I flew back into Boston on the evening of Tuesday 14 August and spent a somewhat sleepless night finishing off work that hadn’t got done before leaving the UK. The next morning all that remained was to move Moorglade out to Ahmet’s mooring off Winthrop YC before leaving for the airport. Unfortunately the heavens opened just as we were getting ready to dinghy ashore so it was a slightly bedraggled pair, wearing full waterproofs, who arrived at the airport to catch the flight to Minneapolis for 2 weeks with the Remedios crew and their partners.

Although we had been concerned that the storm might cause delays, the flight was uneventful and we were soon greeting Tom and loading our luggage into his car for the short trip across town to the Peterson-Gunn condo. A short walk to familiarise us with the immediate neighbourhood and buy some essential supplies, together with a lesson on how to use the coffee machine and then Peggy was home from work and Pat and Michelle had come to join us, so we all headed to Vics for an excellent evening meal.

The next day Tom and Peggy were at work so we set off to explore Minneapolis. A walk along the river front (I was surprised to discover the river was the ‘mighty’ Mississippi, although I guess that speaks volumes about my knowledge of US geography) yielded many information boards about the development of hydro electric power and the harnessing of St Anthony Falls, together with the history of the lumbar and milling industries. We had thought we might visit the Mill City Museum but as we were meeting Peggy around lunch time and hadn’t got up very early we saved that for another day and headed Downtown. We were soon lost in the Skyway, a massive elevated walkway that seemed to link most of the buildings in town without any visible signposting inside it. Eventually we made it to the Wells Fargo building and Peggy showed us her immaculate office (an example to us all). We headed out into the street, where there was an amazing farmers market in full swing. There were many stalls loaded with wonderful fruit, vegetables and the most beautiful flowers, as well as honey, soap and other products all of which were genuinely locally produced, often by the Hmong, refugees from Laos who supported the USA during the Vietnam war.

We broke our usual habit of eating local and had lunch in a British pub (Cornish pasty and chicken pie) while watching people playing bowls on the roughest green imaginable situated in the pubs roof garden. The boards on the wall indicated that there were hotly contested leagues played there. It was hard to see how any game was unaffected by chance though.

After lunch we visited the Wells Fargo museum, where we learned that the Pony Express had actually only been used for a very short period – 19 months – and not forever which was what we’d imagined. We were going to visit Tom and Peggy’s friend Cyd that evening so we headed back in time to get ready, only stopping to buy stamps at the conveniently situated Post Office.

Cyd and her son Sam entertained us royally at their home in Edina (unfortunately her husband was away on business so we didn’t meet him). Sam was able to tell us about a recent sailing trip on Lake Superior, preparing us for later in the holiday. All too soon it was time to head home and to bed.

The next day we were up early to head North to Tom and Peggy’s cabin on Blanche Lake. Minnesota is known as the state of 10,000 lakes (Tom says it’s actually 13,000 but that doesn’t sound as good!) and we certainly passed one after another on the 3 hour journey. The cabin is beautiful and the range of things to do turned out to be more than we could fit in, but after settling in (us) and opening everything up (Tom and Peggy) we headed out onto the lake in what we now know to call a pontoon boat. We had seen these on the intra-coastal and I called them lounge boats as they looked like floating sitting rooms. Indeed it was just like that as we enjoyed drinks and nibbles while motoring gently round such a beautiful stretch of water. By the time we’d drunk and nibbled to our heart’s content we were back at the dock and it was time to head for the town of Battle Lake and a delicious dinner at Stella’s. Ted ate an enormous pizza all to himself while Tom and Peggy shared one and I had pasta. Then it was up the street to Granny’s Pantry for fantastic ice cream (I think Ted was regretting all the pizza at this point). Back at the cabin we fired up and released a wish balloon, which headed inland fast, making us fear that we might have inadvertently set fire to another cabin.

First evening in Minnesota and dinner at Vics                                                                                                     The view from Tom and Peggy’s apartment

The mighty Mississippi, complete with information boards

St Anthony Falls                                                                                                                                            and the lock to bypass them

Sculptures in the Cancer Survivors garden representing the journey survivors undergo              Downtown Minneapolis

Different sorts of street vendors                                                                                                                 these ones line up outside the office buildings at lunchtime

Farmers market                                                                                                                                                       Peggy buying blueberries

An Amish tomato stall                                                                                                                                        Ted enjoys an Old Speckled Hen while bowlers contend with a less than perfect green

Wells Fargo museum piece                                                                                                                                   Relaxing back at the apartment

We join Cyd and Sam                                                                                                                                                Readying the pontoon boat

Dinner at Stellas                                                                                                                                                          followed by candy and ice cream at Granny’s Pantry

   Heres hoping we didn’t start a forest fire