The Stomp & more in Alexandria

We were excited to be back in Minnesota to spend some time with friends and family before we head south for the winter.  The weather was feeling very fall-like, so winter was definitely on our minds.  For the last several years, we have been coming to Alexandria for the Carlos Creek Winery Grape Stomp.  My brother, Jeff & his wife, Kathy live in Alex, so we drag them along and anyone else we can talk into going.  For the last 2 years, we have also gone to the Dweebs concert/dance at the winery the night before the Stomp.  Daughter, Alycia & our long-time family friend, Elena Fruci, came to stay with us and go to the festivities.

We had quite a crowd with Jeff & Kathy, their daughter, Jessi, and a number of their friends - all drinking wine, dancing and enjoying the Dweebs.

The next day, Brooke & Johnny drove up to meet us for the Stomp.  There are hundreds of vendors to look at, activities - the actual stomping and the "Lucy's" competition (people dressed up like Lucille Ball), food vendors and, of course, lots of wine drinking.

 

The next week, Ron & I played tourist in Alexandria.   We went to the Runestone Museum and Fort Alexandria.  The Runestone Museum is a small, but really well done museum in downtown Alexandria. 

This is a replica of the runestone that was discovered in 1898 by Olaf Olsson Ohman, a Swedish farmer in Kensington, Minnesota.  The carvings are dated 1362, so would be proof of the Vikings having arrived in America 100 years before Colombus.  It was fascinating to read about the controversy and how it affected the Ohman family.  I always wondered what the runes said, so here is the translation:

Front:  "8 Geats and 22 Norwegians on acquisition expedition from Vinland far west.  We had traps by 2 shelters one day's travel to the north from this stone.  We were fishing one day.  After we came home, found 10 me red with blood and dead.  Ave Maria - Deliver us from evil."

Side: " I have 10 men at the inland sea to look after our ship 14 days travel from this property. Year 1362."

The most recent studies have said that it is authentic - food for thought!

 

We went to Fort Alexandria, which is a "village" of old buildings relocated to the area.  They include a General Store, the Moe Township Schoolhouse, Stedjes Family Log home and more.  I loved the way they set up the insides of the buildings, so they looked a bit like they would have in the day.

Stedjes Family Log Home

The Moe County Schoolhouse

Inside the Church

This is the Stagecoach Station.  It had copies of old newspapers and letters from people who lived in the 1860-1870's.  I was amazed at how many of the accounts talked about mosquitos! A journalist wrote that the road from Alexandria to Osakis "Writhes in the agony of the million barbed mosquitos".  Another talked about how there were so many mosquitos flying around the laterns that they dimmed the light!

Also, on this site is a replica of a 40 foot long Viking trading ship called a "Snorri".  It was very cool!

 

Of course, we couldn't leave without paying a visit to Big Ole!

 

Next week, we will be in St. Paul for the MAHB Fall Festival, where Ron & I are Ringmasters.  We can't wait to see all of you!

 

South Dakota Gems

Continuing our trek eastward across South Dakota, we landed at Cow Creek State Recreation Area just north of the capitol city of Pierre.  Cow Creek is one of the "fingers" off of the Oahe Reservior.  It is a very popular area for all kinds of water recreation, especially fishing.  While we were there, we talked to an old friend from home, Tony Omitt.  Tony is an avid fisherman, and was talking to us from his boat as one of his buddies reeled in a nice Walleye!

It was Labor Day weekend, so the campground was full until Monday afternoon when everyone left and we had the place to ourselves.  We took Guido for walks along the lake - he still doesn't like the water, but I did get him to step his front feet in.

This was also where we filmed my ALS Ice Bucket challenge video - twice!  We are such losers with technology that we had to do it two days because we didn't know how to run the video function on my iPad - duh!

We needed some groceries one day, so we went in to Pierre.  It is a nice, small city with a beautiful capitol building with lovely grounds and a memorial park.

The park had a pathway around the lake with memorials to all of the armed services and to firefighters & policemen.  I got a kick out of the ducks laying at the feet of this memorial sculpture.

From Cow Creek, we went to another South Dakota State Park - Fisher Grove.  It is a small campground (only 22 sites) where the James River winds around so that almost every site is on the river.

Another plus - a nine hole golf course!  Ron & I had to play a round, just to prove how bad we really are!

From Fisher Grove, we came to Hartford Beach State Park on Big Stone Lake, which is on the border between South Dakota and Minnesota.  Again, it was a beautiful reservoir with two very nice campgrounds.  We were in the west campground, which was on the lake.  Most of the campsites were wooded.  The east campground overlooked the lake and had many large sites.

There were also lots of trails to hike on.  The only downside was that the mosquitos were terrible.  We had very few neighbors, but we did have a couple of visitors.

It was fun to explore a few of the South Dakota State Parks.  They were all very well kept up, clean and the people were friendly, so we will definitely go to more of them.  And, being from the land of 10,000 lakes, I did get a kick out of this sign:

 

For more info: South Dakota State Parks