WABASHA, MN

The Eagle Center is along the banks of the Mississippi in Wabasha. It's very pretty along the river bank with flowers, rocks and a waterfall.

There's also a statue of Chief Wabasha, for whom the town was named.

They've built some new, expensive condos along the waterfront.

Here's part of the downtown.

This sign should tip you off about the movie that was shot in this small town. Does anyone remember "Grumpy Old Men"?

For those of you who live nearby, it's worth a trip!

MORE EAGLES

I thought the eagles x-rays were interesting.

One of the things that makes this building nice, is the ability to see the river almost everywhere.

How cool is it that the eagles can almost pretend they're outside in their natural habitat?

Here's Donald!!!! I could put a remark here, but I'll pass.

This is the newest and youngest male. They have high hopes for him.

NATIONAL EAGLE CENTER

One of the reasons we went up to Red Wing, is because we like that area along the Mississippi, and wanted to take a ride to Wabasha to visit the National Eagle Center. It's set in a beautiful area downtown, right next to the Mississippi. The architecture and lanscaping were first rate. It even has an eagle on the roof.

We got there just in time to hear a delightful young man give a program on the eagles that are at the center. This is one guy who picked the right occupation-it's obvious that he loves birds of all types, but especially eagles. He had a room full and later you'll understand why I was thrilled to be in the back.

He's going to feed one of the eagles, and since it was Sunday dinner, the eagle will get it's favorite meal-a rat! He just had to walk around and show the crowd.

Here he's holding Harriet, an eagle who has appeared on Minnesota license plates, a Harley Davidson motorcycle, and many other things. Very photogenic-and she's even appeared on TV.

All the eagles in captivity at the center, have been injured somehow. One of them is blind in one eye. It can fly, but would miss getting it's food and be in more danger of getting hurt. Did you know that an eagle can see a rabbit three miles away? This eagle would be in trouble. Harriet was hit by a car and her wing was broken, so she's unable to fly. You can see it very well when she spreads her wings.

Now, if you look closely, you can see the rat between Harriet's paws as she ate two of them, and had a full belly. They remove the intestines ahead of time, because the eagles don't like that part, and sometimes they sort of spit them toward the people. No spitting today-she didn't miss a bite!

ON TO DECORAH

We went to Decorah for a few days to see friends and Don's coffee group. It was a slow trip in. Have you ever followed the truck that paints the lines-very slowly, for miles? It's an interesting experience.



We spent time with Browns, Ludekings, and the office staff. We were going to Minneapolis, but Scott is busy, so will go to Red Wing and spend a few days. Thanks to everyone in Decorah for making it a nice visit.

ANOTHER MISHAP!

We headed for Grinnell to see Heidi's family and friends, and almost made it. We had filled up the tank with fuel in Des Moines and as we got to the Kellogg turn off, we smelled diesel. The engine light came on and Don took the exit. As we approached the stop sign, the engine died. It was 4 o'clock. We looked outside and saw that we were leaking fuel on the pavement, and it had sprayed fuel all over the car.

Don called the road service and they had trouble finding a tow truck for us. No one in Des Moines will do it for less than $1000. They set us up with one in Cedar Rapids, about an hour and a half away. He was to come and tow us to Des Moines. We waited and waited. Finally, after many phone calls, she found another guy in Oskaloosa and he got there around 9:30. Since it was dark, we had to have a deputy sherriff direct traffic. Of course, the guy had to have trouble hooking it up, so didn't leave with it until 11:30.

In the meantime, we had been talking to our friends in Grinnell, the Wilsons and Fitzgerald's. Fitz had a power washer to use on the car and an empty bedroom, so we headed there. The next morning we found out that they wouldn't have the part they needed until the next day, so, Fitz' left town and left us their house. (Thank you, thank you, thank you!) While there we went to dinner with our daughter, spent time with Wilsons, ate lunch at the college's grill that Larry runs, visited Sue and Howard McDonough and Suzi and Bill Hansen. Nice to see everyone. The next day we did some shopping in Des Moines while we were waiting for them to get it fixed. Apparently it was a #6 fuel injector line. (God only knows what would have happened if it had been a #5 or 7-but I'm being facicious!) Anyway, we left around 4:30, and got to Kieler, WI, near Dubuque, around 8:30. The next day we attended our nephew Cody's High school graduation party, and on Sunday, our niece Renae's wedding shower. Very nice seeing everyone especially Don's mother who is 91. Tomorrow we'll head to Decorah for a couple days on our way to Minneapolis to see Scott.

A CHUCKLE

We arrived at our son Russ' home on Memorial Day, and couldn't help chuckling when we drove up. It reminded us of when we had teenagers. We not only got tp'd, but one morning we had 25 real estate signs in our front yard. Such fun!!!

We had a very nice two days, playing cards, shopping , going out for pizza, having a delicious rib dinner, catching up on news and being amazed at how much they've changed and grown.

NEBRASKA SCENERY

Nebraska usually gets a bad name when it comes to interesting scenery. We found some along I 80.






Not so bad!