Country Mice, City Mice

Saturday was such a nice day! We went from some serious countryside living to some serious downtown big city stuff. Quite the contrast!
We've kept up with this new tradition of ours--at least while we're in the midwest--to go to an apple orchard every autumn. Last year the orchard was almost like a theme park: lots of people, gigantic playground, baby animal farm, demonstrations...the place was just huge and tons of fun.
This year we found a nice little place about an hour away that was just little and quaint and calm. Ahhhhh....it was PERFECT. The kids didn't get riled up. I didn't have to stress about losing them in a crowd. It was literally just show up and let them go. So great. And they really liked it. There was a tiny little barn with goats and chickens and a couple of rabbits. The roosters really gave us a show. Sara was so attached to the rabbit that later on she picked up a corn kernel and held on to it just to give to the bunny before we left. If we could handle pets at our place I would have gotten a rabbit for her. Really.We bought some turnovers and took a wagon ride from the orchard to the pumpkin patch to pick out the best punkin we could find. On the way out we took home some apple cider and local maple syrup. This really is the best tradition!
Here are some photos:






That evening we had a night out, just Aaron and I. He planned it all out and it was AWESOME. A nice long riverwalk in and around downtown Minneapolis. We just wandered. It kind of felt like a blast from the past, since that's what we did in SanFran right after we were married, except this city is totally different. And except that now we are really old and have three children. And believe me, we feel it.


We wandered around the Guthrie (Aaron likes to call it the Goothree) Theatre. It's pretty huge! And even when there's a show going on, anybody can just go in and wander around. It's like giant installation art.Check out how freaky-high that escalator goes!
And this is out on the Endless Bridge:
Quite the view! This is what it looks like from below:So you're just walking out to nothing. It's a little freaky. The view is great. Here is Aaron searching for our dinner (haha)...

Inside, there's a place they call the Amber Room. It's kind of dark, being lit only by these glowing amber windows. The floor doesn't meet the windows--there's a little drop-off--so it really feels like...well, I don't know, but it's freaky. Again, the views were awesome.And this is difficult to see, but there's a hole in the floor. You can stand on it, obviously, because of the glass, but it's not the most comforting feeling. I was afraid to stand on it at the same time as Aaron. Surely, it wasn't meant to hold TWO people AT THE SAME TIME.It was such a nice time. And absolutely free! It's true, folks. The best things in life don't cost a dime.

Unless we're talking children, and you want to have them in a hospital. (;