Close, but not over the Mississippi River in our Lazy Daze 7-3 to 7-16, 2009

We've been telling Dave and Sandy for several years that our Lazy Daze won't cross the Mississippi. They got us very close this time but we stuck to our guns.



They did, however, sneak me across in their car.




We had a beautiful day to tour the downtown Minneapolis area...



... see some of the historic areas along the river, and yes, cross the river to St. Paul.


We had to cross the river to get to this great "malt" shop that Sandy and Dave have visited from time to time. Not often, right? That's a perfectly good reason to cross the Ole Miss in my mind. As we approached Snuffy's, I saw St. Catherine Univ. out of the corner of my eye. That's where Peggy went to school.


Now I know why she has that sweet tooth. Had I gone to school there I never would have seen the inside of a classroom. Have you ever had a peanut butter cup malt? What a way to go!


From the Minneapolis area we traveled south to Whitewater State Park, not too far from Rochester. The rolling hills of green on the way down reminded us of our Maryland days. We had a bit of a wait for our campsites to clear but once available I settled our Lazy Daze in quickly...


...while Dave and Sandy and assistant, Ron, parked that "big" beautiful motorhome of theirs. I wish I had seen Ally's eyes when she first went into their motorhome. After traveling in our Lazy Daze Ally thought Sandy and Dave's motorhome was a "Castle".



Dave, are you sure you don't want your Lazy Daze back?


The park has a visitor center with a terrific viewing area for watching all the different kinds of song birds that inhabit the park. This American Goldfinch has a beautiful song. I could recognize it while at the park but not now....old age again.



The feeders are kept full and any time of day you can enjoy the chaos around them. I've never seen so much color in one spot. Check out this Red-Bellied Woodpecker and Rose-Breasted Grosbeak. Grosbeak? What did he do to deserve that name?



I never thought of myself as much of a bird watcher but I found I could sit there for hours.




It's a busy place. This Blue Jay...



...and this Baltimore Oriole I remembered from our Maryland days.



The trails in the park, like this one along the wetlands, were beautiful and green, green, green. That's like green overload for a desert gal.



The Whitewater River runs slowly through the park and provided some fun for...




Ron and Dave...




...aka Opie and Andy!



While they fished, Sandy and I did a wee bit of hiking where we saw this beautiful fawn and...



this beautiful female American Goldfinch. Sandy says this is the classic Minnesota scene with the Goldfinch sitting on their favorite food, the thistle. When I looked in my bird brochure, sure enough, there was the Goldfinch on a thistle.



Chimney Rock Trail had a bit of an elevation climb...



but they took the sting out of it by putting in this long, long, stairway.



Photo breaks are good when you're climbing.




Ah....the destination, Chimney Rock.



Shortly we'll be headed west again and won't be seeing Sandy until 2011. That sounds so far away. Just don't fall in love with FL. AZ is calling in 2011. We'll see Dave in a couple of weeks when he stops by on his motorcycle adventure as he goes through the Tetons. It's been a fun visit to their beautiful home stomping grounds.