Day: July 2, 2015

We visited the Guthrie Theater for a performance of one of my favorite musicals.

It was a thrust stage and we had very good seats.  One thing I noticed about the perspective that the thrust theater offered is that I could see how much spittle flew out of the actors’ mouths when they talked.

After the show we visited the Prohibition Bar in the Forshay Tower, which was a skyscraper modeled after the Washington Monument. Originally, this was Mr. Forshay’s private retreat on the 27th and 28th floors.  Then the market crashed and Mr. Forshay lost his fortune.  He never got to live here.  But we got to buy fancy drinks.  Also, John Philip Sousa wrote a march for the dedication of the building, but the check bounced, so it was only played once.  At least until 1988 when some investors paid off the debt.

Our fancy drinks.  They were quite delicious.

Though we walked to the Mill City Museum over the Stone Arch Bridge, we crossed the Third Avenue Bridge coming back.  But first we were waylaid by this fabulous Post Office.  

I love this great infinity view.  This was built at a time when we believe government provided serveices and solutions.  It shows in the mammoth scale and the multitude of details.

Wonderful typeface.

We are lacking in bulletins today.

Gorgeous drop box.

Who wouldn’t be happy to finish addressing their mail here?

On the other side of the river we found the Ard Godfry House.  As the earliest surviving frame house it fit my vacation theme of “Houses and Homes.”

As I enjoyed saying ,”Did you know that the Women’s Club of Minneapolis restored this house?” Because you can’t read about the Ard Godfry house without hearing about the Women’s Club of Minneapolis.

We walked by Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church.  This was originally a Universalist Church.  In 1877, the Catholics bought it and made it Catholic fancy.  You can see where the front part was grafted onto the original Greek Revival style.

We also visited Kramarczuk’s Sausage Company, where Sara got Borscht and a roll and I had sauerkraut soup with ham, a roll and a very delicious beet vinaigrette salad that I think was Ukrainian.

As we were talking, Sara’s eyes lit up.  A couple passed our booth and we guessed they might have gotten married, based on their outfits. I caught this picture, of the couple, Sara, and a perfect shirt.  This is my favorite picture from the entire trip.

On our way out we looked at the various sausage products available.

Our first stop of the day was the Mill City Museum.

We were scheduled for a Flour Tower multimedia tour, but had some time to kill, so we took this self-portrait in front of the big Bisquick package.

We could have also designed our own cereal box, but we did not.

The Flour Tour took place in an old freight elevator.

Our guide gave us information about the flour mill before beginning our multi-media experience.

I was interested in this camp which seemed to have a cool activity every single day.  I wouldn’t mind going to that camp.

The multi-media experience did not allow photographs, but it was very cool. The elevator moved to different floors and then told us some part of the history of the mill.  After the multi-media experience we were deposited on the top floor of the mill and learned how very important the dust collectors are.  Apparently, if you don’t have them, your factory explodes and kills many people and destroys several other factories.  This mill would know, because it happened here, once upon a time.

The mill met its end in the 60s when yet another fire (I think there were four total?) decimated the building.  Today, the walls make an attractive courtyard.

Our view of the Mississippi and St. Anthony falls.  These falls are what brought the power and made this a great site for flour and other mills.

There was also an extensive museum commemorating and celebrating General Mills products.  Here’s the story of one of the winners of the Pillsbury Bake-Off.  They had a fabulous video too.

On the way to watch a demonstration of how dust can cause an explosion, I took this picture.

I also loved these Fire Alarm Signals, leftover from back before intercom systems allowed verbal communication.

We were quite good at stacking the blocks and building some towers.

We also viewed a history of Minneapolis in 19 minutes flat, which was a great introduction to the city for me.  You can see a 30 second trailer here.

Sara and I did some planning via phone and email.  I was amused to see our different note taking styles join together. I’m on the left, Sara’s on the right.