Stillwater, MN, Part 2

Seeing family after a long absence is great fun!  We've been catching up on all the happenings with Donna's brother and sister-in-law as well as their kids and grand-kids since last Wednesday.  We'll be in Minnesota for awhile yet, but we're already worrying that we won't have time to do all the visiting that we want to do!

On Saturday we went to Chuk and Jill's house.  Chuk is Bill and Linda's son, and Jill is his wife and best friend.  They were so kind to invite us into their house for an excellent afternoon of conversation, appetizers, and knife throwing…. Oh, yeah!  Chuk has a target set up in the yard and we went to it.  I didn't do so well, only hitting the target some of the time, and getting the knives to stick every once in awhile, but Bill and Chuk were quite the experts, hitting the target much more often!

Their backyard is perfect for outdoor socializing, and we took full advantage of it.

Of course we had to have something to snack on!  A Capresse salad and Prosciutto wrapped melon wedges took care of that!

Donna and Jill discovered that they were Aunt and niece!

Jill is an irrepressible young lady, and a gracious hostess.

Jill and Chuk having a bit of fun!

I've been riding my bike through some of the extensive trail system near our rv park in Woodbury, MN.   Here's some of the beautiful scenery that I rode through this morning.  Difficult to see, but beyond the shrubs in the foreground is a beautiful little lake that I rode around.

This is a place I stopped to check the brakes.

Then this afternoon we shot into St Paul to go to Fort Snelling. The Fort was having a 150 year re-enactment Civil War 1864, day today, complete with booming cannons and firing muskets.  In the buildings, various docents in period dress spoke about the life and times of the Fort, including details of the daily lives of the soldiers.  Kitchen recreations, Hospital and Medical displays, and the Commander's Residence were highlights.

The storm clouds were starting to gather as we arrived.

But we didn't slow down!

The cannon firing at 2:00 attracted a lot of spectators.  A quick description of the ammunition used in the cannon and then:

A demonstration of field maneuvers ended with:

In the wood barracks building a wonderful collection of Civil War weaponry was on display.

Two very knowledgable gentleman walked us through the evolution of guns from the flintlocks used at the beginning of the war to the repeating, rim fire weapons at the end. Difficult to see, this is an octagon barrel long gun very similar to the one used by Donna and Bill's grandfather.

At four o'clock, Retreat was sounded and the evening parade ceremony was held.  The flag was lowered and folded, signaling the end of the days events.

Located near the confluence of the Mississippi River and the Minnesota River, Fort Snelling is a wonderful peek back into life in the 1800's.

Fort Snelling was used as a rendezvous and training ground for recruits and draftees during the Civil War, as well as playing a part in the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, where a few hundred Dakota warriors attacked civilians as a result of repeated broken promises and near starvation.  The rebellion was immediately crushed, and nearly 1600 non-combatant Dakota women, children and elderly were held in a stockade below the fort on the banks of the river, eventually being moved to Dakota territory. Three hundred warriors were captured, tried and sentenced to death by hanging.  President Lincoln commuted all of the sentences except for 38.  Those thirty-eight people were publicly hanged in Mankato, MN, at one time, an act that remains to this day the largest execution ever held in the US. A dark chapter in the history of Fort Snelling, and a revealing look into the treatment of the native american people.