Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Carol's Visit!!!

Our buddy Carol came up from Fairfield for a visit this week.  It was a SHORT one, but it was a BUSY one!

She got here on Monday afternoon, and had barely set her stuff down, and we were on our way to my school.  She hadn't seen it before, so I wanted to give her a tour. 

She's teaching a "library skills" class to 7th graders this coming school year, so we looked through some of my 6th grade lesson plans to see if any of it would work.  She found a few things that will, and I e-mailed a BUNCH of other files for her to look at as well.

After the school tour, we went on the GREAT CURTAIN HUNT OF 2010!  We looked at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.  We looked at Kohls (not realizing Kohls doesn't HAVE curtains!).  We looked at IKEA.  IKEA had a couple of possibilities, but we didn't purchase anything at this point...in case we found other places to look.

After IKEA we came back to my place and Duane joined us.  We headed to Pardon My French for dinner.  It was Monday, so they had hachis paramentier (a French shepherd's pie).  It was fabulous, and we had an AWESOME time chatting.

After dinner we cruised Target, had gelato at Ring Mountatin, then came back to my place, and hung out until bedtime (being exhausted after our shopping adventure earlier in the day!).

Yesterday, we got up, got ready, headed to Brueggers for breakfast, then drove to Taylor's Falls for the day.  Taylor's Falls is one of Duane's favorite "get aways" from the cities.  It's about an hours drive north of St. Paul, and is a really beautiful, woodsy park.

We toured the "potholes" in the park, went on a paddlewheel boat ride (in the rain, but it was still fun!), and ate lunch at "The Drive In".  Here are some shots of our adventures!













They've got tickets to ride...!



The paddlewheels on the boat

Can you see the "old man of the falls"???


The Drive In!


My corn dog and deep fried green beans...YUM!

The homemade root beer is AMAZING!!!!

Duane's corn dog and "crinkle cut" fries

Don't MESS with Carol's corn dog!!!

After lunch, we headed back to the cities, but made a quick stop in Stillwater to check out a couple of shops, and for a photo op on the "bucking bronco"!!!!


We also stopped at Trader Joe's on the way home.  Carol had never been, and, since Duane and I LOVE LOVE LOVE Trader Joes (and I was on my last jar of peanut butter!), HAD to show Carol how COMPLETELY FABULOUS it is!

When we got back to my place, we chilled for a little while, then went back to IKEA so Carol could buy her curtains (...and a couple of sets of towels...and napkins to go with her Fiestaware...and a bathroom rug...and...)! 

The rest of the evening was spent at my place, recovering from the day, eating Greek pizza, and watching a couple of episodes of Six Feet Under; Season 1.

Today, Carol got up, got ready, and was on the road by 8:00.  It was a QUICK trip, but it was GREAT to see her, and she was able to check a few things off her "redecorating" list.  I can't WAIT to see the updates on my next trip to Iowa!

Here's hoping YOU were able to spend time with dear friends recently, and that YOU were able to take time off from "real life" to have a fun adventure too!!!

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