Days 84-85: Visiting and biking were on the agenda as we headed up into southern Minnesota to visit Ann & Gary in St. Paul. In the two months since we had seen them in Duluth on the westbound leg of our trip, they had been to Iceland and Switzerland, so we were eager to hear of each other’s vacation travels. The next day they led us on a scenic bike ride across the Mississippi, into Minneapolis, along a bike path in the greenway beside Minnehaha Creek, around Lake Nocomis, down along the Minnesota River, and to a charming restaurant for a gourmet lunch.
Days 86-87: On to North Mankato to visit Jack & Nancy, whom we hadn’t seen for about 10 years—we’ve known them since Jack spent a sabbatical semester at the UNH Chemistry Department about 20 years ago. Although they are about 11-12 years older than we are, they haven’t slowed down much in retirement. They took us on a bike ride of about 20 miles on the Red Jacket Trail and otherwise royally entertained us even though they were in the midst of preparing to leave in a couple of days on a three-week trip to several eastern European countries.
