St. Paul

At long last, we were off on our vacation. Other than one day over Christmas, I hadn’t taken a leave day since last August. It’s not ideal planning when it comes to vacation days but that’s just how it worked out. I won’t be repeating that this coming fiscal year. 

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Our route to the US was similar to what it normally is. Often when traveling during the summer, we stop in the Netherlands to see friends for a couple of days. This year it didn’t work out and we carried directly to Minneapolis/St. Paul where we stay with our friend Kathy for a couple of days. She usually is subjected to the effects of our jet lag but, at least heading east to west, we tend to get over it relatively quickly.

We arrived to perfect weather and we took advantage of it. We did get some downpours here and there but we quite enjoy that as well. We were told that there had been some record-setting precipitation and a considerable amount of flooding. We would see evidence of it throughout the time that we were there.

lots of flooding

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Staying with Kathy is wonderfully low-key. Though we usually do some sort of activity each day, it’s normally just a time to relax, chat and unwind at the start of the holiday. In the wintertime, we often spend time out in the snow, regardless of the temperature. In the summer, it’s croquet in the front yard, walks around the neighborhood, occasionally attending some sort of outdoor music event. This year we tried something a bit different.

nice urban location for a ballpark

In the past we’ve discussed the idea of attending a baseball game but it hasn’t ever worked out. It’s not that we’re baseball fans. My family, having grown up outside the US, know very little about the sport. We did attend a minor league game in Louisville a few years ago, but that’s it. They don’t know the rules and it was more about the social outing with family.

This year, the schedule worked out such that we were able to catch a St. Paul Saints AAA game. Though the major league team, the Minnesota Twins, are just next door in Minneapolis, a minor league game has its own appeal. In addition to being logistically easier and cheaper, it’s a lot of fun. Minor league teams don’t have the draw of famous athletes so they compensate by throwing a lot of energy into entertainment. There’s always something going on (sometimes too much) and I get the impression that a lot of people who attend don’t really watch much baseball at all. They sit and chat, eat snacks, enjoy the frequent games and so forth that are inserted between every half inning. They see baseball but they don’t really watch it.

happened to catch this photo of the first home run of the game

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After a couple of days, it was time to load up and head to southern Indiana. Though we normally would do this by airplane, the last couple of years we have opted to drive to save a bit of money. It’s not ideal, but it’s okay. While we don’t mind having an American road trip, the nearly ten-hour drive wears me out. It was compounded by the fact that we would be following this drive with another drive of about the same distance when we would go to North Carolina. And back. And then back to St. Paul. Over 50 hours of driving during the three weeks that we were there. Ugh. Likely won’t do that again.