BLUE JAYS

Friday evening game delay

We had a wonderful trip to Minneapolis, Alan's first time there.  We left Estevan on Thursday, May 28th in a brand new bus from Stagecoach Tours of Weyburn. That night was spent in Fargo and we drove in rain much of the way.  In the morning we were off again and arrived in the city during rush hour!  We were just so glad we weren't doing the driving as we made our way slowly to our hotel.  Soon we were off again to Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins.

We were very happy with our seats for that game as we were under cover from the rain.  The game was delayed about an hour but the end result was great as the Jays won.  Here you can see our seats right at the end of the row with fellow bus passengers ahead of us.  You might recognize Wes Hanson at the right side of the row in front of us.  They were wearing special Blue Jay hats with grey hair included!  Thanks for taking the pictures, Linda.

 Here we are in a closeup ready to enjoy our first Blue Jays game.  It was a cool evening so I was glad that I had packed a warm sweater.

Our driver, Robert from Weyburn, did so well in driving this brand new bus around this big city.  It took us a while to find our bus after this first game but after that it was easier as it was parked in the place reserved for buses and we were getting acquainted with the area.

We enjoyed two more games on Saturday and Sunday afternoons at 1:00 with no rain delays.  Now we were happy to have seats in the sunshine!  The Jays lost both those games but they were close games and could have gone either way.

On Saturday after the game several of us went to the Mall of America thanks to a shuttle service from our hotel.  I enjoyed it but did more looking than shopping. I would have preferred to have more time to shop at the mall in Minot!  I was glad to find my way back to the pickup point when 8:30 arrived!  Alan stayed back at the motel and watched another ball game on TV, no shopping for him!

We were so impressed with all the lovely trees in the city.  They had lots of rain this spring so grass and trees were lush and green.

After the game on Sunday we headed back to Fargo for the night after a stop at a Perkins restaurant in Alexandria, MN.  I want to go back to that area someday as it isn't far from Glenwood, MN where my dad was born.  It was home to the Peter and Mathilda (Munter) Stenson families.  The parents, all five of their children with spouses and children left that area and moved to Frontier in the early 1900's.  Grandma Sophie Erickson bought a Kodak camera in 1912 before they left.  Our family is blessed to have numerous pictures taken during those pioneer days as she also developed and printed the pictures.  My niece Mandy has the camera in her collection.

On Monday morning we were on our way again with a stop for a coffee break in Devils Lake and for lunch at Minot mall.  I had a quick bite to eat then made my way to Herbergers. I tried on a few dresses but they looked better on the rack than they did on me!

We all had to get off the bus and show our passports when we arrived at the Canadian customs at North Portal.  It went smoothly with no problems and soon we were at the mall in Estevan.  Our car was just as we left it and we were off to DQ for a treat before getting a few groceries and heading home to the farm.  We were glad to be living in such a quiet spot after the hustle and bustle of life in a large city.  We are both country folks!

We hadn't been home long when we helped Clare move vehicles from the land he rents almost twenty miles west of here.  With four of us it didn't take long to get those vehicles back to the farm.  Seeding was done and the next day we were blessed with 8/10 of an inch of rain.  Today was a drying day so I hope to get some garden in tomorrow.

It's great to have a holiday, but also great to be back home again after a safe trip.  Maybe we'll make this an annual trip as Alan is a faithful Blue Jays fan.  They just won two out of three games in Washington so are doing well!  Go Blue Jays.

I'm sorry to be late with my blog post.  I had some problems signing in, had to get a new password and that took longer than it should have but now I am back and will try to have another post on Sunday or Monday.  

Just a quick update on Rhett.  Here he is on a special bike that he was given from friends in Frontier.  He will remain in hospital this month with possible surgery on the 16th.  Then he will be in Saskatoon most of the summer for therapy.  He is doing well and talking lots so that is encouraging news.  He likes to be outside in his wheelchair and enjoys watching the Roughriders at their training camp close to the hospital.  Clare plans to go up for a visit this weekend.