Trip report, 5/26-5/30

We had a wonderful trip back to our roots, in southeastern Minnesota (quick trip, to help my husband%26#39;s parents celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary). We chose to treat ourselves to a wonderful bed and breakfast lodging, called Habberstad House, in Lanesboro. What a fabulous place to stay! The owners, Dave and Nancy, made us feel very comfortable and welcome. Their three story Victorian has been lovingly restored and has amazing, original woodwork, hardware, light fixtures, period furnishings--those people who like historic homes will love this place! We rented the Amish suite, which is actually the entire third floor (used to be the attic, now is a remarkably bright and airy space with beautiful Amish quilts and lots of space to relax and unwind). The grounds are lovely, the porch swing is very comfy, and the gourmet breakfasts are unparalleled. We had lots of good company around the dining table at breakfast time, and got great tips about things to do, and heard reviews of activities others had tried. We were fortunate to grab a meal at the Old Village Hall late on the first night of our stay, and had a wonderful pasta dish with locally gathered morel mushrooms. Yum, yum, yum! (While the morel festival is now over, Lanesboro IS celebrating Rhubarb Days this coming weekend, and they are even having the rhubarb Olympics--one of the events is the ';stalk throw';--I am sorry we are going to miss it!). While we were quite busy visiting both sides of our families, meeting new family members (a 3 month old great-nephew), and celebrating an incredible wedding anniversary, we did see lots of fun stuff going on in Lanesboro--people canoeing or kayaking in the Root River, bicycling the trails, listening to live polka music in the German restaurant Das Wurst House (they make their own root beer). AND, we did have time to score some wonderful homemade pie (rhubarb for me, of course), and buy some wine at the local winery---rhubarb again!!! Lanesboro is an interesting town to visit--I just wish we would have had more time to spend there. The Commonweal Theatre%26#39;s local production of Candida sounded interesting, and people around the breakfast table seemed to have enjoyed the live radio show ';Over the Back Fence';. Our host and hostess were very knowledgeable, and gave us some great info. about local history, the history of the house, and events in the area (the Stand Still Parade in Whalan, for example). People who disregard southeastern Minnesota because it%26#39;s more rural certainly miss the lovely scenery, quiet backroads, friendly locals, and special, quirky and fun-spirited events that might not be in such generous supply elsewhere. We loved every minute of it (except for the record-setting heat--lucky for us that Habberstad House was air conditioned, and quite comfortable throughout some very, very hot and humid days). The countryside was so lush and green--there%26#39;s an evident pride of ownership in the way people take care of their homes and mow the never-ending huge, grass lawns, ditches, etc., and I got to hear someone say ';you betcha'; again! Ya sure I did, don%26#39;t ya know!

Trip report, 5/26-5/30

Snorkelers

Good post

My wife%26#39;s family settled a bit north of Janesboro, Fillmore and Winona Co, Rushford, Saratoga, St Charles and rural places bewteen. Nisbit, Bain, Fergusaon, Hesslegrave and more.

She has 7 direct line ancestors buried at Fremont cem.and two more at Saratoga. we walked through and saw them took some pictures. Saw locations of family homesteads. her families arrived there 1850 to 1860.

We have visited her brother in Grand Rapids twice. He has one daughter and several sons, most of them came to see us. His kids are only lightly, ';you betcha'; even though their mother was Ojala, but one of his d-i-ls was talking about Fargo and saying it made fun of Minn talk, but she was talking the same way. My wife never misses it when she hears someone from Minn. even though she left there early teens, music to her ears.

Fargo is a great movie. regardless of the murders.

Trip report, 5/26-5/30

Hi Snorkelers!

I loved your report..it sounds like great fun. I have never had rhubarb :) don%26#39;t ya know? :)

The live polka music at the Wurst House sounds great..thanks for posting, you never know when we might find ourselves in Minnesota and this will come in handy :)

Lanesboro. I knew that my typing fingers did not

ScarlettO1--you can actually buy frozen rhubarb chunks in the frozen fruit section of most grocery stores--we can, at least, at the local Fred Meyer. I have a great, and very easy, rhubarb crisp recipe (in the microwave)--delicious and quick--let me know if you want to try it and I%26#39;ll give you our e-mail address. We have a rhubarb plant in the garden, and it is huge already. I think every garden in SE MN has rhubarb in it!

We totally enjoyed our time in Lanesboro, and the driving back and forth between Wykoff (pop. about 400), Fountain (pop. about 200), Chatfield (pop. about 1500), and Preston (pop. about 800) was great. Gas is about 40 cents less a gallon, we had a fun and sporty little rental car (Chevy Cobalt) and put on a couple of hundred miles in 5 days. The rolling farmland, lovely homesteads, cattle in the pastures, farmers working hard in the fields into the evenings, it is definitely the heartland of this great country of ours. The limestone bluffs near Lanesboro, with the lovely Root River meandering through the valleys, and those many restored and historic buildings give such a feeling of timelessness and tranquility that it is a great destination for a day or two, or longer (I would love to have a week or two down there, and really explore the neighboring communities). Thanks for your comments, everyone!

Really appreciated your time to post about your time in Lanesboro.

Yea, we%26#39;re going there in September, hope the weather is nice. ha, never know Minnesota.

:)