Minnesota Summer 2022

Anna and the kids have been home from their week-and-a-half long visit to Minnesota for two weeks now; it's taken that long to sift through the pictures, over 200 of them, that they texted to me and select a few to include on this blog. Here are 20 pictures, I think in chronological order, from their trip:

When this picture was taken, Claes Oldenburg, who was responsible for the Spoonbridge and Cherry sculpture seen in the background, was still alive; he passed away at the age of 93 just a couple of weeks later.

Downtown Faribault

July 4th lunch at Tim and Peg's house on the lake

Denny emerging from the camper at the campground

Elyse made s'mores!

Helen Tubing 2022

Today we went on our annual summer-time trip up to Helen, so Anna and Elyse (or Anna and whomever she can convince to go with her) can go tubing on the Chattahoochee. Here are some pictures from today's outing:

I think I've written before about my indefensible fondness for Brach's Chocolate Stars, which they have at Betty's Country Store (where J. and I went to get a snack after dropping Anna and Elyse off at the Helen Tubing start point):

I'm also very fond of attraction brochure racks, which they also have one of at Betty's:

After about an hour and ten minutes, we went to the bridge by the Chattahoochee to watch for Anna and Elyse. The fence underneath the bridge is festooned with "love locks," including many interestingly shaped locks, such as the fish, camel, and owl shown below:

Finally, after about an hour and a half, Anna and Elyse floated into view:

J. and I spent the next half hour or so looking around in various stores, then went and picked up Anna and Elyse at the end point. We then all went and had funnel cake or ice cream; I don't have any pictures of that, but here's a picture of downtown Helen:

Lenox with Margarette and Kristin

Today I met my friends Pearl and Kristin at the mall for lunch. Here are a few of the pictures I took while we were there:

The mall wasn't as empty as these pictures make it look. It wasn't exactly bustling, but we didn't have it all to ourselves, either. Lenox is far from the "dead mall" status that Gwinnett Place and Northlake have earned. It's doing okay; it might even be accurate to describe it as thriving.

The Air Conditioner Is Me

See this dilapidated window-unit air conditioner? Ancient, rusty, falling apart; it looks like it couldn't possibly work, doesn't it?

Well, guess what (I know I'm broadcasting this so obviously you can't possibly miss)? IT WAS RUNNING!

I encountered this air conditioner yesterday afternoon while cutting through an alley in Clayton, GA, on my way back to my car. Since I saw it from the back, I'm not sure what store or office it was cooling, but I'm sure the people inside appreciated the relief from the heat and didn't care how dilapidated the air conditioner was.

As someone who is a little dilapidated, and who sometimes feels ancient and rusty and like I'm falling apart, I'm grateful for the lesson. Whatever it is.

Drive to Clayton

Today I went on a drive up US 441 (one of my favorite roads to drive) to Clayton, GA, with the goal of walking around a mountain town I'd never been to (I've been through Clayton lots of times, but never actually stopped there) and taking pictures. (I also intended to get some lunch, but all the places in Clayton that looked good were really busy, so, sadly, I ended up getting a chicken sandwich at Burger King when I left.)

Only a little more than half an hour into the drive, I spilled coffee on myself, so I stopped at the Target in Flowery Branch to clean up and buy some more wipes. (I also bought three clearance-priced Pride shirts for J. while I was there.)

Following that unplanned detour at Target, I drove for a while longer and then made the obligatory stop at that Tallulah Falls Overlook bypass:

I walked around the Tallulah Point Overlook store, which was empty for a while but now houses a new store. While I was off of 441 and on the bypass, I went to the Georgia Power recreation area -- for the first time; I've driven right by it many times in the last few years, but for whatever reason never actually gone there -- where I took this picture:

After walking around for a while and taking a lot more pictures, I got back in the car and went to Clayton. I walked around for about two hours, going in lots of stores and taking lots of pictures, including these:

I took this through the display window of Antique Appliances, a store in Clayton that specializes in...well, you can guess what they specialize in

I took this picture inside the "Lulu & Tully Mercantile"

I took this picture inside the "Wander North Georgia" outfitters store, which is huge -- it even has a downstairs, as you can see in the picture

On the way home, I made an accidental detour through Lakemont:

I bought a piece of cake at the store shown above (which, yes, uses "shoppe" as a verb on its sign, but I won't hold that against them since the cake was good) and then went home.