ALONG THE RIVER, MORE OF WABASHA, MINNESOTA

More of Lower Minnesota!!  I could not get pictures moved from our new phones to the computer. It is principally the same, but some setting must have been wrong. I tried for days before I succeeded. Gary asked if I made notes of "How to".  Didn't take the time, too many things for my hands all at once. I may regret it. We'll see!!
If I had taken the camera rather than just phones for pictures!! Next time I will take more effort!!

Today, Memorial Day, we had planned to picnic with Ben, but he text this morning and said how about next weekend as it's too hot. It is supposed to hit more than 100 degrees today. It was 88 before noon.  So I know what we will be eating all week, picnic! But as always our plans are very, very flexible!  Our campground cleared out early today as I think that they all picnic-ed the past two days. But we did get pictures of the PARADE back home from this morning -

This is Salem's Cubscouts, Troop 2.
Our grandson is the driver. This tractor is he and his dad's
summer fun.  They already have the garden in, though
Richard feels it is late!

The parade along State St. 

Thanks Pastor Pete for this picture!!

So back a week or so to our trip when we were in Wabasha, MN we also toured the Eagle Learning Center which I had not shared with you. So here goes again!

Looking from their balcony along the Mississippi River.

Looking from their balcony the opposite direction.
Beautiful scenery!

There were two school buses of children who arrived right after we did. So it was noisy! We did not take too long to look around so we would not be in their way.  The Center had a learning classroom for them and there were so many displays that were explained to them. The rotunda and it's binoculars was awesome!

There was a separate room for live birds who had been captured because of injuries and nursed back to health. However, they are not good enough to be back in the wild.

From there we went on to the displays of stuffed, etc. The real thing, but not live!

Another room was full of art work !!

Gary went to the Shop first!!

 Then went to Antiques shops too.  These items are for my daughter-in-law with the farm house to look at for decorating. Not my interest. 

Then on to another, more to my liking and I bought here!  I have to be careful as they have to fit in the motorhome for the rest of our summer on the road.  

I already have five extra boxes going with us for gifts back home!! So it is getting crowded!

Take care and maybe we will get out again tomorrow.

LOWER MINNESOTA'S MISSISSIPPI RIVER AREA

We've just been putting about!! You know our love for Thrift and Antiques shops, so we've incorporated that with our trips to AT&T, Batteries Plus and Walmart when we need something. Our Hotspot for the computer bit the dust. At first we thought it was just a battery, but our trip in to Apple Valley MN twice did not solve the problem. So now we need to take the new battery back.
The AT&T store in Hastings MN solved the problem after selling us a new Hotspot.
Ben also took us to get new phones, so this is a learning process.  Gary is making a list of what he needs help with. I'm sure that Ben will hide when he sees us coming.
Speaking of Ben, he has been working in Fargo ND this week and we have not heard from him though it is Saturday. So don't know if they have come back home yet, or if he just crashed when he got home.  I thought we would picnic some time, but who knows. I need to make potato salad and deviled eggs to be ready??

On Tuesday, May 22nd,  we took a jaunt down along the Mississippi River to Wabasha MN 

Trains, trains, trains all along the River.

We had never been there before. It is right along the Mississippi.  Very interesting little community and we would love to go back.

Note the claim on the bottom of the sign!

 Highway 61 cuts through the town and we loved the bridge crossing through the city, across the river into Wisconsin.

Highway as it goes across the River.

Wrong day for this Restaurant! Looked interesting though.

But time for lunch, so we stopped in Silver Star Saloon downtown. Just took a chance, but found the food to be great!!  We are sure that we will head back to Wabasha just for another stop there for lunch!!

As we returned to Treasure Island RV Park, back along the River, we took some pictures when in the Peppin Lake area. The Mississippi had at one time been dammed up in this area making a lake. 

This was one of many marinas.

 

 It was a fun day!  And the two times that we traveled to Hastings MN, the opposite direction along the river from our park, we enjoyed that also.

We just heard from Ben, so will close this now and head into Farmington MN to meet him for lunch.
Take care and have a great Memorial Day.

MITCHELL PREHISTORIC INDIAN VILLAGE - SOUTH DAKOTA

Our last day in Mitchell, May 15th
The Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village was our opportunity to travel back in time nearly 1000 years  and walk in the footsteps of the Mandan, the tribe that Lewis and Clark encountered in the winter of 1804.
Live digs and Archaeology studies are scheduled throughout the summer. So the best that we got was a movie and a tour guide who shared his knowledge  of the indoor archaeological dig in the comfort of the Thomasen Center Archeodome with us. This included a walk through a replica earth lodge.  He was very informative.

In 1910 a local professor happened upon this area and suspected what was under ground. He shared this information with other educators in the area and it then became unearthed history of at least 1000 years ago. Since we were not there when there were students working in the digs, I will show you some pictures that I took from their movie showing other times.

Our first walk through was to see the replica of the community and a replica of their living quarters which housed as many as four generations of a family in one lodge. Take a close look of the inside of those quarters with the opening in the roof for the fire smoke to go out.

Because they suspected that the community housing was
on higher ground, the bison was not a risk to them
but was available to them for food and to make
tools for household, agriculture, and hunting game.

Replica of an earth lodge that you see in the previous
picture. They sure put the forest to many uses. I guess
I missed taking a picture of the one cot that did not have
any robes covering it. 

 The guide mentioned that the children slept on the ground floor leaving the beds against inner walls for the oldest of the families to keep them away from the cold. I thought that the ground floor might be more comfortable than the beds made from logs!! They did not indicate that any mattress was made from husk or grass at that time.???

The dark areas on the wall behind Gary is repairs that
have been done on this replica since it was first built.
And you could see where newer cracks are appearing.
The walls were about two feet thick, using small trees,
saplings, grasses and sod. 

 I wonder why the more recent American Indians used teepees? Unless that would be so they could move when needed to find a new supply of food. And to get away from their enemy tribes.
The Mandans were here much earlier having come from Asia across the straight to Alaska many years before the Indians that we found here when the pilgrims arrived.
Following are pictures of tools that were made from animal bones and hides and trees. I won't take the time to explain them all, but you can check them out.

Storage below ground for food. It was moved from time
to time to another pit to keep it fresh (?)

Bison, that many bones were taken from for tools.

I believe they called this a scapula which was
used for a cultivating tool.

They also had many dogs that were used for work
and for food.

 The rest of the pictures were taken from the bridge around the inside of the building where one could look down upon the digs. The orange string marking off the digging sights is the method they use for documenting each  item they find so they can study them and label them after cleaning them.

We sure where tired after this tour, and hungry!! So we stopped at Pizza Ranch Buffet which we had been wanting to try.  Needless to say, we again ate too much. So we play the feast and famine game!!