Exploring the Wonders of Minnesota
The pop culture picture of Minnesota is probably best encapsulated in the image of someone ice fishing while wearing buffalo plaid and a trapper hat. The image is inspired by several cultural depictions. One is certainly “Fargo”, though the city of Fargo, while on the Minnesota border, is actually in North Dakota. A more Minnesotan …
Continue reading “Flannel, Hotdish and Trapper Hats: Attending Wabasha’s Grumpy Old Men Festival”
In northern Minnesota on the banks of Lake Superior lies Duluth. To get there you take I-35 north until the highway ends. In between the Iron Range of mountains and the windswept Lake Superior, it is a gateway to the wilderness that attracts adventurers in the summer and becomes a frozen shell of itself in …
It turns out there are Swedish centers of culture other than IKEA stores and ABBA reunion tours. Scandinavian culture has been an important theme for us recently, with us writing about our Norwegian feast at the St. Olaf Christmas Festival and our Finnish food with friends in St. Paul. Before Minnesota, I knew very little …
Continue reading “A Scandinavian Celebration: The American Swedish Institute”
Showing off your area to friends from out of town is fun, even when it involves eating pickled herring. As I mentioned last week, we had several visitors over last October to whom we showed the city. A week after my parents visited, we were joined by our good friends Jameson and Christine. We wanted …
Christmas is a wonderful time full of a flurry of activities and quite a few flurries of snow. We celebrated Christmas in Minnesota in several uniquely Minnesotan ways and those are recounted here. St. Olaf Christmas Festival: St. Olaf College, where I have taught for the past year, is a small, academically exceptional school in …
Continue reading “Wind Chill, Lutefisk and the St. Olaf Choir: A Minnesota Christmas”
This is Halloween, this is Halloween. Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween Town is real … and it is in suburban Minneapolis. Anoka, a community near Coon Rapids north of the city, calls itself the Halloween Capital of the World. For one month of the year, the town is transformed. Over those 31 days, there are …
Continue reading “The Halloween Capital of the World: Attending the Anoka Halloween Parade”
It is strange and exciting to show off where you live to visitors when you are living in a new area because, after all, you are still basically a visitor yourself. We know that this will soon be true of us as we move later this summer, but for now we finally feel at home …
National parks and monuments mean a lot to Katie and I, so we make a point to see as many as we can. They have been responsible for some of the best adventures we have ever had and they are also responsible for why we found ourselves last fall in the middle of Northeastern Iowa …
Continue reading “Large Piles of Dirt: Seeing Effigy Mounds”
There is nothing that makes me more at home than the feel of a cool autumn breeze as it brings smells of apple cider and pumpkin pie. I love the fall! I missed fall in Colorado where eight months of warmth and sun immediately transition to four months of cold and snow…and sun. Later this …
Continue reading “Autumn in Minnesota: Our Apple Picking Adventure”
Sports are characterized by the great rivalries: the Yankees vs. the Red Sox, Georgia vs. Alabama, the Packers vs. the Bears, and the St. Olaf Oles vs. the Carleton College Carls. Okay, the Ole vs. Carl rivalry might not be world famous, but it is a bit of a big deal when you live in …
Adventures in Gopherland