Road Trip

July took us on a lengthy road trip to Minnesota and back in our first visit to Laura’s home state in several years. That’s a lot of miles in a van crammed with five adult-sized occupants (and tons of gear), but we had our fun.

Along the way, we stopped over in Veedersburg, Indiana for a couple of nights at The Hideaway at Crazyman’s, a working farm and wedding venue with a very nicely maintained farm house, a gazebo for wedding photos and ceremonies, a barn also used for weddings and a pond with a fountain, though the latter feature was offline during our stay. There was also a nice walking trail with a view of fields and a creek.

The weather was great during our stay and the sunsets in the “back yard” were spectacular.

From there, it was on to Rochester, MN with a day trip to nearby Mazeppa to visit the family farm. Laura’s Uncle Larry is hard at work restoring the farm house, but many of the other buildings are pretty overgrown and/or collapsed after decades of disuse since her grandparents passed. Nonetheless, they make for imagery that should inspire a few art projects from Laura and Grace.

The old windmill on the hill, site of many past photo sessions with the kids when they were younger, is likewise competing with trees that have grown considerably since our last visit.

Tucked away in the machine shed were various farm vehicles in various states of restoration, and Larry’s 1968 Buick Skylark, which must have been a beauty back in its day and still held a fascination for Scott in spite of its current state…or maybe partly because of it.

The side yard along the driveway was as lush and picturesque as ever. I could imagine a kid spending many an afternoon playing Robin Hood with this backdrop as their Sherwood.

Along the way, we got to reconnect with many members of Laura’s extended family, which was cool. The motivation behind this trek was to conduct a proper funeral for Laura’s father, who passed away back in January and whose ashes sat on a bookcase in our living room for months. We had a ceremony at Fort Snelling in Minneapolis with the full military honors due to Gerald as US Army veteran, and it was an impressive and moving affair.

A couple of days later we returned to see his burial plot, which turned out to be right next to a lovely pond. To the left of center in this image, you can just make out the fountain in the distance. That’s Gerald’s spot with the temporary marker.

In all, we drove to or through eight states over two weeks: VA, WV, OH, IN, IL, IA, MN and WI. I can’t say it’s my idea of fun to be behind the wheel for 2,200+ miles, but all things considered it was a fun break from routine, a good chance to catch up with relatives and a nice reminder that, at the end of the day, we really do get along well as a family. With Jason entering his third year at UVA and Scott gearing up for his freshman year at Roanoke College, I’m not sure how many of these “all hands” outings we have left.