Circle Back to Norske Nook

Wednesday, May 11th:

One last Great National Retirement Tour Stop – the Norske Nook in Osseo, Wisconsin. I passed it by when I was returning from South Beloit. I loaded Trudie, Jean-N, and Mary in the car (which necessitated cleaning it out) and drove the 2 hours to Osseo. Signage was sparse, but we did make it to the Norske Nook. We made a coffee and donut stop in Baldwin at Trudie’s suggestion. Excellent suggestion!

Norske Nook is so popular in this small town that it has a restaurant on one side of the street and a gift shop on the other side of the street. We went to the restaurant first. I had Norwegian pancakes (more like crepes) with lingonberries and Swedish meatballs. Jean had a meatball diner which comes with lefse as the bread. Trudie had the beef commercial, and Mary had a turkey club sandwich. We all had pie for dessert. They have a huge collection of wonderful pies.

Jean and I each bought rounds of lefse on the way out. The next morning I ate half of one round some with butter and cheese from our trip and some with peanut butter. Their lefse is the best I have had since Grandma died.

We all walked across the street to the gift shop. I bought a krumkake wood form for rolling it, and a coloring book of Norwegian culture. They didn’t have a good cheese shovel.

Then we headed back toward Saint Paul with a planned stop at Cady Cheese first. Cady is a cheese maker near Wilson, Wisconsin – really out in the country! Everyone found something to like there. I found Butterkässe – as did Trudie. All of us found squeaky cheese curds – made fresh that day. I found a cheese shovel that worked fairly well.

It was raining the whole time we were at Cady Cheese and rained the whole way home. It was surprisingly kind of a pleasant rain experience. And I can’t think of anything I would rant have done on a gray, rainy day.

Started Camper Cleaning

Saturday, May 7th:

Washed the camper exterior. It looks a lot like scrubbing a kitchen floor. I even used Lysol, but didn’t get all the dirt off. The top of the camper is a bumpy fiberglass covering where dirt hides in little nooks and crannies. Maybe one more scrub down before I put it away. Also laundered my sleeping bag – and did it ever need a good laundering!

Finished Season 3 of the Miss Fisher murder mysteries. I feel like a good friend has left me. Dear Every Cloud Productions, please bring back a Season 4 of Miss Fisher.

Wrote the ending reflection on my whole trip for the blog, but did not load it up. I want to get it right before I put it out there.

Driver's License Renewed; Car Cleaned

Tuesday, April 26th:

Got dolled up and went to Sears to get a new driver’s license. Mine expired last week on the day I arrived back home. Then went back home to do cleaning. I vacuumed the car – which was filthy after 4 months on the road. Also washed the interior hard surfaces with scrubbing bubbles. Much improved even if not all cleared out yet. Still slowly removing stuff from the car. And still finding souvenir gifts for my family and friends.

I am still trying to locate things I left behind, like the keys to my post office box and my check blanks. Oh, and the key to the garage. One day.

My friends Mary Krueger and Trudie Ellsworth took me out to Ward 6 for Sunday brunch. We had some great food and a wonderful time (helped along no doubt by the adult milkshakes) until Bob kicked us out. This place is just too popular!

The Purple Prince is Dead

Thursday, April 21st:

Slept for 3 days straight. Got the accumulation of almost 4 months’ worth of mail handled – which mostly means thrown away. Lots of financial mailings to go thru. Went to several banks to start work on reconciling all my bank accounts, which I did not do while I was on the road.

Prince (the singer/songwriter of Purple Rain fame) died today. A lot of Minnesotans were gathering out at Paisley Park or at First Avenue nightclub. Kelly and I drove over to the I-35W bridge to take purple photos – including several of me wearing my raspberry berry that I really did buy at a second-hand store. But I bought mine when Prince was still in junior high school. I will now always think of Prince when I think about my trip. The two events are forever entwined.

Day 96: Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety, Jig

Day 96, Tuesday: My birthday and it seems fitting and memorable that the Great National Retirement Tour should end on my birthday. This day will be the birth of a totally new phase of my life. I have seen a lot of places, things, and people. I have enjoyed almost all of it. There are some places I have always wanted to see that I have now seen and I am done. There are some places that I have just scratched the surface, and I want to return. There are some friendly old haunts that I loved returning to.

I have met, re-met, and re-connected with so many people; some have been a wonderful surprise and a few (OK just one) have been a disappointment.

This is also a good day to end my trip because my driver’s license expires today.

I woke up this morning, packed up, had breakfast that David made, packed the car, hooked it to the camper with David’s help, said good-bye to LuAnne and David, and left. Well, almost. When I got to the gas station, I realized I had left my money behind. But then I was on the road again. The last leg of my journey. I am sad!

Stopped at an A&W in Windsor, Wisconsin – just west of Madison – for a rootbeer float and fried cheese curds. And some photos!

Then, because Brent had mentioned wanting to go there for a vacation, I stopped in Wisconsin Dells to pick up some brochures to send to him and Autumn. Plus a few last post cards. Where were these tourist items, you ask? Why, at Walgreens. I went to Applebees for lunch (truly horrible), and to write those last few post cards. And where was the mail box, you ask? Why, right outside Walgreens. Soon, they will have 24-hour staffed visitor information centers. Just my joke.

I skipped Norske Nook and drove straight thru to Saint Paul, but vowed to return soon. I arrived home at 6 pm with a grand total of 10,543 miles on my car for the entire trip. I got a grocery bag and filled it up with the mail order catalogs I have received in the past 4 months and then went to sleep at 7 pm. Happy but tired!

Day Two in South Beloit

Monday: LuAnne took the day off work and we went to the Rock River to walk on their promenade with the three dogs, who were extremely excited to be able to get outdoors for a walk. The park itself, where Turtle Creek comes into the Rock River, is just lovely. They have created a back pond with fountains, rock formations, and a lot of benches and trees. Separated by the walking path and some trees in the Rock River just to the west of this pond. The dogs loved the whole experience and Nana didn't even try to bite me. I took lots of photos.

We brought the panting dogs home and then went to Wickus landscaping empire in rural Beloit, Wisconsin to look at some Norway Pines. LuAnne bought two for their yard and I bought a Becky daisy to plant in my garden when I get back to Saint Paul. We took some scenic back country roads on the way home.

Back at the homestead, LuAnne wanted to sit on the back porch and figure out where to plant the Norway Pines. And to place the 4 perennials where she wanted them. This turned into a lovely afternoon of enjoying the sun, the wind, good company, and some cool water. I wrote in my journal, and took another photo of the three of us. I gave them the French macarons from Bennisons and we ate some of them. David put his wood chipper together, after which we took an inspection tour of the rear garden. It is all poking out of the earth, but not quite announcing what it is yet.

After an early dinner of fried chicken, we binge-watched more “Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries.” LuAnne has given me a new obsession!

Stockholm Inn, Gardening, and Murder

Sunday: the first full day at LuAnne and David's house in South Beloit. We decided to go out to Sunday brunch at the Stockholm Inn in Rockford at Leah's suggestion. So we got LuAnne's car out of the garage (quite a feat since it was blocked in) and headed to Rockford.

The StockholmInn is right next to the Swedish American Medical Center and has a large gift shop with a whole bunch of Scandinavian stuff for sale - Dalarna horses, ginger snaps, Ricka, Dicka, Flicka books, etc. There are also 3 different dining rooms, two of which were full. They had a Sunday brunch buffet with some American breakfast stuff, but also Swedish pancakes with lingon berries, Swedish meatballs, and scalloped apples. We ate well. The Swedish pancakes were delightful.
We drove back home, taking a detour to Home Depot to purchase potted violas and daffodils. LuAnne & I planted them in the front yard when we got back, which was almost like real work. When that job was finished, we went inside to rest up and rehydrate.

At this point, LuAnne came up with the brilliantly inspired idea to binge watch "Miss Fletcher's Murder Mysteries" series. Which we did until almost midnight. The series is set in the 1920s in Australia and I just loved the costumes and the manners of the people of that time. Everyone was just so civilized, and I want half of her costumes. Plus Miss Fisher's role as detective allowed the producers to set the action in a wide variety of places with all strata of society. And, as LuAnne said, Miss Fisher herself was totally fearless - a wonderful trait in a post-Victorian woman. A very well-done television series! In the midst of our binge, we ordered an excellent pizza with the works for dinner. I forgot to ask where it was from.

We both worked a little on our computers. I finished my blog posts up thru arriving in South Beloit. I can't believe I have gotten this far. A week ago I was very seriously behind.