August 19, 2013
Yes, we ARE alive and well! Since my last posting we have
traveled from Point Peninsula, NY to Minneapolis, MN and on to Duluth, MN. We
left Point Peninsula on Friday August 9th and arrived in St Paul, MN
in only 3 short days, which would have been shorter had we not been held up in
the Chicago, even on a Sunday. At least we saw the Sears Tower (not named that
anymore), and we saw it and saw it and saw it! Note to self – next time we travel
through Chicago…..don’t; instead, take the extra time and travel around it.
Arrangements had been made for us to stay at the St. Paul East RV Park in
Woodbury, MN, which was located out in the country, near to the highway and
only 20 minutes from the Mall of America! Since my Verizon smart phone was not
performing properly, I absolutely had to visit the Verizon store at the mall.
Did I check to see if there were any other stores closer? Heck no, why would I
do that?! In a word….incredible! For those of you who have never visited the
mall, there is a small amusement park located in the center of this 4 wall, 4
story complex.
Tuesday, August 13th we visited the Shriners Hospital
for Children® - Twin Cities in Minneapolis at 2 pm followed by refreshments and
an opportunity to meet the staff. The layout of this 1991 rebuilt hospital
mimics that of the Springfield Hospital as the same architect was used. The
original hospital was opened in 1924 and situated near the river in a beautiful
country setting; the wards for the girls and boys were separated by the nurses’
station. (Almost sounds like a dorm or Catholic school from back in the day,
doesn’t it?) Hospital Administrator Charles Lobeck, was our tour guide of this
beautiful facility.
The next day, Mat-Sha Temple No. 62 had their Official
Visit, honoring the Supreme Queen and initiating 6 new members. Congratulations
Queen Sara and the members – great job!! We couldn’t have been treated any
nicer by these wonderful ladies beginning with a cookout after the hospital
visit at PQ Heather Lambert’s home, and the banquet following the Ceremonial.
Oh! And a special treat was that Past Supreme Queen Suzie Schumacher and Bill
Risk, husband of the Supreme Queen both flew in to spend a few days traveling
with us!
Bright and early on Thursday, the 15th we set off
for the 3 hr drive to Duluth with Queen Sara as our traveling guest. At a stop
in Hinckley, MN I noticed and mentioned to Sara that the color of the dirt was
much redder than in the Minneapolis area. Sara explained to me that the
northern portion of Minnesota is a huge iron ore mining region and that after
mined, the iron pellets called taconite are sent by rail to Duluth, loaded on
freighters and shipped to steel mills to be processed into steel. The native
Americans named this area “Mesabi” due to the color of the earth when
discovered.
Past Queen Darlene Carlson, graciously, invited us to park
Nila in her driveway during our stay in the Duluth area. I can’t tell you how
absolutely wonderful this was! We all so enjoyed spending time with her, she
transported us where we needed to be, opened her home to the five of us and
Mollie got to play with her two four footed pals, Windsor the border collie and
Bentley the collie. Mollie was somewhat confused with the border collie as
Windsor kept trying to herd Mollie in; it was really quite comical to watch.
August 15th – August 17th the Midwest Shrine Association
held its annual field days in Duluth. When we arrived in town, we went directly
to a ladies brunch followed by a train ride up the North Shore of Lake
Superior. The Shrine parade was held that evening in Superior, WI, located just
over the Blatnik Bridge which connects the two cities and states. Nila made her
second parade appearance just behind the “Hiking Vikings”, a unit from Lotus
Temple No. 7, Daughters of the Nile, two
convertibles transporting the Supreme Queen, Past Supreme Queen, Queen Sara and
Queen Linda and just ahead of the color guard. It was fantastic! The “Hiking
Vikings” unit is very active within the local communities and based on the
cheers from the crowd along the parade route are very well received. The city
of Duluth is a major shipping port on Lake Superior, the largest of the Great
Lakes. On Friday, we attended an MSA ladies luncheon on the Duluth waterfront.
The fantastic meal was followed with the comedy singing act of “Tina and Lena”,
Minnesota best friends since high school duo, who had us in stitches the entire
time that they performed. OMG, they were hilarious! Tina and Lena started their
act 30 years ago and take it on the road for more than 100 days per year. Friday
evening found us at a Shrine-A-Rama Pardi Gras where many of the patrons were
dressed in Mardi Gras attire. There, we were entertained with a swim suit
fashion show. Guys, this was not a fashion show in the normal sense, no indeed.
The show was organized by the Hiking Vikings and the models were members of AAD
Shrine, including the current Potentate who dressed up for the occasion in a
wedding style swimsuit. These guys really knew how to ham it up and raised in
excess of $1800.00 for the hospitals. You go guys!! Saturday morning we set off
for Proctor, MN a short 8 mile journey to star in another parade. The city of
Proctor was celebrating their annual Hog Head Days so the parade was a joint
effort of the Shriners and the local groups and clubs. Again, Nila fell in
behind the Hiking Vikings followed by the Queens and the color guard. The
streets were lined with spectators for the 1.5 mile long parade. The weather
couldn’t have been better for a parade; mid-seventies with a beautiful breeze,
awesome! Saturday evening we went to this really neat pizza place in Superior
which our host Darlene has been going to for better than 40 years. It’s great
to spend time with the locals; they know all the best places to patronize!
Thank you Dar. Sunday, it was back to work. We attended the Official Visit of
Lotus Temple No. 7 where one new member was initiated. The ceremonial and
banquet was held at the historic Scottish Rite building in downtown Duluth.
This building is beautiful as are many of the old Masonic buildings. It’s rich
in history, architecture and design. The ladies and officers of Lotus performed
their ritual work like a well-oiled machine….no glitches, no break in the action…beautiful!
Here we are, Monday morning, August 19, 2013, on our way to
Marquette, MI to visit Nefretete Temple No. 110, Daughters of the Nile. We were
on the road at 3 am for the 5-6 hour drive and 1 hour time zone change. More to
come later, stay tuned……
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