Local last day

Our flight was late afternoon so before a long sit on the plane we needed some exercise in the local park.

Eagan Park

Close to the house this park is made up of lakes and walkways and used the year round.

Seasonal options

Our friends are keen skiers but happy to snow shoe these routes through the winter.

Autumn lakes

Here the peak of the Autumn colours is beginning to pass and they are preparing for the first snowfall which will see them through till April/May. There are still a few flashes of colour

Last of Autumn colour

Lake beaches

The beaches used for swimming and boat launch will be frozen solid

Water lilies on the lake.

The new sport will be ice skating

On thé way back to pick up the suitcases we passed the local High School. There was an enormous car park full of cars .I asked if this was normal or was there a special event for parents today.

High school car park

This is for students aged sixteen to eighteen. There are school buses paid for by the district but it is really not cool to use the bus.Pity the poor kids!

On thé way back we narrowly missed Thanksgiving dinner

Wild Turkeys crossing the road

A last visit was to the Training Stadium for the local American football team. This stadium is packed with spectators just for training sessions.

It is built next to a State of the art Orthopaedic hospital which is available to the public if you can afford it.

The other building was kind of ironic and we wondered if this would become the home of our cruise ship.

Thank you Viking

So that’s it folks.

No Dancing down the Mississippi. Our river cruise is fully booked until 2025 so we probably couldn’t afford a rebook even if we get a full refund.

Time to go home.A big thank you to our hosts. We have learnt a lot , we met lovely people and hope the difficulties facing them all are solved by the care and kindness so many of them shared with us.

Minneapolis Downtown

So having toured one of the twin cities we moved onto Minneapolis and some history lessons

Minneapolis

The use of the river to bring grain to the giant mills that were water driven,

Harnesssing the water

Huge flour mills line the river

Spot anyone you know

This is an historic Quarter

Note the scooters

There is also a fabulous modern theatre

The Guthrie

What’s on offer

On thé top of the theatre there is an amazing viewing platform. It is completely yellow so gives all photos the weird look of old coloured photos from the 70s ( showing my age)

Golden glow

That river again

Looks like old postcard

There was also a Farmers Market and street food

Always a marketing opportunity

Yes it was cold

We then headed to a local sculpture park

The Cherry and the Spoon

The park is popular with students and families and has a great friendly buzz.

Large art installations

There were lots of photo opportunities and sharing of phones by strangers to take each other’s photos.

Our hosts looking good

This opportunist salesman was very excited to hear our foreign accents .

Macaroon man

I promised to feature him on the blog

Americans love sweet things but find these a bit small and expensive !

We headed home and our Best Man decided he needed to take his old college buddy to his local pub

The British pub in Eagan

Our host is the local soccer coach and referee and considered the expert on British Premier League which we found has a huge foll owing in the USA . This is of course a source of huge funding which makes our home games so imbalanced financially.

Anyway hubby decided he couldn’t come home without trying a burger

Burger with whisky sauce in the local Pub

St Paul

Our host decided to try and show us where our cruise should have been moored in St Paul

Row of barges.

There was no sign of boats and even the barges were parked immobile

We set off for a driving tour of St Paul since our planned trip wasn’t going anywhere.

Abandoned trip

St Paul’s Catholic Basilica

We headed down one of the roads with the smartest address and could not believe the selection of very fancy houses that went on for miles from the summit to the lakeside increasing in value.

Fancy mansion

Different styles

So huge!

There were dozens

We also spotted one of the local dog walkers

Pedigree pooches

There were flocks of geese

Goose Poop drive

Someone else watching

A big tourist attraction was a waterfall which cascaded down to the Mississippi River.

A trickle of water

A dry stream bed

Proof if needed that the feeds to the river have dried up

Enough for today just one more photo,

Cute Squirrel

Road Trip South

Since our Viking cruise wasn’t going anywhere our friends decided we could at least drive to the first scheduled stop . We set off to drive toRed Wing Minnesota.

On thé Road

Although the colours were beautiful without the sunshine they didn’t glow.

The Mississippi

It was fun to see the river which seemed full of water, but then we got a surprise.

A cruise ship

It wasn’t ours but asking a crew member found it was heading for New Orleans….fully booked.

We asked about the Viking boat and they explained it had a much deeper draft.It was stuck further downstream and unable to reach the start point.

We then had a wander around downtown so at least could see what would have been our first stop.

Famous for its expensive shoes

We drove on through Apple Country towards Winona where our hosts children went to college

Famous apples

Apple Store

Outside the Apple shop

Everything Apple based

Very American

We have noticed here as in the UK there are job vacancies everywhere and staff shortages giving problems.

Bakery short staffed

Following the river it still seemed full of water.

Mississippi

Local boats were being taken out and wrapped for the winter, Was ours one of them?

Wrapped for winter.

We had a wonderful lunch in the student area of Winona

Goats cheese , melon almonds on Sour dough, with truffle chips

The buildings looked like a movie set

Redwing Hotel

Local Industry

Former Bank

Minneapolis

So the day started with a trip to a colourful arboretum where there was a Scarecrow competition.

Owl Scarecrow

Scary for Crows

Halloween Candy

There was even a house

Pumpkin house

We then took a walk to see more Autumn colours

Arboretum

Formal gardens

Rainy path through woods

As the rain arrived we decided we needed an indoor venue

Our hosts decided the Mall of America , the biggest in the Western Hemisphere was our next destination

Indoor rides and fairground

This Mall is enormous and used for indoor exercise in the winter months.It opens early before the shops to allow people to jog in the aisles.

Huge Aquarium in the basement

A couple of interesting shops

Enormous Lego store

Candy floss store

Open view massage parlour

Plans tomorrow for a road trip South to see the Mississippi

Wandering in Sun Valley

Our friends , realising we had a long drive to Boise and then a flight to Minneapolis the next day suggested a gentle walk round the neighbourhood. We had already seen in the Lodge thé well known faces who had lived here, John Wayne, Arnie, Tom Hanks , etc so some of the houses look amazing

Beautiful houses that look like hotels

Bit expensive

Available plots

There are lots of more modest Condominiums with beautiful views and friendly communities.

Condo pool with beautiful view

Everywhere we walked people said HI , stopped to talk , introduced their dog or just gave us a welcoming smile. There were lots of bike paths used by both cyclists and walkers enjoying the fabulous views.

Parklands around Condos

The wilderness is on your doorstep and residents ride, bike, hike , ski or play golf

Golf with a view

It seemed like a magical place to live and if you could buy a plot an amazing place to build a house .This plot close to our friends made the most of its position with a two story living room surrounded by glass. The residents when finished were to be one elderly couple ….WOW

Rooms with a view

But then it was time to move on and head to the airport.

Ketchum Town

We had a lovely wander around this beautiful little town without the sheep. Our friends wondered what we would find interesting but we thought it was quite lovely

Thé local Saloon

We enjoyed just finding things that we found quirky

Admirable if a little strange.

Hope you find them interesting

Getting ready for Halloween

What do you think this means ?

So it’s a four way crossing which used to allow pedestrians to cross diagonally.

Sadly we didn’t try it, not a problem as our hostess was a wonderful cook.

A very quirky shop.

Sheep town

This shop open since 1947 was closed today.

They missed out HIKE their other passion

Now I know where all those silly Facebook posts come from

There was no explanation for this one.

So while our hosts shopped for dinner we had fun sign spotting in town

Ernest Hemingway

I had no idea about the connection between this writer and Idaho though we had visited his house in Key West Florida.

Local info.

Our friends took us to his memorial

His words on the plinth were very appropriate

‘BEST OF ALL HE LOVED THE FALL. THE LEAVES YELLOW ON THE COTTONWOODS.LEAVES FLOATING ON THE TROUT STREAMS AND ABOVE THE HILLS THE HIGH BLUE WINDLESS SKIES ….NOW HE WILL BE PART OF THEM FOREVER. Ernest Hemingway Idaho 1939

Mémorial

Thé Park around the memorial

Golden
Autumn leaves

Hemingway Grave with tokens

Trailing the sheep

So this was the second day of the festival and a big day in Ketchum. The stalls were back in town and a local Country band to entertain.The locals had left camping chairs set up along Main St the night before to claim their place at the kerb. Wearing the most wonderful cowboy outfits they headed into town.

Locals discretely taken from behind

Before the parade there was food, drink and country music in the square.

Coffee Stop

Local Country Band

The Main Street was lined with spectators by midday

Main Street Ketchum

First the Sheriff checked all was well

Ketchum Sheriff

This was a non motorised parade that featured lots of horses and wagons

First in parade

Miniature ponies

Three horse wagon

Double wagon

There were representatives from local groups including the ethnic groups that work with the sheep.

Peruvian dancers

Scottish Pipe Band

Basque Dancers

Finally the sheep arrived.

Sheep Parade

The local Jewish Rabbi blessed the sheep

Rabbi blessés sheep

We then went to eat at the Sun Valley Resort.

Early skiers in amazing costumes

Another blue sky day predicted for tomorrow.

Sheep Festival

This has been a real voyage of discovery. I did not know that this area was second only to Australia in its production of sheep products. We managed to visit fit the Annual Sheep Trailing Festival.

Today we started with the fair in town and all things sheep related.

Réal sheep

Toy Sheep

Wool and its uses

Each shade and texture from a different breed

Every colour to choose from

My daughter would have loved it.

There were demonstrations from sheairing the sheep , spinning to weaving

These talented ladies showed off their other traditional skills

The area has brought shepherd immigrants from other countries.There is a large Basque community who showed the traditional caravans where the camp out to take care of the flocks.

Basque caravan

Inside the caravan

There is also a strong contingent from Peru and Scotland who performed their traditional music and dancing.

Boise Pipe Band

We enjoyed a tasty lunch of lamb tacos from one of the food vans before heading off to the dog trials.

Basque bakers

The sheep are guarded on the hills by Great Pyrenees Mountain dogs. They could be attacked by wolves, bears or mountain cats. These sheep are no pushover but in the trials they are up against the traditional collies.

A collie waiting his turn

The dogs were amazing , patient to wait but raring to go and alert to weigh up the opposition.

Dogs and their handlers waiting to be called.

Thé course was tough and some sheep awkward and stubborn.Our friends brought along camp chairs and we settled for an afternoon of excitement and education.

The final test.

There was always a great cheer when there was a successful penning within the time limit.It was interesting that the majority of handlers were women.