On September 25 we arrived in the Minneapolis area.  Specifically, at the Carver Park, near Victoria, Minnesota.  The Park is huge and multipurpose — we settled into the Auburn Lake Campground, a lovely place that was packed with families in small campers and/or tents on Saturday, but was nearly deserted by Sunday afternoon.  The only drawback of the place, from our point of view, was a lack of pull-through and power/water/sewer-equipped sites. No pull-through meant we had to un-attach the dinghy (and back the camper into the site), but no matter, we needed to set the dinghy free anyway since we drove into Minneapolis the next day to do a little shopping.  Came home with some groceries and some indulgences:  a new iPad for Barb and a new MacbookPro for me.  On the 27th we drove a few miles into Victoria to the new home of Erik & Cindy and their children Sophie & Evan.  (Erik is Chuck’s sister Zona’s son.)  We had a marvelous dinner and visit with them and then returned to the camper.  Right behind us were Erik & Cindy.  The goal was to build a campfire and to continue our visit while consuming adult beverages and eating s’mores — objectives met in fine style.

Next day we motored back into Minneapolis proper and met Jessica and her daughter Lily for lunch. (Jessica’s hubby Peter was out of town.)  Jessica is Zona’s daughter.  It was our first opportunity to meet the cute-as-a-button Lily, and our first chance in a long time to get caught up with Jessica,  A circumstance we appreciated and enjoyed.  Alas, Jessica had afternoon commitments, so our reunion was all too brief.

That evening, with some sense of anticipation, we readied ourselves for observing the much ballyhooed lunar eclipse.  Handicapped by the lack of a tripod, we improvised with a pillow-cushioned box set upon a picnic table carefully chosen from among the empty camping sites to give open visibility in the right direction and angle.  It mostly worked, with a few episodes of frantically dragging the heavy table out of the shadow of a tree and back into the diminishing moonlight.  I had hoped to get pictures of the moon disappearing and then re-appearing.   Alas, although the evening had started out with clear skies, just as the eclipse neared totality a band of clouds moved in and obscured the spectacle.  Nothing to do but pack up and count my blessings.  Which I did and do.  Thanks for the experience, and for the beloved mate with which to share it.