standby in this part of the country.  It has been several years since Rita and I ate at a Perkins and we had a calorie filling meal that took us to dinner.  We headed north on state highway 15 taking us away from the Iowa border.  Southern Minnesota looks very much like Iowa and if you haven’t been to Iowa let me describe it as best as I can.  In this area most highways are straight for long stretches with few curves.  They alternate from nice and smooth to corduroy with some in between.  Minnesota winters take a toll on roads.  The countryside is rural – large expanses of fields of corn, soybeans, or potatoes, old farm houses surrounded by a patch of trees, pitched roof barns (or, if new, rounded roofs) so they don’t accumulate snow, lots of silos, and tractors on the highways.  We wanted to take back roads instead of Interstates although it means slower travel.

As we headed further north the farm lands turned into forests and more views of lakes.  Since today was Saturday there were several pickup trucks hauling boats behind them on their way to the lakes – after all they have 10,000 to choose from.  Weather was nice and ranged from upper 50s in the morning to mid-70s by afternoon.  Perfect weather and as we approached St. Cloud we encountered some cumulus clouds which was appropriate.  We took a detour into downtown St. Cloud and crossed the Mississippi River where we joined US highway 10 which took us north and west.  St. Cloud, like most of the towns we saw so far, looked clean and tidy.  It must be the influence of all those Northern Europeans who settled here.

We bypassed Little Falls where Charles Lindbergh grew up and stopped in Randall at a quilt store for Rita.  Then we drove past Wadena, New York Mills, Detroit Lakes (casinos and resorts) to Fargo, North Dakota, where Roger Maris was from.  As we approached Fargo the landscape returned to flat farm lands.  We checked into our hotel then headed into downtown Fargo.  Searches on the Internet recommended the HoDo restaurant in the Hotel Donaldson which is where we dined.  Their rooftop restaurant is called Sky Prairie and has herbs and prairie grasses growing in abundance.  We had an excellent meal starting out with a beer for me and a HoDito (vodka, simple honey syrup and mint) for Rita.  Then Rita had a bison burger while I had bison sirloin with nice sides.  The weather was nice, company great, and food delicious.  We’ve been in Fargo for about five hours and haven’t heard a “you betcha” yet.