Faribault

We had breakfast in the hotel restaurant.  It was not complimentary but it was good.  Then we did a 3 mile walk in the Wildlife Refuge.  It was very pretty.

This stump looked like a howling wolf.

Then we drove to Faribault, about 45 min south of Minneapolis.  It was a cute little town.  Not many stores were actually open, but we did dink a bit.  They had a series of murals.  It was fun finding most of them.  The murals started going up in 2007.

Welcome to Faribault

The was a fun little store

ice skating

Fleckenstein Beer

Bruce Smith.  The first athlete from Minnesota to have his number retired.

Alexander Faribault

The Cathedral of our Merciful Savior, an Episcopal church.

Tilt-A-Whirl

Downtown Faribault in the 1950's

Theater

We did some cheese tasting with local cheeses.  They were very good.

They no longer do tours of the cheese production.

Bridge over the Straight River (it did not look very straight to me)

Symbol of Faribault, the Fleur-de-Lis.  A nod to Alexander Faribault, who was a French Canadian Fur trader.  

library

I was trying to get a picture of a butterfly, but it kept moving.

From the library.

We drove back to the hotel and waited for a text from Sue.  She arrive a little before 4 pm.  We brought her back to the hotel to check in.  Then we went back to meet Debbie.  She arrived a little after 5 pm.  We went straight to dinner.  We had picked Prima, an Italian food place in Minneapolis.

Sue, Debbie and me

I had a delicious butternut squash pasta with caramelized onions and pears, with grilled chicken.

Then back to the hotel.  We printed our boarding passes for tomorrow and bought a drink to take to the room.  We have adjoining rooms. That is nice.  It is almost like having a slumber party.