Princeton

After our time at the cabin, we happily headed to Princeton to 

spend some time with Greg's Dad and Step-Mom, Karen.

Our time with them is always interesting and fun.

Can you see my in the sunglasses?

They have beautiful landscape around them,

and pretty flowers!

And LOOK!  A beautiful cat!

She let me hold her a few times and even purred for me,

but she definitely didn't seek us out.  I'm pretty sure she was happy when we left,

but we still love her!

When we arrived, Greg & Rick (his Dad) took a tour of all

the fancy things Rick has done to the house and shop since we

saw it last.  He's always puttering away on something and making things look nicer!

The next day was our Half Price Books day!!!

It's a delightful annual tradition.

I decided to be ready for all eventualities and packed myself TONS of water

and snacks.

Schar's gluten-free buns and a banana:

We drove in a BIG circle all the way around the Twin Cities

(of St Paul and Minneapolis), stopping at five different Half Price Books stores.Can you see 

downtown St Paul?

We even drove through an area within a mile of where I grew up

(Oakdale) and saw the updates to everything around there.

It made me feel very nostalgic.

I MISS MINNESOTA!

Rick wanted to check out this interesting place called

Minnesota Home Outlet.

The building was cabin-like and cool.

Rick blends right in!

Here's what I was wearing.

t-shirt: Maison Jules (Macy's)
skirt: Rekucci (Amazon)
shoes, bag: Target

There's Greg!

There he is again!

I sneaked a photo of Rick while he was showing Karen something. 

I found this book there for $2.  I have since read it and it's hilarious.

It's the actual diary of an actual bookseller in a small town in Scotland,

with descriptions of his trials and his wacky customers/employees.

Of course, I'm not THAT interested in tools and home appliances unless I'm remodeling

(which I'm not), so Karen and I walked down the street a bit to Goodwill, where

I bought these beautiful vintage plates by Corelle.  I decided some gold would be a nice addition to

all our BLUE kitchenware.  I typically like hefty ceramics for the kitchen (chunky plates and mugs and bowls), but for some reason these struck a chord.  We have ended up loving them and using them every day.

On our way to the next store, I saw this funny street sign.

I've never seen this one before!

Ooo!  There's Minneapolis!

I've always liked the Minneapolis cityscape.  There are a couple of

especially pretty buildings - one has a space ship flying saucer thing on top

and one is glowing and golden.

Of course, there are lakes and marshes everywhere, and they all make me happy.

A LOT of road work is taking place right now in the Twin Cities area -

they are revamping a bunch of the major freeways, so it's harder to get where we wanted to get.

Rick knows all the back ways, though!

I love the names of things in Minnesota!

Here are two more stores!

I bought a LOT of books.

And some cards, as you can see!

Here's a close-up of the plate pattern.

I guess it's called Gold Butterfly.

I didn't notice the butterflies until I saw the name of this pattern!

We went to Old Chicago for an early dinner.

I had a gluten-free vegan pizza with lots of veggies!

Yum yum yum.

The next day, we decided to see a new place that Karen had seen advertised on the news!

It was in Wisconsin, but pretty much right over the border.

I grew up about 15 minutes from the Wisconsin border (which is the St Croix river).

"Welcome to Wisconsin" - with a CHEESEHEAD!

The place was called Fawn-Doe-Rosa

I was wearing my Vegan t-shirt.

There were goats and deer and chicken and other neat-o animals 

roaming around.

The sky was beautiful, and it was breezy, so we could hear the

leaves rustling.  We don't really get that in the desert.

Petting a guinea pig:

Look at that shiny patent nosey!

Petting a cute little sleepy goat, who seemed to be all folded in half!

These photos warm my heart even though I wish these deer were able to live in the wild.

Terrible posture I have in this photo, but I'm petting a deer!

I was hoping to pet a porcupine, for which the family was mocking me.

But look how cute they are!!!

Here's Teddy, the talking porcupine.

He's why I want to get to know some porcupines.

He looks like a different kind.

There were some elk back near the woods.

Look at this magnificent fellow!

There were some other animals in cages, which made me sad.

This badger was funny, running around and flopping down in his little basket.

Goat in a bathtub.

Chatting with llamas and alpacas.

They were pretty grumpy when they discovered I didn't have any food for them.

Rick speaking with llamas and alpacas.

Goats wanted FOOD.

Ha to this duck's hair!

On the way from Wisconsin to the restaurant where we ate dinner, we drove through

Lindstrom.  It's a little Swedish town in Eastern Minnesota and it's beautiful.  

Their water tower is a teapot!

They have little Swedish "quilts" on the outside of many buildings in the town.

We saw them on other buildings throughout Minnesota, too, 

but more in Lindstrom than anywhere else.

After that, we went to a buffet place, where there was a lovely salad bad.

Since then I've read up on the sulfites that are sprayed on salad bar veggies and

it made me tentative to do it again, but it was delicious and I didn't get sick.

Greg did, though.

I took the gluten-free bun in myself and spread the jam on it.

It was a great side dish with that huge salad of veggies and fruit!

I was happy to need my denim jacket in the restaurant.

On the way home, we saw a bunch of Sandhill Cranes in a field, 

as well as some wild turkeys and deer.

Look at this gorgeous marsh, filled with lilypads and lily flowers.

Evenings are TV time with the cat!!!

THANK YOU, Rick and Karen, for a lovely time!

Thank you for sharing your home and your time and your food with us.

We love you!