Calhoun07
07-25-2002, 05:30 PM
I know vacation threads pop up here from time to time, but I thought it might be fun to start a unofficial offical thread of summer vacation stories. I just got back from one not too long ago, so I will go first!
I went to Minnesota, which I do about every year or so. My trips to Minnesota usually consist of visting family, going shopping, seeing movies, a lot of driving, etc. This time around we sought out some interesting spots, especially around Rochester, home of the Mayo Clinic.
One spot of interest was Mayowood (http://olmstedhistory.com/mayowood.htm) , a mansion built by the founding doctor of the Mayo Clinic and populated by several generations of Mayos thru out the next half century or so. It was quite a stunning site to see, as you can probably imagine. In addition to the mansion, there was a beautiful garden down in a valley and a man made lake further down, but a flood in 1978 destroyed the garden, and the city required the doctors to stop using a dam which created the lake, so the lake will never be again, and the garden still is unrestored to this day due to lack of funding. I learned a few points of interest, such as one of the Mayo doctors lost a daughter when she choked on a piece of candy. Devastated, the doctor purchased a candy factory and pledged to create a candy kids could not choke on, and that's how the Lifesaver candy came to be, the idea with the hole in the center being that if it got lodged in a child's throat they could still get air.
There was also the Plummer House (http://www.best-agent.com/plummer.htm) , which was also used by doctors from the Mayo Clinic, and part of it is still being used by doctors as living quarters, but the main house is open for tours thru the summer. It's on the highest hilltop when you come into the city, and even has its own water tower up there. So if anybody here has to go to Rochester, Minnesota (god forbid it be due to having to go to the Mayo Clinic! :( ) I would recommend these sites. The Plummer House has it's garden restored and still intact and there are several trails and it's incredibly beautiful. There are more Mayo related sites of interest in Rochester that also has tours, which I hope to see on my next visit up there.
I also went to a few movies (I know the conversations about those are better served for the Enertainment Board, so I will keep it short and sweet!), including Men in Black II, Road to Perdition (who said Spider Man was the best comic book movie this summer! Road to Perdition rocked!), Eight Legged Freaks (ugh, awful, IMO), Minority Report, and the Powerpuff Girls Movie!
Another thing that happened out of the ordinary, I went to a store with my mom, and when we were coming out, she heard this dog crying and whining and it was in a car in the hot, sweltring sun. Well, understandably she hates that, a dog can die in a car under those conditions. So she said she was going to wait there until the people came out and tell them off. We stood there for about 15 minutes and no sign of then, and the dogs cries became more desperate and he was trying to climb under the seat, probably to get into shade. So she took him out of the car and got him some ice from her water cup, and we sat with him under a tree in the shade waiting for the people to come out. It had been about a half an hour later and we talked about how the dog would probably be dead if it wasn't for us, and my mom was really not wanting to turn this dog over to these people again, as we doubted they would learn their lesson. So she contemplated taking the dog to a shelter, and did just that.
However, we found out the Humane Society in the neighboring town would not take him since she did not live there. So my mom took him to a friends while we tried to sort out what to do with him. They found a place for him to stay over the weekend, but that didn't last as it wasn't permanent. My mom wants to take him but really can't because she has a Sharpei and this puppy is 6 weeks old and the Sharpei would inevitably kill the puppy. Literally, Sharpei's are territorial animals and don't like new dogs in the house. My sister got the dog for a while til she saw a flyer at the grocery store with the dog's picture and how this dog had been stolen so she didn't want to keep the dog any more. I am not sure what has happened since then, however.
I went to Minnesota, which I do about every year or so. My trips to Minnesota usually consist of visting family, going shopping, seeing movies, a lot of driving, etc. This time around we sought out some interesting spots, especially around Rochester, home of the Mayo Clinic.
One spot of interest was Mayowood (http://olmstedhistory.com/mayowood.htm) , a mansion built by the founding doctor of the Mayo Clinic and populated by several generations of Mayos thru out the next half century or so. It was quite a stunning site to see, as you can probably imagine. In addition to the mansion, there was a beautiful garden down in a valley and a man made lake further down, but a flood in 1978 destroyed the garden, and the city required the doctors to stop using a dam which created the lake, so the lake will never be again, and the garden still is unrestored to this day due to lack of funding. I learned a few points of interest, such as one of the Mayo doctors lost a daughter when she choked on a piece of candy. Devastated, the doctor purchased a candy factory and pledged to create a candy kids could not choke on, and that's how the Lifesaver candy came to be, the idea with the hole in the center being that if it got lodged in a child's throat they could still get air.
There was also the Plummer House (http://www.best-agent.com/plummer.htm) , which was also used by doctors from the Mayo Clinic, and part of it is still being used by doctors as living quarters, but the main house is open for tours thru the summer. It's on the highest hilltop when you come into the city, and even has its own water tower up there. So if anybody here has to go to Rochester, Minnesota (god forbid it be due to having to go to the Mayo Clinic! :( ) I would recommend these sites. The Plummer House has it's garden restored and still intact and there are several trails and it's incredibly beautiful. There are more Mayo related sites of interest in Rochester that also has tours, which I hope to see on my next visit up there.
I also went to a few movies (I know the conversations about those are better served for the Enertainment Board, so I will keep it short and sweet!), including Men in Black II, Road to Perdition (who said Spider Man was the best comic book movie this summer! Road to Perdition rocked!), Eight Legged Freaks (ugh, awful, IMO), Minority Report, and the Powerpuff Girls Movie!
Another thing that happened out of the ordinary, I went to a store with my mom, and when we were coming out, she heard this dog crying and whining and it was in a car in the hot, sweltring sun. Well, understandably she hates that, a dog can die in a car under those conditions. So she said she was going to wait there until the people came out and tell them off. We stood there for about 15 minutes and no sign of then, and the dogs cries became more desperate and he was trying to climb under the seat, probably to get into shade. So she took him out of the car and got him some ice from her water cup, and we sat with him under a tree in the shade waiting for the people to come out. It had been about a half an hour later and we talked about how the dog would probably be dead if it wasn't for us, and my mom was really not wanting to turn this dog over to these people again, as we doubted they would learn their lesson. So she contemplated taking the dog to a shelter, and did just that.
However, we found out the Humane Society in the neighboring town would not take him since she did not live there. So my mom took him to a friends while we tried to sort out what to do with him. They found a place for him to stay over the weekend, but that didn't last as it wasn't permanent. My mom wants to take him but really can't because she has a Sharpei and this puppy is 6 weeks old and the Sharpei would inevitably kill the puppy. Literally, Sharpei's are territorial animals and don't like new dogs in the house. My sister got the dog for a while til she saw a flyer at the grocery store with the dog's picture and how this dog had been stolen so she didn't want to keep the dog any more. I am not sure what has happened since then, however.