Blue & green in Minnesota

Once at the end of June and then again at the beginning of July, we were on the outskirts of Minneapolis. In June we were there for a job, and in July, we were passing through, although I can't remember where we came from or where we were going. This is a common occurrence out here on the road :) Anyway, we were in areas with beautiful outdoor spaces; here is the proof:

After some digging, I see that this last picture was taken in Wisconsin, not Minnesota. I'll allow it :) 

A happy Saturday

Other than a handful of trips to Atlanta, this has been a Midwest spring and summer for us: we've been ping-ponging between Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota since April. Before then, we'd never been to Wisconsin at all, and we'd only driven through a corner of Minnesota. We'd logged a good number of miles driving to and from the home office in Illinois, but usually without any extra time for exploring. So, we've seen lots of new places these last few months, like... St Charles, IL.

This was such a fun city to visit! Our job here spanned a weekend, so we were able to roam around without feeling rushed, although there's lots that we missed and neither of us will be upset if we're ever called back.

Stop 1: Primrose Farm

We began by spending some time with the ladies in the Jersey barn and then witnessed a rumble between two Columbian Wyandottes outside the hen house. We also said good morning to a herd of Shropshire sheep, two Nigerian dwarf goats and a pair on miniature donkeys, none of which were very interested in posing for pictures :) 

Stop 2: Oberweis Ice Cream & Dairy Store

Ice cream for breakfast! That is lemon blackberry and coffee in a waffle cone for me, and a lemon blackberry shake for Jan Michael. We had the whole shop to ourselves, based entirely, I'm sure, on the assumption that the rest of the county was making much wiser food choices :) But! We would do it again in a heartbeat! 

Stop 3: Mt. St. Mary Park

Here we burned off approximately 1/1000th of our breakfast calories by taking a lovely walk in the rain. The park is full of sculptures, some temporary and some permanent; Mr. Eggwards was our favorite of them all :)