A visit with the Reschke's... bittersweet.... Memorial tomorrow!

We had lunch here in our hotel...Fun walking through the hotel as they have so many differently decorated Christmas Trees.  Right outside the cafe, they had this tree decorated with two large peacocks... and their feathers trailing down the tree... was beautiful!

 

So after our meal, we left for Wayzata, that's where Jackies parents are and where she grew up.  As we traveled, we crossed a frozen Mississippi River, then, a few miles further, started to circumnavigate Lake Minnetonka... Didn't mean to circumnavigate quite as much as we did, but that's what going West instead of East can do to one travelling!  Lake was frozen... but, there weren't very many permanent little fishing shacks set up.  Not sure if it just hadn't been frozen long enough or if it's not as popular as in years past.  Looking across the lake, it was just pure, pristine snow covering the ice.  Very, very pretty!
 

Okay, the  next pic is not of the Lake.... Just what the countryside looks like... a Postcard for sure!

So, Jackie's dad is a super wood craftsman and a car buff.  He rebuilt this 1913 Overland.  He bought different pieces from different places... everything original.., cept for the tires rims... He could not find any, so, he built the wooden rims you see here.  I mean, the craftmanship.... unbelieveable.  Words don't do it justice. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's still Christmas in St Paul!!!!!

We arrived in Minneapolis Wednesday evening, picked up Halley and headed back to the St Paul Hotel to celebrate some of the holiday with Halley.  We had tickets for the musical 'Elf' the next day and it sounded like fun to stay somewhere new... plus the theater was less than a block away.
Woke up and had Halley's presents all wrapped and ready for her.  We ordered a special treat: room service!  While waiting for it to arrive, Halley had fun opening her treasures!  Just about the time she was done, breakfast came!


Walked over to the theater... had great seats!  The show, it was so good and the actor playing Buddy... well, he had a set of lungs and set of legs that could sing and dance... full of energy... like the best on Broadway.  The story-line was cute... different than the movie... but along the same lines of the movie.  Fun, Fun, Fun!!!!! The best part, though, is when the show was over... we walked outside.... and.... it was snowing!!!! We walked around... checked out the ice skating rink (no, we didn't ice skate... just checked it out)... took pics,,, and then headed back in for a while.  Went back out for dinner, and the lights in the park were even more gorgeous!  I sure wish we had weather like this in our little burg...  

After the show, we  were greeted with snow!  We meandered through Rice Park as we headed back to the hotel... very, very serene and, yes, very, very cold... 

 

 

 

 

Evening, even prettier... should've uploaded a clearer pic, but you get the idea! 

 

Christmas Tree in the Lobby! 

 

High Line Explore and a Birthday Dinner... oh, and Jillian just saw Billy Ray Cyrus... He's staying in our building too!

My gosh, one lazy morning after the other... and this was no exception!  love, love, love it!  This has been a great trip... we were excited to get here, and now we're excited to get home!  But, don't let me get ahead of myself...
Today started with fresh Starbucks and Morning Buns.  Jerry made a run bright and early for the birthday girl... Love that guy!
Eventually we started out and wanted to check out High Line.  The High Line is a public park built on an historic freight rail line elevated above the streets on Manhattan’s West Side... that's about the only way I can describe it.  Before we got there, those we stopped at a couple different geocaches... the last one, you see the picture with Jerry, we were trying to be sneaky as we were searching... so I  was taking his pic to disguise what was going one.  Was fun, cuz while we were signing the log, a couple saw us and figured out what we were doing, cuz they had the same coordinates... They were from Sweden and also were doing geocaches! 
Back to our original mission, we ended up checking out the Chelsea Market on our way... It's located in the National Biscuit Company building, and in the 1890's, the ovens baked everything from Saltines to Oreos. How's that for some history... It's now filled with restaurants, some shops, like Anthropolgie... The foodie part of the complex was huge... and, I will say, it smelled really fishy to me... There were bakeries, bookstores, restaurants, florists, etc.... but, the fish... that's all I smelled.  Walking by some of the tables next to the restaurants, I saw a couple plates with huge lobsters on them... aha!
We passed on through and then climbed up to the Rail Park. Really done nicely... we were darn chilly though... closer to the water, and the breeze was nippy... but, not as bad as yesterday. The walk was beautiful with lots of interesting artwork along the way. Highly recommend the jaunt through this area. Probably even more pretty in the warm weather!
Had Birthday dinner at The Smith and Nancy Pedot joined us! Fun conversation, great drinks, good food - perfect! And, to top it off, a little birthday cake!
Now, we have not been aware, but Billy Ray Cyrus is staying in this building we are in. Last week, Miley was here while we were here... and dang we missed it all! Jillian saw him tonight as he was coming home from his 8 o'clock show 'Chicago'... he has a limited run there now playing Billy, the lawyer. WooHoo 
Okay, so tomorrow, we are bidding the city goodbye and heading home. Thank you, Big Apple! We enjoyed taking a bite out of you this past week!
 

A very interesting fountain, coming from the ceiling!

and ending up here in the floor!

 

Chelsea Market

These lobster's were HUGE!

Heading on through 

Interesting artwork on the wall as we left! 

 

what fun wooden lounges up in the park... some of them, like these, were on roller wheels that ran on the tracks!
 

 

This sign was funny... but I know, he's never too busy for anything!

A different view of a parking garage that stacks the cars... this is from above... 

 

So, that would be the Empire State Building in the distance
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In person, this really looked like a person.... the picture, being one dimensional could encompass that!  It was a hoot as you walked along the rail line!

Happy Birthday Celebration.... Thanks to my fam and Nancy P for joining us!

Wow... Woke up to a breezy, chilly, crisp day... A great one for a walk in a park!

We knew it was breezy when we could see the leaves blowing around... right out our window on the 10th floor.  Not a determent at all... after a lazy morning, found our way back on the train and headed for the park... and decided to do a bit of geocaching.  The park was full of folks... and horse drawn carriages (with lots of blankets)... and pedicab type bicycles... If you stood still for too long, someone would call from the road "Would you like a ride?"  No way, we were on a mission!
The park's leaves were so fun when the wind whipped them up!  Course, no camera out when that happened!
 

So here's a geocache that we found (out of it's hiding place, obviously)  ... it took way too long... but there are so many people around and you have to look for it discreetly... Hidden in a big Manhattan schist there (don't know what that is?  you'll have to Google it)... The different rock formations are so beautiful... much rounder than what we have in the northwest.  We also searched for another cache, but alas never found that one.  Looking at the online logs, seemed two other folks searched and couldn't find it... me thinks it might be missing!
 

Piles of branches... cleanup in the park after Sandy... The Park really had very little damage...in comparison to Staten Island and New Jersey!
 

So, after a great dinner, we ordered a cannoli to share... it disappeared so fast, how did that happen?
Jillian... was it you?????
and she put on the best innocent look...

And, of course, a mom's all knowing eyes... she knows, Jilli and Jerry plowed through it! 

So we're not speaking anymore!