Day 8-10 – Minneapolis/St Paul - Crosslake - October 14, 2018
In the evening the ship took us to the Grand Ole Opry. It was great. Our seats were row “x.” I bet you can guess that was in the nose bleed section, in fact it was the very last row in the auditorium. Even so, the show was great and they had huge screens that we could view. The sound was fantastic no matter where you sat so a great ending to our trip. The weather has been perfect the entire week but the weather going to Minneapolis would have been rain every day. It all worked out.
Marcy came to pick us up to take us to the airport, and we had a fun morning with them. We sort of had planned lunch but what to do for two hours before? There was a huge mall across from the ship, so we decided to mall walk even though it didn’t open for another hour. Again everything worked out. Jed loved window shopping in all the kid friendly store fronts, and we had no problem with “don’t touch’ because the store wasn’t open. Again perfect!
Our flight to MN was uneventful. We reached our hotel just in time for happy hour where the drinks flowed with all the popcorn, chips and dip you could eat. There was a Viking game on Sunday the place was hopping. Fun!
Sunday morning we went to church at the Cathedral of St. Paul. It is on the top ten things to see in St. Paul and I can certainly see why. It would rival any cathedral we visited in Europe. The pipe organ and acoustics were amazing. Of all the cathedrals we have visited over the years, we have never actually attended mass. This service was complete with nine altar servers, two priests and a deacon. Very different than Florida.
Then we ate lunch at the St. Paul Hotel, another top ten. Gorgeous! We ate there because it was one of the places the mob hung out. One can see why being in the mob was so attractive; an endless supply of money and fantastic places to enjoy. My grandmother most likely ate there herself. She left the farm and my farming grandfather for the big city life of the gangsters.
Then we headed out to Lakewood Cemetery where my grandmother, Wilma Tew Peterson, is buried. I had previously found her grave on the cemetery map, thank goodness. I also had a photo from the cemetery of her actual stone. There is a map of the entire cemetery and a map of each section. There are over 100 sections and not exaggerating, thousands of tomb stones. We searched but couldn’t find her grave. We stopped in the chapel and were told about an app for the grounds. With the app leading the way and the section map, we were able to find her grave. It was snowing so very appropriate day to visit her. Now every Sunday when I pray for her, I know she is resting is a beautiful place with perfectly kept grounds. Flowers were not allowed so I brought a photo of my dad, her son, wrapped in plastic. I also brought a paper origami flower made of sheet music. I thought it was perfect. She taught my Dad to play piano, and my Dad gave me the gift of music. Since piano is still such a major part of my life, I couldn’t think of a better thing to bring. I lifted the sod around her stone and placed the photo and flower under the sod. I told her she should be very proud of her son. He was a great man. This was definitely on my bucket list for my visit to Minneapolis.
“The place you have left forever is always there for you to see whenever you shut your eyes.” – Jan Myrdal
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