Day Two of our Caravan/Rally

Yesterday was a busy day, any way you cut it. Our last member arrived at 7 AM (did they get up early). So we have all five of us present. Success number one.

Our first order of business was to visit the Vesterhiem (Norwegian) Museum here in Decorah, which we arrived at about 5 minutes too early. Standing out in the cold was no treat, any way you cut it. But finally they opened the door and we started our touring of the 4 floors of artifacts and relics and recreations. There is an old saying about the mind can only absorb what the seat can endure in church. Well, it is a similar thing when touring a museum. My legs, especially the hips really complained, but we kept going. We finished touring at 11:15 and ended up back in the lobby sitting on the chairs, only to find just about everyone else either their or they arrived shortly. It was interesting.

After lunch, we headed north to a garden market that sells only perennial flowers and plants. It is about 15 miles north of Decorah and back in the hills on a dusty, hilly, curvy, gravel road. But it was very interesting and I think all enjoyed it very much. If one was bored, we could always pick up a tennis ball and give it a heavy for the family dog to chase down. She could retrieve two balls at once. Finding one, leaving it and finding the second and then bring both back in her mouth. (A real mouth full.)

Our third tour was at a unique place about 3 miles north of Decorah called Seed Savers. Their non-profit mission in life is to save all of the genetic variations of garden plants. They have hundreds of apple trees, grapes, onions, and on and on. The seeds are kept in sub-zero storage and periodically regrown to insure that they have a viable seed bank. We spent about an hour on a tour, learning the history and what they have. Again, there is a limit to what one can learn when the legs start to complain. But we lasted it out.

Our final group activity for the evening was eating dinner out at a local restaurant. Eating is always fun!

Back at the motorhome, we watched most of the video on "Our National Parks". A highly recommended historical chronology of our parks.

Gene