Winter Won't Leave

The Tampa Airport was on the muggy side, even with the air conditioning, on the day I left Florida. The flight to Chicago-O'Hare Airport was packed, but it was only a couple hours long, and not too uncomfortable. At O'Hare, with the distances to be traversed from one gate to another, I had very little time between flights. The plane to Minneapolis (also packed) was on time, and I took to following the very exact directions to get from my gate to the shuttle terminal, where various ground transport services operate.

The shuttle bay in Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport

I was on a Go Rochester shuttle that went to, you guessed it, Rochester (home of the Mayo Clinic). The shuttle was also packed, with a contingent of Amish, all dressed in black and bonnets, filling the back seats, a very large lesbian couple from Connecticut on their way to the Mayo Clinic, and a woman traveling alone, and another gentleman who was headed to Winona.

Although it was well below freezing, the van was warm and the conversation was fairly lively on the one-hour trip to Rochester, with the Amish man (I believe it was a family group) even adding comments about having traveled on the Coast Starlight in the past.

Everything's ready for spring — except the weather.

In Rochester, all but the two of us heading for Winona dispersed at the hotel. We were transferred to a second shuttle which took us to two drop-off spots in Winona. I got off at Perkins Restaurant, where Steve picked me up. (I was later to learn Amanda was living in Winona.) When I left the shuttle, the other passenger was fast asleep.

Steve and Pam at the train station

On the drive home, we stopped at the Subway store in Galesville so I could pick up a sandwich for dinner. We arrived in Ettrick to find Steve's wife, Pam, busily grading papers. I had half my sandwich and we talked and caught up on things.

Sunday morning Steve and Pam went to church while I slept in. I discovered that coffee and donuts were the morning staple in the McDougal/Solberg home. Their house is a 140-year-old structure, with Glen and Avis, Pam's parents, living on the first floor of the home, and Steve and Pam residing upstairs in a fairly spacious six rooms.

Emily always takes a good picture

In the afternoon, Amanda dropped by with her daughter Natalie, now 3 years old. She bounced into the living room, then stopped dead when she saw me. She looked from Grandpa (Steve) to me and did a double take. (I didn't expect her to remember me, as she was a little over 1 year old when she last saw me.) Once I was introduced as her Uncle Mark, though, she was up and sitting in my lap is short order, realizing I was another relative who would dote on her.

A little later Emily, Amanda's younger sister, stopped by with her boyfriend, Jim, who seemed like a really great guy. In conversations with Steve later on, it was obvious that he was impressed with Jim, noting that, "He's the only boyfriend Emily's had who wasn't intimidated by me." Jim is the head of the Ettrick volunteer fire department, so I don't think much would intimidate him.

Steve outside the Beach in Ettrick

It was cold in Ettrick, with daytime highs in the upper 20s and low 30s and nighttime lows down into the teens. You could see the whole world — earth, plants, air — wanting to begin spring, but it was just too cold. This being so, we didn't get out a whole lot, but that was OK with me, as I planned to do a fair amount of vegetating while on vacation. That evening, Amanda, Natalie, Steve and I went to the Beach, a local watering hole with basic pub food, and had a dinner of hamburgers and a variety basket of deep-fried sides (onion rings, jo-jo potatoes and deep-fried cheese curds).

Bucolic scenes present themselves at every turn.

Monday we had tentatively planned to head up to Wabeshau to visit the National Eagle Center, where they have bald eagles on display, but it was supposed to be snowing (up to 4") up there on Monday afternoon, so we decided to stay home. We switched off between streaming Netflix and the cable channels, but there wasn't much to be watched on the television. Some of the time Pam would sit on the couch grading papers on her laptop while Steve and I sat in the easy chairs, both surfing the web. It was all very 21st century.

That evening, Avis had put together a dinner of brats, potato salad and beans. I have to say that I cannot find brats of that quality or flavor anywhere in California.

Culver's is fast food, Tri-State style (frozen custard!)

Tuesday I had arranged to check out some houses in the La Crosse area with a local Realtor, and Steve and Amanda decided to come along. I didn't want to take up a lot of the guy's time, as this was merely a reconnaissance mission, with no real purchasing in mind at the moment. I picked the guy because his name was Gaylord Zastrow and his head shot showed his age (late 60s or early 70s).

Steve and I drove into La Crosse early and met Amanda for lunch at a Culver's, which is a fast food place native to the Tri-State area (Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa). We met the Realtor at his office and headed out, seeing one house in the northern part of town, another in Onalaska (just north of La Crosse) and one on the south side of town. All were within my price range and rather nice. After about an hour and a half, we bid adieu to Gaylord, Amanda to Winona and Steve and I returned to Ettrick, where Avis was beginning what would become a wonderful spaghetti dinner.

View from the Eagle Center in Wabeshau.

Again, it had been chilly day, but I wasn't really too worried about it. First in Montreal and Keeseville, now here; I was realizing how little the cold bothered me. As a treat for me, it started snowing lightly as the sun set. Steve went to bed early, I was talking to Pam about "Downton Abbey," and she suggested I start watching "Upstairs, Downstairs" streaming on Netflix. I was hooked.

Columbia gets a fresh rabbit

One thing I was worried about was my back. The bed I was sleeping in was extremely soft, and I was waking up with lower back aches that were almost debilitating. Steve commented that they had a firmer bed in Pam's sewing room, but I didn't want to put them through making up another bed, so I let it slide. Also, the furniture in the living room is old and low to the ground, which exacerbated the back condition. I could move around and walk off most of the soreness and cramping in the muscle, but any period of rest would bring it back once I tried to stand up.

A collection of rare toy kitchens

Wednesday, we decided to go to the Eagle Center, snow or no snow, and headed up to Wabeshau. We had some blowing snow across the highway as we drove, and Amanda came along. The center sits on the Mississippi River at a spot where the wild eagles nest and hunt. The center itself had several birds that they could not return to captivity, and they were trained for presentation to the public. The one eagle we saw discussed was Columbia.

Vintage toy robots on display

Since we were in the area, we stopped off at Larks Toys, but not before visiting another Culver's so I could try their pork tenderloin sandwich. Larks Toys is a store that specializes in older style and vintage type toy lines. They also have an extensive and impressive collection of real vintage toys, as well as an indoor carousel and a miniature golf course (closed due to snow coverage). They also had a fudge counter, and I broke the back, buying eight pieces for about $20. I thought it was rather extravagant, but the woman at the counter pointed out that one piece of fudge weighs a quarter pound.

A selfie first for me and Natalie

On our way returning to Ettrick, we stopped off at Amanda's home in Winona to visit. I wanted to get a selfie of me and Natalie for the blog, and also Amanda, a licensed massage therapist, offered to take care of my back problems with a massage. Her therapy worked magic (though I was to find it was short lived), and not only did I get the selfie I had wanted, but I also got a mother-and-child of Amanda and Natalie that is probably the best snapshot taken during my entire trip.

"Nattie P" and Amanda strike a pose.

Wednesday night we kind of scrounged dinner for ourselves (leftover brats and beans). I got things ready for washing my load of laundry Thursday. I watched a couple more episodes of "Upstairs, Downstairs," then went to bed.

Thursday was laundry day for me, as well as my departure date from Ettrick. Once I was packed, we headed for La Crosse and stopped in to see Connie, a friend of Pam's that I'd met on one of her trips to the Coast. Connie designs some really stunning jewelry, and I was telling her she should think about doing a line for men, since she's very skilled with working in metals. Small, subtle lapel pins, or neck pieces that can be worn in lieu of a tie for more formal occasions.

Look closely and you can see spring green budding in those trees.

Time was running short, so Steve, Pam and I went to Fayze's in downtown to grab a bite before I left. After eating about half the dinner, we had to ask for boxes for the remainder of the food. Steve drove me to the train station while Pam dealt with the leftovers and joined us there.

Bucolic scenes are everywhere

I took Steve and Amanda and Natalie showed up a few minutes after we arrived, and the wait was short, as the train was on time. Natalie was convinced that it was she who was going on the train, but we quickly diverted this notion. When the train pulled into the station, I found my sleeper car in short order and boarded the train. My room was on the opposite side of the train, so there was no waving from the window as the train pulled out. In a few minutes, I had found homes for all my things in the roomette, and settled in for the long ride to Everett and my visit with my brother Jim, his wife Carla and their son Chance.