A Full Day in Crystal Lake

We had a very full day today.

morning view of the lake

After breakfast we went to Trudy's church to meet up with a few other people to take the collection of cans to the recycling center.  They get paid by the weight.

Then we went to the small airfield where Dale keeps his plane.  He built it himself.  It is a Zenith Zodiac CH650.  It is considered an experimental plane since it is not mass produced.  It is for 2 people. Dale took me up in it. Very cool.  

view from the plane

Trudy and Dale

Trudy gave me a tour of their camper

Then we went home for lunch.

Then we went to 3 Oaks Recreation Area.  First off we had Culver's ice cream, which was delicious.

Then we walked over to the quarry where they have sent up a very interesting set up.  They have combined zip lines, snow boarding and water skiing all in one.  Not sure how to describe it.  They have wires set up in a big circle, high up.  There is an area that people put on snow board type boards, hold a handle attached to a cord and off they go around in a big circle.  They have ramps, too.   

We sat and watched for a while.  It looked like a lot of fun but also exhausting.  We wandered around and looked at some of the other parts of the park.

Then we went to a Crystal Lake Brewing company.

Trudy and I shared a flight.  I did not like the dark one but the others were good.  We came home to fix dinner.  Dale grilled pork chops, Trudy made a salad and I made fried rice from the left-over rice from the Chinese food we had Sunday night.  

Whew. What a day. 

Minneapolis to Crystal Lake

George and I met Patty, Joyce and Tye in the lobby at 6:45 am to head to the airport.  George went home on the same flight with Patty, Joyce and Tye.  They all got home safely.  I flew to Chicago to visit Trudy and Dale.  Trudy is a college friend and Dale is her husband.

I think that they were afraid that the TSA Prechk people would not know where to go.  I had the TSA PreChk.  I got to my gate in plenty of time.  The flight to Chicago was very short.  It did not take me long to find the place to get the Blue Line train to connect with the Northwest Metra.  I got out to Jefferson Park, where I was to transfer.  People always seem to be friendly and helpful when you look pitifully lost.  It took me less time to get there so it ended out that I had a longer wait for my train.  

The train was very nice.  They have a place to put luggage so it is out of the way.  And you can flip the chairs so that you can face which ever direction you want.  It took a little over an hour to get out to Crystal Lake.  Trudy met my train.  

the train

front of their house

view from the back

We relaxed.  It was too hot to go out.  We had a light lunch and then mostly visited.  I showed my India pictures.  Later we ordered take-out Chinese for dinner.  We also had to buy more beer.

After dinner we went on a little walk around the lake

I tried taking pictures of the bullfrogs.  They were very big and loud.  

pretty sunset.  

What a day.  

The Wedding and Reception

We met with Joyce and other family in the hotel dining room for breakfast.  We had a couple of hours to relax before meeting Susan (Joyce's sister) & Bruce in the lobby.  They were nice enough to give us a lift to the Fort Snelling Chapel.

A very picturesque chapel

Tye, the nervous father of the bride

Sam escorting Joyce in

Handsome groom and groomsmen all in dress whites

bridesmaids

Hard to get a good picture with them walking down the aisle

no pictures allowed after this until the end

Marianne and Sam Diedrick

Marianne and Sam came out through the arch of swords.  very cool

Ring bearer - cutie.  He screamed bloody murder when it was the time for him to bring the rings down.  Luckily they had a back-up plan.

After the wedding we had several hours before the reception.  We relaxed a bit and then Marianne needed some help bustling her dress so I helped Joyce with that. We were near the bar area.  After fixing the dress the people in the lounge offered us all free drinks.  That was nice. The reception started at 4 pm with appetizers and iced tea or lemonade or a no host bar.  The dinner started at 5 pm.  

Joyce and Susan at the reception

the minister

The cake

delicious dinner of chicken, stuffing, vegetables and potatoes

Sam & Marianne cut the cake with his dress sword.  They did not announce that they were doing it so I did not get a picture.

first dance

Father - daughter dance.  

Once the dancing got underway, George and I left.  It was a very beautiful wedding and nice reception.  I am glad that we could be here.

Minneapolis

We are headed off to Minneapolis to go to Marianne and Sam's wedding.  Joyce and I have been friends for so long, Marianne feels almost like family. 

We had a very leisurely morning. Our flight was not until noon so we did not have to leave the house until 10 am.  I had time to fit in a walk.  I picked a bunch of our blueberries.  I froze some of them so that I will have some when I get home, otherwise I would miss most of the season.

Just before leaving I call the Eye clinic to find out if my new glasses were in.  They just had arrived so we stopped there on our way to the airport.  So I have my new glasses now that correct for the cataract surgery.  Great.

There were almost no lines at the airport so we zipped right through. George had TSA precheck so he took the bag that had my computer and liquids.  So I did not have to do anything but take my shoes off.

I have never flown Sun Country

 Once we arrived in Minneapolis we got the shuttle to the hotel.  We did not have to wait long.

Drove past a military cemetery.  It was huge

Joyce and Tye met us at the hotel. We got checked in - dumped our stuff in the room and then met them for dinner at the hotel restaurant.  It was nice to connect.  Joyce and Tye were gracious enough to miss the other family stuff to have a quiet evening with us.  I appreciated that.  

Joyce and Tye

pretty flowers

The DoubleTree Hotel

Not really a good walking neighborhood but the hotel is nice.