Today was our last full day in Minnesota, and the morning began with a lot of clouds. and, for me, a fair amount of trepidation about how to make the most of these final precious hours with my family.
Once again, I woke in the wee hours of the morning thinking about our plans for the day.
Ash and the family were facing a two-hour drive each way to meet Nick, Lys and the kids and us for our planned adventure. I was concerned about her making yet another long trip north and trying to coordinate everything with seven kids and Orion. I texted her and told her not to feel any pressure to come. We would completely understand if they couldn't make it.
We were up before 7 after Tad announced that morning had officially commenced. I spent more than two hours updating the blog while Janice worked on her computer.
Then Nick texted.
He and the kids were up, and Alice really wanted to go to Stillwater. He also told us that the folks who own an Airbnb cabin that Lys regularly cleans had generously offered to let them use the cabin that evening. We could have dinner there and finish our last night together around a campfire.
Nick texted Ash, and she said that Orion and at least some of the kids would meet us in Stillwater around 1 p.m.
Suddenly, it all seemed perfect.
We jumped into my sister Lynn's car and headed out. Lynn has always been incredibly gracious to us. Not only can we boondock at her house, she loans us her car so we don't have to take the motorhome on all of our adventures with the kids and grandkids.
She is an angel.
Janice wanted to get her hair cut, so we stopped in Pine City. While she was getting her haircut, I filled the car with gas and made a quick trip to the store. By the time I finished, Janice came out and we were ready to roll.
We arrived in Stillwater around 1:30. Nick, Lys and the kids had already spent about 45 minutes at Teddy Bear Park and were eating the lunch they had brought. Ash, Orion and their crew had just arrived and were getting their lunches out, too. Odin and Ike had decided to stay home because they needed some downtime, and I was actually relieved that they felt comfortable doing that rather than feeling pressured to come.
Everyone could simply do what was right for them.
I had promised ice cream, so after lunch our entourage headed down toward the St. Croix River.
Stillwater is a beautiful old river town, and our parade of 14 people walked and talked our way toward the ice cream shop.
We stopped at Minnesota Nice Cream. Two teenage boys were working behind the counter, and with our group it took a while for everyone to study the choices, change their minds and finally decide what they wanted. Watching everybody enjoy their treats was half the fun.
Even Tad got a little pup cup.
Afterward, we walked across the historic lift bridge and crossed the St. Croix into Wisconsin. Fortunately, despite my purple-sleeved Oregon Norsemen shirt, I was neither accosted nor publicly shunned by any cheeseheads while on Wisconsin soil.
The younger kids did remarkably well on the long walk, and after crossing back into Minnesota, we finished our Stillwater expedition with a trip to a park high on the bluff overlooking the town and river.
The view was spectacular.
The first fall colors were beginning to show across the landscape, hints of what was still to come after we headed east.
The younger kids discovered the merry-go-round, and that became the main attraction. Nick, Janice and I took turns pushing them around and around as they laughed with pure, unrestrained glee.
Eventually, though, the afternoon began slipping away.
It was time for Ash, Orion and the kids to make the long drive home. We hugged everyone and told them how grateful we were for all the time they had made for us during our weeks in Minnesota.
Then we watched them go.
Nick said he would pick up Papa Murphy's pizza for dinner at the cabin, while Janice and I headed back to the motorhome to gather some firewood.
The cabin on Pokegama Lake is about halfway between Lynn's house and Nick and Alyssa's home, making it the perfect gathering place for one last evening together.
When we arrived, the pizza had just gone into the oven.
And the sun was setting over the lake.
Perfect timing.
The golden light reflecting across the water was breathtaking. After a day that had begun beneath gloomy clouds and drizzle, Minnesota seemed determined to give us one final gift.
Janice and I unloaded the firewood and arranged our chairs outside, and then we all went into the cozy cabin for pizza.
After dinner, we gathered around the campfire.
All three kids seemed completely immersed in the experience, the fire, the lake, the darkness settling around us and, most importantly, our time together.
There wasn't anywhere else we needed to be.
There wasn't anything else we needed to accomplish.
We were simply together.
And then, all too soon, it was time to go.
Alice, our eight-year-old granddaughter, was very sad that we were leaving Minnesota.
"Why do you have to live so far away?"
That about broke our hearts.
There really isn't a good answer to a question like that.
We hugged everyone one more time and stood there watching as they pulled away. Then we followed them down the dirt road toward home.
Above the fields, a nearly full moon was rising into the night sky. Wisps of fog began gathering in the low places, drifting across the landscape as we drove.
I thought about how the day had begun, with gloomy clouds, drizzle and me lying awake worrying about how we were going to make everything work.
And somehow, everything simply fell into place.
Fourteen of us gathered in Stillwater. We ate ice cream along the St. Croix, walked all the way to Wisconsin and back, watched children spin around a merry-go-round, shared pizza in a little cabin beside a lake, watched a golden Minnesota sunset and finished our last evening together around a campfire.
Perfect timing.
But what meant the most to me was watching my son and daughter work together to make our final day with them on this trip so memorable. Everyone had busy lives, children to coordinate, miles to drive and plenty of reasons why getting everyone together could have been difficult.
Yet they made it happen.
Tomorrow, the Chariot of the Dogs rolls east and the Grand Adventure continues.
Tonight, though, as that moon rose above the Minnesota fields and the fog gathered beneath it, my heart was full.
Some days don't need to be carefully choreographed.
Sometimes you just give them room to unfold.
And every once in a while, everything arrives at exactly the right moment.
Perfect timing.
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