Goodbye, Minnesota

Today I am heading back to Alaska after a 3-week vacation, first in North Carolina and then in Minnesota. I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute and don’t want to leave!

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My time in Minnesota has been filled with seeing friends, spending time with family, and sunshine and warm weather! Let’s recap. . .

One of the first things I did was run Grandma’s Marathon (Duluth, MN) where I crushed my PR by 15 minutes and qualified for Boston!!

 

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Then there was a lot of quality family time.

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One of my family’s favorite things to do is go fishing.

My mom fishing and watching the bobber very closely!

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My brother could be out there for hours!

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Craig even did some fishing. These fish are teeny tiny compared to the ones he catches in Alaska!

 

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A lot of good, quality time was spent with friends as well.

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Jenn just had her baby yesterday! Congrats!!

Me, Jenn, and Ross

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One morning I got back to my farm-girl roots and attend the Steele County Breakfast-On-the-Farm event sponsored by Steele County Dairy Farmers.

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This is a community-wide event held on a family’s farm each year.

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People come to support the dairy farmers in the county and learn about farming.

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It was a very family-friendly event with a bounce house for the kids, arts and crafts projects, pictures with a calf, and a petting zoo.

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There was also a pancake breakfast.

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The breakfast was $3 for all-you-can eat pancakes, sausages, cheese, and orange juice.

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Then it was time to visit the cows.

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She really liked me and tried to eat my hair.

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Bonus points to anyone who can identify the breed of this cow.

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We walked around the farm and saw where the calves stay.DSC_0024

And then we saw some elephants. . . . .

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just kidding. These guys weren’t on the farm. They were at an arena getting ready for a circus.

We had to park in town and then take a bus out to the farm, and when we got back from our farm tour, these elephants were near the parking lot, getting ready for their show.

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I also made sure to do a lot of shopping while in Minnesota.

I stocked up on some Trader Joe’s products and Lululemon sucked me in pretty bad as well.

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And then of course, I had to do some running in warm/hot weather while I was here.

The first week after running the marathon, I laid low and let my body heal. I did a couple walk/run “runs” but that was about it.

But this week I have been feeling quite good and am starting to log the miles again.

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Kristy (my sister) and I have been doing a lot of runs together.

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Kristy is my clone and some how we ALWAYS managed to wear similar outfits even if we had no idea what the other person was wearing.

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Both wearing striped V-neck tops. It was quite frustrating.

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So, that’s that. I did a TON more things but got lazy and didn’t take many pictures. Oh well, I had so much fun and am glad I was able to spend so much time in Minnesota.

Hi, I'm Michelle

I love running around the lakes of Minnesota, running after my two boys, and racing anything from the 5K to the marathon. I have been blogging here since 2010 when I ran my first marathon. I finally secured my sub-3 hour marathon after trying for 8 years.

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0 Comments

  1. 6.28.12
    K said:

    It’s pretty cool that dairy farms in MN have bouncy houses! haha 😉 I think it’s an Ayrshire cow, no? My favorite dairy one is Jersey. They are soooo pretty 🙂

    • 7.2.12
      Michelle said:

      Close, but she is actually a Guernsey. Ayrshires have a lot more white in them–this one only had a little bit of white. 😉

  2. 6.28.12

    sounds like you had fun! my sister and i tend to buy the same clothes, but in different colors without realizing it. we don’t even live in the same town so it’s pretty impressive 🙂

  3. 6.30.12

    Is she a guernsey? Congrats to your sister for finishing her dietetic internship! I am a RD and know all about that. Congrats to you too on your new PR! Very inspirational!

    • 7.2.12
      Michelle said:

      ding, ding ding. . . you are correct!