Tuesday, August 27, 2007

Ok, the Minnesota weekend did not stop on Minneapolis. The fun four-some had to fly out on Thursday morning so I headed to Coon Rapids to make a surprise visit on my niece, Sarah and family. They, Sarah and David, live just north of the cities and have two wonderful children, Issac and Gretta. I'm sure I've mis-spelled their names, but for an engeneer, that's pretty good. It was a short visit, but I the five of us went out to a nice pizza lunch. After that I was headed to Brainerd Minnesota. Ofta!

Now there are few words to describe to wonderful home of Christa and Cowboy Andersen, so I won't use them. Pictures say a bit more so I've included a few. The weather was....it really doesn't matter what the the clouds said, you make what you want of the visit. I did. Fantastic hosts. Great food, and tons of laughs. The first night, Cowboy had some ribs that had been cooking for hours and they just fell off the bone. Dane and Candi were great and floated in/out of the house with their busy schedules. The 2nd night I volunteered to do the cooking and we feasted on shrimp bugatini in a nice sun-dried tomatoe alfredo sauce with a 7 piece Nordstrom salad. Nobody was able to finish their plates, so the portions were just right.

Living in the North woods, the Andersens need to prepare for the winter. And that they do. Evidence is in the 10 cords of wood that are cut in preparation for the 200 degrees below zero that they speak of. Photo speaks for itself. The lower portion of their fantastic home includes a 10 seat bar called the MooseJaw Saloon. Only invited guests, not sure why I got in, are clued into the story about how the bar was named. I'm told that the state of North Dakota has strict rules on disclosure or criminal activity.