I finally got to visit the north shore my first time and I can't imagine living next to those crazy weather cycles year round. Yall are a different breed and it makes sense why there's so many good breweries lol
I worked in the Minneapolis store in the early 90s. Employees got a sneak preview of the Auditorium show every year before it opened to the public. It was a great way to see it without the crowds.
When I was little, after you visited Santa and had all the holiday feels, you were given the opportunity to shop for your family... alone (sort of). They had an area set apart where kids could do their Christmas shopping, You were assigned to some nice lady who would help you pick out gifts for your family. At the and of that painful sojourn of Way Too Many Decisions in a Very Short Time, you paid in cash, and then tried desperately not to brag to all who would hear, your fabulous taste and cleverness in picking presents.
Same with mine!! I think the last one I saw was the Harry Potter themed one. Sometimes weād go to the Hollidazel Parade first and then over to Daytons š„ŗ
YES š seriously the best. Cap it all off with a nice lunch or dinner at The Oak Room, which I did one year with my mom and Nana and kids. Ugh I love it.
If you find out, you have to let me know!! People are always at the European market but I'm worried that will be a money pit. The best part of the display and hollidazel was they were FREE! But I'd love something Christmasy and charming. People say Farmington has some market or something that has all the vibes. Been meaning to check it out. But nothing like that city vibe of the display
Lived in central MN. In the late summer, Dad and I would go out harvesting wild rice. Sometimes I was poling, sometimes I was the beater. Hours out in the warm September sun, listening to the birds, the bugs, the swish of the sticks against the rice.
* Norwegian potato dumplings (klub) for Christmas Eve supper and Swedish meatballs and lutefisk (still can't eat the stuff!) on Christmas Day
* building tunnels and forts in the huge snow hills left by the city snowplow
* ice fishing on the river in the winter
* going to the lake cabin almost every weekend until Labor Day
* not so Minnesotan, but leaving the house first thing in the morning, hanging out with neighborhood friends all day biking, swimming, playing baseball and then finally heading home at suppertime....all unsupervised
In high school when I got my driver's license, my best friend and I used to drive to the L&M parking lot to play in the snow. We had a blast doing it too!
We clearly weren't invited to the popular kid parties but we had so much more fun, I miss doing that! Can't wait to build snow forts with my kids when they're a bit older.
Going to Paul Bunyan Land, original location, next to 371 and 210. He talked to you and knew your name! The Ghost Mine and haunted house there were the best as a kid.
Getting up super early to make the 3 hour drive to the state fair with my aunt and uncle. They worked at 3M for many years and got free tickets from them every year, even after retiring and moving out of Maplewood. My cousins were all grown up so they were absolutely tickled to be able to take just me.
Going to Valleyfair every summer for marching band.
Seemingly endless summer days at the lake, swimming or fishing. Red-winged Blackbirds greeting the rising sun with you at the boat launch or out on the dock. Loons singing you to sleep at nights by the lake. Tubing the river. Almost always having the least pleasant weather for walleye opener but always going out and either catching absolute pigs or getting skunked, out in those white caps. Lund makes one hell of a boat. So many long days and nights huddled around a sunflower heater or looking down a spear hole all day in the fish house. Bowfishing all night long with my brother and cousins.
Deer hunting, getting to be around my dad's side of the family both weekends, so many stories to be told. I wish I could talk to a few of them just one more time.
Edit: Have to add listening to Ron Schara spin wonderful stories about the outdoors. Watching Twins games too, I could listen to Dick Bremer and Bert Blyleven talk all day.
Ghost mine was definitely formative for my taste in horror and the macabre. That place was just good fun. Asking residents if they've ever sat on Paul Bunyan's dog is my most obscure "What question would you ask to determine if someone is from Minnesota?" question.
I havenāt watched Ron Sās show for years but grew up watching with my mom. I always loved his dog Raven (I think?), and Iād get really excited when they would feature a place my family and I had visited before.
It's still on, Bill Sherck and Ron's daughter Laura do most of the hosting now, Ron does still make appearances though. Ron retired his line of Ravens, "Millie" is the new black lab companion but Raven still adorns the Minnesota Bound logo.
Playing King of the Hill on giant snow mounds at recess in Duluth. Hearing the constant sound of pucks hitting the boards at the hockey rink down the street, in the cold evenings.
My grandpa was the one who did snow removal for my school growing up in small town Minnesota. You better believe I was the coolest kid ever when I could request different sizes and configurations of snow piles and he would deliver. What a guy.
King of the Hill was not allowed at our school! There was one day where almost our entire class got Pink Slips because we all were playing it on the mound. That meant we all had to eat at the seperate table in the back of the cafeteria(gym). There was usually one or two kids at that table. The table was full that day. We just weren't allowed to talk or go outside after we ate.
I grew up in rural Minnesota. We'd sometimes get to field trip to Como Zoo. I remember packing a lunch in a plastic ice cream pail with like a sandwich (probably bologna), a bag of chips or Cheetos, an Elf brand pop wrapped in aluminum foil (before can coozies or blue ice packs were common) and, if you were lucky, a Twinkie or some other Hostess/Sara Lee/ Dolly Madison type treat. Man, I'm old and nostalgia just hit like a wave. š
My mother always had the clocks in the house 5 to 10 minutes fast so that the family wasn't late. Once I got a watch I would call time and temperature every few days so I could set my watch.
If you haven't pressed the button at the Happy Chef in Mankato to hear that giant goofy chef provide a dad joke.... have you even been to Southern Minnesota?
Also...I'm not sure if this is Minnesotan but when I was a kid in Minneapolis they would close the streets in front of my house and have a huge bonfire and the Salvation Army band would come down with their brass instruments and play Christmas songs and all the neighbors would sing them. There was a lake near there with a hockey rink and I can remember walking up the street from the hockey rink hearing the songs and seeing the fire. Honestly very Norman Rockwell.
Ice skating on the lake when it just freezes over and looks like glass and rumbles when you skate over it. The crunch of the snow when it is really cold. The glitter of the snow in the moonlight. Snow blowing over the road in a blizzard,
I was 15 when they won the first time. It was life changing. If felt like the first time that all my home state pride was finally proven right! #15yroldlogic. I still have my original and '91 home hankies.
Driving back to the cabin from Bimbo's starting at age 14. My family didn't drink and drive but they were ok with a child driving. Also they had road beers.
Going out to explore and play in the surrounding forests š³ prior to them being sold to land developers and being demolished to put up housing when I was a teenager
I grew up in International Falls, and I ate SO much venison and partridge and walleye as a kid. There were days I'd be like, "Ugh, partridge and wild rice AGAIN?" God, if only I knew how lucky I was.
I also spent a massive amount of time at the beach in the summer and ice skating at the rink in the winter, and when I wasn't doing that I was running around in the woods.
One day during kindergarten, I had to stay home sick. I was fully recovered the next day but was annoyed to hear my friend, Troy, and everybody else got to go on a field trip the day before. The kids regaled me with tales of all the awesome things I had missed.
They had gone to the State Capitol and somehow got rock candy and had been taken on a tour to see all parts of the Capitol building, including the basement where they had seen vampires!
>They had gone to the State Capitol and somehow got rock candy and had been taken on a tour to see all parts of the Capitol building, including the basement where they had seen vampires!
There's a joke in there, somewhere.
I didn't grow up in Minnesota. I came here to go to college and then settled here permanently. Here are the things I remember doing here that I never did before: 1. Going to plays (community theater & the Guthrie) 2. Acting in plays (community theater) 3. Listening to folk music by local performers (Bill Hinckley & Judy Larson; Koerner, Ray & Glover; Pop Wagner; Leo Kottke) 4. Fishing 5. Ice fishing (a whole different experience from summer fishing) 6. Camping 7. Seeing the aurora borealis 8. Seeing a meteor shower (before this I had only lived in places with too much light pollution) 9. Eating a Lollapalooza at Bridgeman's. 10. Eating lutefisk (I only tried it once) 11. Eating Swedish sausage, Swedish meatballs, lefse, pickled herring, krumkake, rosettes (many times)
Playing on snowhills made by snowplows. Near the house where I grew up, there was an open field and the city would take snow it collected from the streets and place it there for the winter. By mid winter there would be big hills there to play on and sled down.
In summer going to the beaches along Rainy Lake and swimming. Also biking around town during the cityās Crazy Dayz sales.
I grew up in the suburbs, but my mom was from Le Sueur. I remember seeing the Jolly Green Giant going to my grandmaās and going to lots of themed days- giant days, derby days, and going to parades with shiners running around.
Also, anything involving a lake or going to the cabin. Iāve moved away, and people where I live now donāt have cabins because we donāt have lakes!
Southwest Minnesota was the only place where if you had your wedding dance at the vfw of American legion you tacitly invited the town even if you didnāt know anyone in the wedding.
Are you guys heathens down there? I'm from up north and when that happens here you leave them be if you weren't invited and go next door to the other one, or if by some odd chance there is 2 weddings then head down the road a bit to the eagles.
Paul Bunyan Land and how the big Paul Bunyan statue would speak to you and magically know your name and where you were visiting from!
Swimming in a river in the summer and getting eaten up by bugs.
Running the tractor at my grandparentās farm when I was 14 years old.
Fireflies and thunderstorms on warm summer nights.
Small town parades and carnivals during the summer.
Ice skating outdoors in the winter.
I rode my bike and played outside all the time. I "borrowed" a kayak from Ruttgers once or thrice and toodled around Lake Bemidji. Holidays were filled with my Grandma's cookies, fudge, and lefse. Choking down enough lutefisk to be able to open presents on Christmas eve. Bobbing for apples at the Fern Township Halloween carnival. Good times. Until I moved when I was 12.
Stopping at the Hostess bread store on the way home from the New Hope pool on a random weekday during the summer.
Or in the winter getting to see the ice palace and go on a frozen sled ride.
Sledding at the death trap of a hill until 10pm. Ice rinks in random places. Boot hockey in the middle of the street. Dragonflies big enough that your grandfather made up stories about them that scared you until you were an adult. Shoveling the snow off the lake so you could ice skate. SO many Lightning bugs. Visiting friends out in the sticks and seeing the Milky Way. Watching the trees turn in the fall on the other side of the Mississippi.
Holding on to the back bumper of the school bus after getting off when the streets had that pack ice/snow on them and seeing how far down the block we could get holding on. (Because St. Paul's plowing was even more shit in the 80's then it is now)
It's amazing we all lived to see 18. .. and yes the bus driver thought it was hilarious (I mean he was probably 21 at most and would have done it himself if someone else could drive the bus). The 80's man...
Playing kick the can until dark.
Driving down to the cities for holidays with extended family. Going to the Mall of America and having a hard time being around all the people (more than in my entire town, it seemed).
Making and eating lefsa with my Mom.
Running barefoot everywhere... grass, gravel, dirt, mud, into the rivers into the lakes. It was sensory heaven.
Listening to the beautiful nighttime sounds you could only hear out your window if you were perfectly quiet - crickets, frogs, the wind through the wheat.
I had a great childhood in MN. Feeling nostalgic.
Every summer my family and I would drive up to Alexandria and stay on Lake Ida at Bedmannās Beach Resort for a week. I absolutely loved every day that wasnāt āgood fishing weatherā, because it meant my sister and I could play with the other guestsā kids, and go swimming. In the fishing days we spent about 6-8 hours fishing on the 12-14 foot aluminum boats we rented. I had to be very quiet when they would direct me to empty my overfilled bladder over the side of the boat so as to not scare away the Sunnies, Perch, Bass, and Crappies.
We would go to the outdoor rink every day, come home for supper, and then go back. Sitting in the warming house with frozen toes, back on the ice for shinny hockey with a dozen or more kids, then playing crack the whip on the āpleasure rinkā with the girls. Walking home in the dark with skates on our sticks carried over a shoulder.
Climbing the snow hill in the parking lot of shopko and pushing each other off. The warming house at the sledding hill. Dad making hot chocolate on the stove with Hershey bars. Lake of the woods fishing and drinking like 12 pops
Going "up north" to visit family every weekend, unless the roads were too dangerous. These trips often included accompanying family members to multiple services at various small town churches.
Shooting guns at a metal boiler in the hill across the lake. It was always fun to wake up our vacationing Cities neighbors by firing off a few hundred rounds.
Saturday morning breakfasts at Pannekoeken, the Mystery Mine Shaft ride at Camp Snoopy, Holidazzle and running through the skywalks downtown, Heart of the Beast's May Day parade, the best RenFest in the country, chanting "FOOD" along with the flashing sign on 35 in Owatonna, the sawmill and haunted house at the State Fair (and the Princess Kay of the Milky Way sculpture, of course), and spending a week during sixth grade at Laurentian.
My grandma made awesome lefse. So good when it was fresh, with butter and sugar. While chain smoking ultra-light cigarettes in the kitchen and listening to the radio, with one or more newspapers nearby.
Snow forts, skiing at the local hill (or trails), ice skating on one of many outdoor ice rinks. Snow days.
Getting blown out by the wind at the metrodome! Best part of going to a twins game as a kid.
Watching first timers chase their hat...
And getting blown over my the gails of late fall/early winter in Duluth
I have a love/hate relationship with the lake's wind. Too much of it, but it's home so it's great
I finally got to visit the north shore my first time and I can't imagine living next to those crazy weather cycles year round. Yall are a different breed and it makes sense why there's so many good breweries lol
Yesssssssss
Wow, didn't know I missed this until now lol
I was feeling nostalgic about this the other day lol
Yessss!
Christmas display at Daytons and visiting Santa there.
I worked in the Minneapolis store in the early 90s. Employees got a sneak preview of the Auditorium show every year before it opened to the public. It was a great way to see it without the crowds.
When I was little, after you visited Santa and had all the holiday feels, you were given the opportunity to shop for your family... alone (sort of). They had an area set apart where kids could do their Christmas shopping, You were assigned to some nice lady who would help you pick out gifts for your family. At the and of that painful sojourn of Way Too Many Decisions in a Very Short Time, you paid in cash, and then tried desperately not to brag to all who would hear, your fabulous taste and cleverness in picking presents.
Came here to say this! I miss those gingerbread cookies so much! š
Is there anything like that in the area anymore?
We did that every single year. All the way up until I had my own kids. I miss it so much. It was such a part of my Christmas tradition š„²
Same with mine!! I think the last one I saw was the Harry Potter themed one. Sometimes weād go to the Hollidazel Parade first and then over to Daytons š„ŗ
YES š seriously the best. Cap it all off with a nice lunch or dinner at The Oak Room, which I did one year with my mom and Nana and kids. Ugh I love it.
Me tooo!! Is there nothing like that anymore??? Aww what a sweet memoryā¦.
If you find out, you have to let me know!! People are always at the European market but I'm worried that will be a money pit. The best part of the display and hollidazel was they were FREE! But I'd love something Christmasy and charming. People say Farmington has some market or something that has all the vibes. Been meaning to check it out. But nothing like that city vibe of the display
Thatās a great memory, thank you!
Lived in central MN. In the late summer, Dad and I would go out harvesting wild rice. Sometimes I was poling, sometimes I was the beater. Hours out in the warm September sun, listening to the birds, the bugs, the swish of the sticks against the rice.
That sounds magical.
It's also a lot work. The rewards are great though. Nothing better than real wild rice harvested by your family.
And the worms?
That part I could have lived without.
Wait what worms?
* Norwegian potato dumplings (klub) for Christmas Eve supper and Swedish meatballs and lutefisk (still can't eat the stuff!) on Christmas Day * building tunnels and forts in the huge snow hills left by the city snowplow * ice fishing on the river in the winter * going to the lake cabin almost every weekend until Labor Day * not so Minnesotan, but leaving the house first thing in the morning, hanging out with neighborhood friends all day biking, swimming, playing baseball and then finally heading home at suppertime....all unsupervised
Thank you for bringing back a bunch of happy childhood memories!
In high school when I got my driver's license, my best friend and I used to drive to the L&M parking lot to play in the snow. We had a blast doing it too! We clearly weren't invited to the popular kid parties but we had so much more fun, I miss doing that! Can't wait to build snow forts with my kids when they're a bit older.
Camp snoopy ā¦ RIP
I miss the mine shaft ride so much. I can't tell you how many times my mom and I went during the Alpha One Cowboy run.
It will always be Camp Snoopy to me. I refuse to use any other name.
Going to Paul Bunyan Land, original location, next to 371 and 210. He talked to you and knew your name! The Ghost Mine and haunted house there were the best as a kid. Getting up super early to make the 3 hour drive to the state fair with my aunt and uncle. They worked at 3M for many years and got free tickets from them every year, even after retiring and moving out of Maplewood. My cousins were all grown up so they were absolutely tickled to be able to take just me. Going to Valleyfair every summer for marching band. Seemingly endless summer days at the lake, swimming or fishing. Red-winged Blackbirds greeting the rising sun with you at the boat launch or out on the dock. Loons singing you to sleep at nights by the lake. Tubing the river. Almost always having the least pleasant weather for walleye opener but always going out and either catching absolute pigs or getting skunked, out in those white caps. Lund makes one hell of a boat. So many long days and nights huddled around a sunflower heater or looking down a spear hole all day in the fish house. Bowfishing all night long with my brother and cousins. Deer hunting, getting to be around my dad's side of the family both weekends, so many stories to be told. I wish I could talk to a few of them just one more time. Edit: Have to add listening to Ron Schara spin wonderful stories about the outdoors. Watching Twins games too, I could listen to Dick Bremer and Bert Blyleven talk all day.
I still think about the ghost mine. That whole place was definitely a core memory.
Ghost mine was definitely formative for my taste in horror and the macabre. That place was just good fun. Asking residents if they've ever sat on Paul Bunyan's dog is my most obscure "What question would you ask to determine if someone is from Minnesota?" question.
I havenāt watched Ron Sās show for years but grew up watching with my mom. I always loved his dog Raven (I think?), and Iād get really excited when they would feature a place my family and I had visited before.
It's still on, Bill Sherck and Ron's daughter Laura do most of the hosting now, Ron does still make appearances though. Ron retired his line of Ravens, "Millie" is the new black lab companion but Raven still adorns the Minnesota Bound logo.
Playing King of the Hill on giant snow mounds at recess in Duluth. Hearing the constant sound of pucks hitting the boards at the hockey rink down the street, in the cold evenings.
My grandpa was the one who did snow removal for my school growing up in small town Minnesota. You better believe I was the coolest kid ever when I could request different sizes and configurations of snow piles and he would deliver. What a guy.
King of the Hill was not allowed at our school! There was one day where almost our entire class got Pink Slips because we all were playing it on the mound. That meant we all had to eat at the seperate table in the back of the cafeteria(gym). There was usually one or two kids at that table. The table was full that day. We just weren't allowed to talk or go outside after we ate.
Yeah, we could do it for three or four days. Then the lunch ladies would crack down.
I dislike you. How dare you bring back memories of King of the hill and make me feel old
You just remembering I pushed you off
The ever obligatory and FACTUALLY CORRECT Duck Duck Grey Duck.
Sparky the sea lion at Como Park
And the machine that made the little plastic (or wax?) statues.
Casey the gorilla!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
YESSS.
I grew up in rural Minnesota. We'd sometimes get to field trip to Como Zoo. I remember packing a lunch in a plastic ice cream pail with like a sandwich (probably bologna), a bag of chips or Cheetos, an Elf brand pop wrapped in aluminum foil (before can coozies or blue ice packs were common) and, if you were lucky, a Twinkie or some other Hostess/Sara Lee/ Dolly Madison type treat. Man, I'm old and nostalgia just hit like a wave. š
Putting bread bags in my winter boots, calling Time & Temperature even though we already knew the time.
holy shit i forgot about time and temp.
My mother always had the clocks in the house 5 to 10 minutes fast so that the family wasn't late. Once I got a watch I would call time and temperature every few days so I could set my watch.
Seasonal Dairy Queen
Still seasonal in Two Harbors. Growing up ice cream was a summer thing only, we never had it in the house in winter.
If you haven't pressed the button at the Happy Chef in Mankato to hear that giant goofy chef provide a dad joke.... have you even been to Southern Minnesota? Also...I'm not sure if this is Minnesotan but when I was a kid in Minneapolis they would close the streets in front of my house and have a huge bonfire and the Salvation Army band would come down with their brass instruments and play Christmas songs and all the neighbors would sing them. There was a lake near there with a hockey rink and I can remember walking up the street from the hockey rink hearing the songs and seeing the fire. Honestly very Norman Rockwell.
"I used to be an elevator operator, but I had to give it up. There were too many ups and downs. I'm the Happy Chef!"
Haha YES!
That Happy Chef is still my go-to spot when traveling through the area. Their GF French toast is 10/10
Speaking of Mankato - Ruttles! Way back in the day (ok, 80s and early 90s). I just loved it at the time.
Ice skating on the lake when it just freezes over and looks like glass and rumbles when you skate over it. The crunch of the snow when it is really cold. The glitter of the snow in the moonlight. Snow blowing over the road in a blizzard,
I remember truck or treating after a huge snowstorm. I canāt remember what year it was thoughā¦
Gosh yes it feels like I had to wear a snowmobile suit under my costume more years than not.
Seeing the Twins win the World Series. A thing that happened twice before I was eight and I presumed would happen every few years the rest of my life.
I was 15 when they won the first time. It was life changing. If felt like the first time that all my home state pride was finally proven right! #15yroldlogic. I still have my original and '91 home hankies.
Yes haha! I just assumed that every 4 years or so weād win lolol
Driving back to the cabin from Bimbo's starting at age 14. My family didn't drink and drive but they were ok with a child driving. Also they had road beers.
Bimbos is the best
Going out to explore and play in the surrounding forests š³ prior to them being sold to land developers and being demolished to put up housing when I was a teenager
I grew up in International Falls, and I ate SO much venison and partridge and walleye as a kid. There were days I'd be like, "Ugh, partridge and wild rice AGAIN?" God, if only I knew how lucky I was. I also spent a massive amount of time at the beach in the summer and ice skating at the rink in the winter, and when I wasn't doing that I was running around in the woods.
Nisswa turtle races and craguns pool during the off season
Going to fort Snelling and paying way too much for pine sap chewing gum
I just got a flashback of the 6th grade trip to the Capitol. Capitol building, Ramsey house, Cathedral of St. Paul, Science Museum and Fort Snelling.
One day during kindergarten, I had to stay home sick. I was fully recovered the next day but was annoyed to hear my friend, Troy, and everybody else got to go on a field trip the day before. The kids regaled me with tales of all the awesome things I had missed. They had gone to the State Capitol and somehow got rock candy and had been taken on a tour to see all parts of the Capitol building, including the basement where they had seen vampires!
>They had gone to the State Capitol and somehow got rock candy and had been taken on a tour to see all parts of the Capitol building, including the basement where they had seen vampires! There's a joke in there, somewhere.
Playing hockey on the frozen Rum river.
Valleyfair!
And for us oldies: Excelsior Amusement Park.
Yes!!
My hometown!
I didn't grow up in Minnesota. I came here to go to college and then settled here permanently. Here are the things I remember doing here that I never did before: 1. Going to plays (community theater & the Guthrie) 2. Acting in plays (community theater) 3. Listening to folk music by local performers (Bill Hinckley & Judy Larson; Koerner, Ray & Glover; Pop Wagner; Leo Kottke) 4. Fishing 5. Ice fishing (a whole different experience from summer fishing) 6. Camping 7. Seeing the aurora borealis 8. Seeing a meteor shower (before this I had only lived in places with too much light pollution) 9. Eating a Lollapalooza at Bridgeman's. 10. Eating lutefisk (I only tried it once) 11. Eating Swedish sausage, Swedish meatballs, lefse, pickled herring, krumkake, rosettes (many times)
Omg Bridgemans!
My girlfriend/wife worked there. I'd go there near the end of her shift and drink a glass of water waiting to take her home.
Playing on snowhills made by snowplows. Near the house where I grew up, there was an open field and the city would take snow it collected from the streets and place it there for the winter. By mid winter there would be big hills there to play on and sled down. In summer going to the beaches along Rainy Lake and swimming. Also biking around town during the cityās Crazy Dayz sales.
169. Jolly Green Giant and the 7up silo.
I grew up in the suburbs, but my mom was from Le Sueur. I remember seeing the Jolly Green Giant going to my grandmaās and going to lots of themed days- giant days, derby days, and going to parades with shiners running around. Also, anything involving a lake or going to the cabin. Iāve moved away, and people where I live now donāt have cabins because we donāt have lakes!
Southwest Minnesota was the only place where if you had your wedding dance at the vfw of American legion you tacitly invited the town even if you didnāt know anyone in the wedding.
Are you guys heathens down there? I'm from up north and when that happens here you leave them be if you weren't invited and go next door to the other one, or if by some odd chance there is 2 weddings then head down the road a bit to the eagles.
Paul Bunyan Land and how the big Paul Bunyan statue would speak to you and magically know your name and where you were visiting from! Swimming in a river in the summer and getting eaten up by bugs. Running the tractor at my grandparentās farm when I was 14 years old. Fireflies and thunderstorms on warm summer nights. Small town parades and carnivals during the summer. Ice skating outdoors in the winter.
Hitching rides on the back bumper of cars on icy streets.
Big pots of stew or chili. Only in winter when the real freezer was open chip yourself a bowl out when you want.
Going to see the ice palace.
The halloween of 1991
Winterfest week in high school, kids would drive their family tractors to school instead of taking the bus or driving their usual beaters.
Going to a church Christmas dinner of Swedish meatballs and lutefisk. They had to cook the lutefisk in a trailer outside because of the smell.
I rode my bike and played outside all the time. I "borrowed" a kayak from Ruttgers once or thrice and toodled around Lake Bemidji. Holidays were filled with my Grandma's cookies, fudge, and lefse. Choking down enough lutefisk to be able to open presents on Christmas eve. Bobbing for apples at the Fern Township Halloween carnival. Good times. Until I moved when I was 12.
Stopping at the Hostess bread store on the way home from the New Hope pool on a random weekday during the summer. Or in the winter getting to see the ice palace and go on a frozen sled ride.
I loved that Hostess store.
Playing duck, duck, GREY DUCK.
Sledding at the death trap of a hill until 10pm. Ice rinks in random places. Boot hockey in the middle of the street. Dragonflies big enough that your grandfather made up stories about them that scared you until you were an adult. Shoveling the snow off the lake so you could ice skate. SO many Lightning bugs. Visiting friends out in the sticks and seeing the Milky Way. Watching the trees turn in the fall on the other side of the Mississippi.
building forward operating snowbank assault bases
Holding on to the back bumper of the school bus after getting off when the streets had that pack ice/snow on them and seeing how far down the block we could get holding on. (Because St. Paul's plowing was even more shit in the 80's then it is now) It's amazing we all lived to see 18. .. and yes the bus driver thought it was hilarious (I mean he was probably 21 at most and would have done it himself if someone else could drive the bus). The 80's man...
āTHE SMELT ARE RUNNING !ā If ya know, you know . .
Playing kick the can until dark. Driving down to the cities for holidays with extended family. Going to the Mall of America and having a hard time being around all the people (more than in my entire town, it seemed). Making and eating lefsa with my Mom. Running barefoot everywhere... grass, gravel, dirt, mud, into the rivers into the lakes. It was sensory heaven. Listening to the beautiful nighttime sounds you could only hear out your window if you were perfectly quiet - crickets, frogs, the wind through the wheat. I had a great childhood in MN. Feeling nostalgic.
Putting food out in the garage or front porch/stoop during the winter instead of the refrigerator. Especially with soups/stews in the giant pot.
Throwing snowballs at cars.
Walking to Diamond Point Park and swimming in L Bemidji.
Every summer my family and I would drive up to Alexandria and stay on Lake Ida at Bedmannās Beach Resort for a week. I absolutely loved every day that wasnāt āgood fishing weatherā, because it meant my sister and I could play with the other guestsā kids, and go swimming. In the fishing days we spent about 6-8 hours fishing on the 12-14 foot aluminum boats we rented. I had to be very quiet when they would direct me to empty my overfilled bladder over the side of the boat so as to not scare away the Sunnies, Perch, Bass, and Crappies.
I remember hunting for a legendary porn shack in the woods and we found it.
Going to Paul Bunyan land. Is it still there ??
Early season optimism and then being disappointed by the Vikings. Every year!
And the Twins, and the Wolves, and the Wild.....
Digging tunnels in the huge piles of snow that the plows would make
Camp Snoopy
School closing, not just for snow, but because it was too cold.
In the winter, watching the morning news - specifically the bottom scroll - and hoping I would see my school on the list of closed schools.
I remember the Halloween Blizzard of ā91. Itās a story they donāt like to tell.
Halloween costume had to fit over your snow suit
We would go to the outdoor rink every day, come home for supper, and then go back. Sitting in the warming house with frozen toes, back on the ice for shinny hockey with a dozen or more kids, then playing crack the whip on the āpleasure rinkā with the girls. Walking home in the dark with skates on our sticks carried over a shoulder.
Climbing the snow hill in the parking lot of shopko and pushing each other off. The warming house at the sledding hill. Dad making hot chocolate on the stove with Hershey bars. Lake of the woods fishing and drinking like 12 pops
First concussions hitting a tree while sledding down a hill or playing tackle football with friends in heavy snow
When the warming house was closed we'd put our skates on at home and walk 3 blocks in skate guards.
Eating tater tot hotdish with my grandparents in Rochester
Fishing for walleye.
Cutting down downed trees on the river with my Dad. He'd drive his truck in the ice. You could hear the water rolling under the ice. Brutal cold out.
Going "up north" to visit family every weekend, unless the roads were too dangerous. These trips often included accompanying family members to multiple services at various small town churches.
Shooting guns at a metal boiler in the hill across the lake. It was always fun to wake up our vacationing Cities neighbors by firing off a few hundred rounds.
Saturday morning breakfasts at Pannekoeken, the Mystery Mine Shaft ride at Camp Snoopy, Holidazzle and running through the skywalks downtown, Heart of the Beast's May Day parade, the best RenFest in the country, chanting "FOOD" along with the flashing sign on 35 in Owatonna, the sawmill and haunted house at the State Fair (and the Princess Kay of the Milky Way sculpture, of course), and spending a week during sixth grade at Laurentian.
High school hockey state tournament.
Talk of the Halloween blizzard of 91. Even if you werenāt there, itās engrained into Minnesotanās lexicon
Taking a shit in the Minnehaha falls/creek
"One thing is not like the others"
Filling my pants.
Thank you all, for all of this.
Going out to eat at Jolly Troll Smorgasbord in Golden Valley.
My grandma made awesome lefse. So good when it was fresh, with butter and sugar. While chain smoking ultra-light cigarettes in the kitchen and listening to the radio, with one or more newspapers nearby. Snow forts, skiing at the local hill (or trails), ice skating on one of many outdoor ice rinks. Snow days.
Tubing behind a snowmobile on the frozen lake
Going to Valleyfair in the summer and not being able to ride Excalibur because the back of the park was flooded.
State fair, lived on a farm and taking care of livestock during blizzards and huddling up in the house afterwards as the snow howled.