Things started okay. We woke up whenever we woke up which, no surprise, was 7:00 a.m. We both tried to go back to sleep but finally gave up and headed out the door to the farmer's market.
That's when things went south. It was freezing outside! Now mind you today is June 10th. June 10! Despite the fact that it is June, our morning walk in fifty degree weather to market and back home left us having to take turns carrying the produce so that the other person could warm their hands up in their pockets. Our ears were freezing and throbbing and we were becoming two very upset individuals. It is summer. Summer!!! 50 degrees in June. Have I made myself clear?!?
By the time we made it back home from the market we had decided that we would not be going on a picnic or be lying in any sun or hiking up any hills. It was way too cold. We were, honestly, bummed. JB only gets one day off per week and this was one week that it fell on a weekend, when I have a day off. He'll be back in the hospital first thing tomorrow morning.
So we decided to take our lemons and make lemonade! What could we do that was fun, that we hadn't done before, that wouldn't cost a lot of money ... JB scoured the internet and we came up with it -- Fort Snelling. While still partially outside, this fort offered enough indoor places to stop us from getting too cold. So we packed a few oranges and the camera and headed to St. Paul Minnesota, a little over an hour from Rochester.
Fort Snelling is a fantastic place. A quick history: The United States gained control over the Upper Mississippi Valley through the Revolutionary War with Great Britain and later the Louisiana Purchase from France. This vast territory inhabited by fur traders and Indians still loyal to the British in Canada lay well beyond American settlement. After the War of 1812, the government took physical possession of the valuable Northwest frontier by establishing a chain of Indian agencies and supporting forts from Lake Michigan to the Missouri River. These outposts denied non-citizens commercial use of American rivers. British control of the rich fur trade ended. The United States Army kept American Indian lands free of white encroachment until appropriate treaties were signed, apprehended outlaws, and protected law-abiding travelers and traders.
We spent about two hours touring the old Fort. One of the most interesting (or would you call it disturbing facts): enlisted men slept 12 to a room in 3 sets of bunk beds. Now if you add right, you realize that is 6 beds. They slept 2 to a bed! Yikes! This was difficult to comprehend especially when they allowed the visitors to try it and you realized how impossible this feat would be on a bed that was only six foot long when you and your "bunk mate" were both 6'3". In addition, the last log went on the fire at 9:00 p.m. meaning those rooms grew very cold in the winter.
The entire experience included actors, dressed in the clothes of the era. The town doctor gave us a long lecture of how he went about amputating without medication and how he had no idea what germs were or why he would need to wash his hands or clean off his used instruments. It was therefore no surprise that the infant mortality rate was so high.
We cut our tour short due to JB not feeling very well. I have to say that ever since he started on this new schedule, he has not quite seemed himself, and I have been a little worried about him. He sleep is so screwy, his eating is very "whatever the cafeteria is serving", and he's not able to create any sort of routine for himself. Now I know people do these kind of schedules all the time, but for John to say he wants to leave because he doesn't feel well is not at all usual.
Thinking some food might help him feel better, JB took me to a very hip Thai place in downtown St. Paul that he had found on the internet before we left home. It was fabulous. However, we soon realized that the restaurant was right in the middle of a building with condos above it. We both agreed that we should never move into a building with a restaurant in it, especially one as good as this one, only a few steps below us. That is just asking for trouble!
We are now at home. John is taking a hot bath and then plans to go to bed, probably before 8:00 to try to catch up on his sleep. I may be working tomorrow. Next weekend is our eighth wedding anniversary. Since JB finishes his one rotation on Thursday and doesn't start his next rotation until Monday, he actually has 3 days off so we are going to go to South Dakota and see Mount Rushmore!!! So I may have to work tomorrow in order to put in some extra time and possibly take Friday morning off at Mayo. RLS closes at 1:00 on Fridays in the Summer so I can work extra hours with them Monday through Thursday and get Friday afternoon off. We are excited about this.
Shortly after we get back, my dad will be coming into town which I am very excited about. He is taking nearly a month and traveling the country this summer, watching games in different baseball parks around the eastern U.S. I spoke with him on the phone today. He is currently near Atlanta. He plans to hit DC, Philadelphia, and Boston before arriving in Chicago and spending some time with his siblings and mother. My brother and his girlfriend will also be in Chicago around June 25th for a Huisman family picnic. We want to go to this, but JB said he isn't sure he wants to make the Chicago drive again. (It's not a fun one.)
Tomorrow, I promise, I will share my new book recommendation blog as promised.
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