The Runestone

Greg and I got up and dressed and went to check out the Runestone Museum in Alexandria.

My parents' cabin from the front:

It was a warm and sunny day.

Alexandria is a very cute little town with LOTS of fun shops.

Everything has a northern-European slant.

And there are lot of used bookstores!

Eventually (after about 40 minutes of driving from my parents' cabin), 

we found the museum.

The Kensington Runestone was discovered by Olof Ohman in 1898.

It was written by some Viking explorers in 1362!

Lots of research has been done into how Vikings ended up in Minnesota that early.

Fascinating!

Here's what I wore:

There was an area displaying games that Vikings played:

And there was a painting of Ole (pronounces "o-lee") the Viking, a statue who guards the town.

The kids' area had a place to carve runes in clay (fun!),

a dress-up area,

and another place to peek into a mirror!

The non-runestone part of the museum was all about the history of the Alexandria area.

It had some strange and wonderful stuff like this

"Electric Machine for Nervous Diseases".

What did it do?!

We were able to see antiques saved from the one of the first mortuaries in Alexandria.

these are "fluid containers - used to collect bodily fluids expelled from the deceased . . . "

 Here is Ole. 

He is under construction.

The museum also had a very cool and educational outside part.

It had a general store (and post office) with items that might have been bought there.

Look at the pretty walls!

A smokehouse and woodworking shop:

A little church (Lutheran, of course!):

A one-room schoolhouse:

With lots of old books!

And a map of all the state flowers of the United States

(Minnesota: Moccasin, now known as the Ladyslipper

Arizona: Cactus Flower)

There was a replica smaller version of a Viking ship in a big warehouse space:

And A Christie-As-Ole!

We saw lots of old farming equipment

(most people moved to the area for farming purposes).

And we learned that the meaning behind the name "Minnesota"

is as beautiful as the place!

Before our trip, I had researched gluten-free pizza in Alexandria and discovered that Pizza Hut now serves Udi's pizza crusts!

It was deeelicious!

And then we headed home again.

Greg went right out on the new Bumbebee.

Then we headed out for some more kayaking.

Couldn't get enough!

We went further into the incoming river.

The sun was setting and making beautiful patterns on the water.

We saw the mama duck and her ducklings again.

They are perfectly colored for blending in to the water!

Then the "kids" (Mark, Jillian, me, Greg) went out for a ride on the pontoon boat.

We saw some Cormorants in a tree:

We watched a little bit of a James Bond spy movie "Goldfinger," I think,

and headed to bed.

What a great day!!!!!

Cosmo was VERY tired.