Tourist Trappings

While Adam's parents were in town, we took a Sunday drive to the quaint and quirky town of Marine on St. Croix, just north of Stillwater. The St. Croix Chocolate Company had recently opened for business, which called for a celebratory treat.

After Marine, we detoured to the old Boom Site upstream of Stillwater, named for the logging booms that used to line the river. Now it's just a great place to rest and explore.

The late October dreary weather really added to the historical (i.e., "creepy") feel of the place. I'm sure it's a whole other experience in the summer.

Gophers vs Penn State

We checked out the new TCF Bank Stadium last weekend as the Minnesota Golden Gophers took on Penn State.

The important thing to remember is not whether we won or lost (we lost, obviously, and not for the last time), but how much we enjoyed our day. In that respect, we scored!

If you can finagle handicapped seats, you'll have the best seats in the house: spacious, flexible, close to the stairs and elevators, and with plenty of personal space to explore your boundaries.

Our particular game honored the five branches of the military during half-time, which was easily the highlight of the game. Well, that, and winning a free bag of Old Dutch potato chips for all of Section 214, which - contrary to popular opinion - was not rigged by Adam's dad Doug, a proud employee of the Old Dutch family.

Kudos to Cassara and Brandon for the pre-game tailgating and super-delicious breakfast burritos/chili dogs, and to Doug and Janice for the excellent tickets and a wonderful weekend!

A Change of Scenery

Winter is coming. Get your colors while you can.

Harvest Fest

It was time for Harvest Fest, round two, as we headed to the end-of-the-season CSA party at Eener's Farm in Wisconsin. This was our last chance to stock up on pumpkins and cider and free hay rides "for the kids".

This is actually not a dog, but a goat named Larry. Larry has a pretty good life.

Poor Maynard, eight years old, was joined by a new puppy this year, and he's really showing his enthusiasm for the partnership.

New World Record!

Stillwater recently held its annual Harvest Fest, and we headed downtown to check out the festivities.

The river is still quite high following some fairly severe rains, so all boats - not just the paddleboats - have been waiting for the lift bridge.

There were rumors of a world record pumpkin on the premises; we thought we'd try to guess which one.

This pumpkin stated (with a handwritten note) that it was the tallest pumpkin in the world. I can't imagine there's that much competition.

Finally...coming from New Richmond, WI, the world's biggest pumpkin! I think the official weight was 1810.5 pounds, but it needs to be verified by the folks at Guinness.

Loser pumpkins

Obligatory group shot

Random children

Cars on the river, per usual.

I think these are the remnants of the pumpkin regatta. Otherwise, I'm not exactly sure what's going on here.

Until next year, happy pumpkin and flood zone season!

Fall is for (Apple) Farm

With the Erickson and Laughlin families in tow, we headed to Aamodt's Apple Farm and Vineyard (for the adults, of course) for a quality nature experience.

I think Wade and Ryan actually did a fairly good job of matching their expressions to those of the children.

All the easy picking is over for the season, so you just have to try a little harder to get the good fruit. Wade and Adam developed a helper system that, honestly, worked better than it looks.

Wade then offered Tessa her first taste of orchard apples, with Emily's approval.

Wade tried to offer Tessa her first taste of caramel apples, with Emily's disapproval.

Sarah and Lucy with Emily and Tessa - babies are hot this year.

There are a lot of attitudes coming out in this picture.

This was an unplanned shot, obviously, but the Apple Farm was just that good.