Time for an easy start to our day. It took us a while to get going today, (Deb sends her deep appreciation to Telstra for the 5am text saying our plan had changed to EXACTLY AS IT WAS!!) hence we got away a little after 10:30am and headed to the Franconia Sculpture Park, in Schafer Minnesota. Did I mention that it was bit “Minnesotan” brisk out this morning. I think the thermometer read 40F, and a good dose of wind chill, and it was mighty cold out there.
We got out of the car at the Sculpture Park and went to the little information booth, I think that is when we all realised just how cold it was. But being brave souls, and since we were already here, we had a good look around this enormous park. They call the sculptures “Monumental”, as they are there to be seen, felt, heard and touched, and we did all that.
I think after about 3 minutes I had lost the feeling in my fingers and then other exposed bits of my flesh slowly lost feeling, I was sure I would lose something to frost bite!! 
But there was art to be seen, over 100 sculptures made from of all sorts of materials, mostly recycled. The park opened in 1996 and has had up 40 different artists in residence at any one time. The result is a collection of works accessed by an interconnecting series of paths including a Wall of Boom-boxes, 3m carved wooded fish, a building suspended from a single steel chain over a graveyard cross, a twisted steel skeleton, a large carved head complete with flowing scarf, and a whole lot of other abstract, whimsical, classical and “imaginative” pieces. There was an empty corn field right next to the park, and the remaining corn stalks, cut to within a foot of the ground an interesting photo piece.
It would have been good to spend a lot more time strolling through the park, but self preservation prevailed, and we all headed for the warmth of the car before permanent damage was done to any of us!! 🙂 (Deb is thinking it might be time to breakout our thermals!!)
We then decided we had better have lunch, and went to a small town on the Croix River (across the river from Wisconsin) called Taylors Falls. It seemed stuck in another time, like a lot of rural America seems to be, why change something if it ain’t broke!
We went back home again before heading out to see a movie, Woman in Gold, with Helen Mirren. Now for everyone back home, the price of movie tickets here is insane. For most movies it’s under $10, we paid $6 today, on Tuesdays it’s $5, and in the cinema we went to it had Gold Class style reclining seats as standard!! We enjoyed the movie, it was based on a true story.
For dinner we went to a Tavern and Grill, most of the menu allowed you to personalise your order, be it a salad, burger, pizza or even a Bloody Mary. Tick the boxes on a form and they made it just how you wanted it!! The service was timely, very helpful and friendly and the food delicious, a good way to finish our day.
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