Sunken Gardens

A special stop on the Florida getaway was to the Sunken Gardens in St. Petersburg! It's over 100 years old. Once a personal garden, it is now owned and maintained by the city. It was a great place to explore for a couple hours. Beautiful, lush greenery and gorgeous flowering plants. A special treat in late January!

After the gardens, Justin found an awesome off-the-beaten-path coffee shop called Black Crow Coffee.

Update and Recommendations

Summertime, summertime. Oh how I love thee. It's been a summer of work and play and adventure. Back in June, while working through my Lara Casey Powersheets, I picked a word for these precious months. I picked the word SAVOR - which means "to give oneself to the enjoyment of."

So that's been the main item on my daily agenda. Savor it all. Every single drop. Work and play and breakfast and bedtime and adventures and databases and vegetables. Family and friends. Savoring all of it!

I'm trying my best to release the stuff that doesn't really matter - and focus on all the goodness with a spirit of gratitude.

Work has been wonderful lately; I don't talk about it much here or on social media. So this is a quick pause to say: I love my job and my colleagues and the folks I get to serve. The work itself is rewarding and enjoyable. It's a great gig, and I'm loving it. 2.5 years into the Director of Communications position, and I'm finding a definite sweet spot.

Now - a few recent travel recommendations! I went to see some friends in IL last Monday! It was a quick trip full of laughing and conversational bliss. A few of the stops...

Blackberry Farm in Aurora, IL

My friend, Joy, and I went here with her two little guys. It was so fun, interesting, and clean! What a grand place for kids and families. Big fan!

Flight Deck Bar and Grill in Rochelle, IL

I highly recommend the cobb salad! It's gluten-free. And it came with a side of SKYDIVERS! You can literally watch people skydiving right from the restaurant. 

H-Mart in Naperville, IL

Oh me, oh my. I was afraid this place was too out of the way, but Joy insisted because she knows me very well. And she knows that there are few places on earth that bring me as much joy as a Korean grocery store. I think H-Mart is my secondary love language. :) 

Woory Market in Schaumburg, IL

On Tuesday morning I woke up and headed into Schaumberg to see my friend, Yoojin! We hung out at the library and then stopped by another Korean grocery store. I loaded up on red bean paste and seaweed. I actually teared up at this market. I'm not sure why. I think it was happiness to be seeing Yoojin and total gratitude for the Chicago years. 

Schaumburg Township District Library in Schaumburg, IL

Awesome library with a great little cafe! Yoojin and I each had a cup of tea. 

Janesville Visitors Center in Janesville, WI

On my drive back to Stewartville, I pulled off of Interstate 90 at the Janesville exit. I'd never been there and wanted a stretch break. So I gave myself 90 minutes to explore! First top: the visitors center. GREAT stop! Very helpful recommendations, maps, brochures, and coupons! 

Rock County Historical Society in Janesville, WI

This was my primary Janesville stop, and I learned a bunch! Then I got back in the car and headed home. If you have any special interest in Abe Lincoln (he stayed overnight at the house next door) or Pickard China, then it's definitely worth a stop! 

Norman Borlaug Homestead

On my way home Saturday I stopped by the childhood home and one-room schoolhouse of Norman Borlaug.

It is well-worth a stop!

Carnegie Cultural Center

Friendship is a treasure. 

On Saturday my freshman year roomie, Alison, and I got together in New Hampton for a morning meet-up! It was...bliss! Total bliss. I sure love her, and I always love our time together. We've been friends since 2001. That's 15 years. Whoa! Time flies. 

After breakfast at Klunder's Kafe (don't you just love the double k?), we were looking for another activity. I'd googled "New Hampton Historical Society" the previous evening, and the Carnegie Cultural Center came up as a search result. 

So we went for it! We happened to be the only ones in the museum, so we got a private, 90-minute tour from the director. If you're in the region, the Carnegie Cultural Center is definitely worth a stop. They have some extensive circus history and models as well as a lot about the farming practices of the last 150 years. There are a variety of interesting and random displays throughout the building. The building itself is interesting, too. It was formerly the town library but when the new library was built, this building shifted to a museum. 

We enjoyed our visit to this New Hampton gem!

Nature Being Lovely Last Week

Decorah Highlights

Justin and I visited Decorah! It was 100% Iowarific (Iowa terrific)! It's hard to believe Decorah is only about 90 minutes (or less) from Stewartville. So close! 

Here were some of my favorite stops along the way divided into the categories of nature, museum/history, and food. I'll share some photos at the top of each corresponding section.  

Nature: 

Ice Cave and Dunnings

Ice Cave

Seed Savers Exchange/Heritage Farm: Do you garden? Do you like seeds? Does your grandma have a garden? Do you like exploring beautiful acres of countryside? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, stop here! Nice trails, peaceful scenes, happy goats.

Trout Run Trail: Gorgeous 11.5-mile paved trail. We explored several miles of it with Finn, Justin's dog. There were many people using the trail - walking, running, and biking. Very family-friendly trail with great views of the rolling bluffs. And, super bonus, a view of the Decorah Eagle Cam location!

Dunnings Spring Park: This was my #1 favorite part of Decorah. I thought this park was gorgeous. We explored the waterfall area extensively and did a lot of hiking. Such a beautiful, peaceful place. I'd recommend arriving early. We did, and it was easy to find a parking spot. It really filled up by the afternoon and parking appeared more difficult.

Ice Cave: Quick, interesting stop on the way (allot 15-20 minutes). I'm learning about geology lately with the help of this book, so the cave was an especially worthwhile pause for me.

Phelps Park: Nice, historic city park with a lovely fountain and gorgeous views of Decorah. The perfect place for an afternoon nap!

Vesterheim

Visitor Center/Bureau

Scenes from the Self-Guided Historical Walking Tour 

Museums/History:

Visitor's Bureau: Stop here first and grab some maps and brochures! Neither of us had cell reception in Decorah, so GPS didn't work. We had to find things the ol' fashioned way: paper maps (*gasp*). The Visitor's Bureau was a quick, helpful stop. We were there 5-10 minutes. Just long enough to get what we needed to navigate Decorah.

Vesterheim: Are you Norwegian? Do you have relatives from Norway? Are you a pastor/church staff member who regularly hears people making references to Norwegian culture but you don't know what they're talking about? If so, you'll probably really like this museum! I'd allot an hour or so. If you're really into learning about first Norwegian immigrants to Minnesota, allot a couple hours. There are some really neat artifacts! I wish I would've visited the Vesterheim early on in my pastoral call to Zion.

Self-guided Historical Architecture Tour: This was another one of my favorite highlights of the Decorah adventure. Justin and I picked up the brochure for this self-guided walking tour at the Visitor's Center. It's a VERY well put together map with information about many of the oldest houses in town. For those who count your steps using a pedometer or FitBit, this walking tour will serve you well! (Also, say you *hypothetically* want to pretend to be a tour guide named Mildred who knows everything there is to know about Decorah - this self-guided walking tour and its accompanying map will provide all the creative space and resources you need to live out your tour guide dreams!)

Food scenes: Top left - Mabe's, Top right - Restauration, Bottom left - Java John's, Bottom right - Oneota Coop

Food:

Restauration: Yummy breakfast. We both ordered the mushroom and bacon omelet with gouda. I really liked it a lot, but I wasn't able to finish it all because it was very large. So good! Consider sharing! The coffee was good, too.

Mabe's Pizza: THEY HAVE A GLUTEN-FREE, 10-INCH CRUST OPTION. This was my favorite meal. Black olive, green olive, and pepperoni. Completley delicious. I ate almost the whole thing.

Oneota Co-op: It was food and I consumed it.

Java John's: Delicious mocha! On a rainy day, I would love to go back and spend more time there reading a local paper and people-watching.

There are so many awesome, affordable places to visit within a 3-hour radius of Stewartville. I feel grateful and excited for more expeditions in the coming summer months. Thanks for following along as I share about my travels with family and friends. I hope these posts will be a good resource for you as you go about creating your own summer adventure agendas.

#welcatg

These are a few of my favorite things: 

-travel

-people

-social media

-writing

-hotels

-hotel towels

-southern accents

-photography

-awesome women

-adventures

-airplanes

-taxi cabs

-guided tours

EXCITING NEWS ALERT:

I'll be incorporating all of the aforementioned favorite things into my life from July 23-July 27 in Charlotte, North Carolina. I've been invited to be on the social media crew for the Ninth Triennial Gathering of the Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Awesome! Yahoo! Yippee! Rejoicing! Glee! 

I'm so thrilled! This will be an amazing opportunity to participate in an inspiring event and share about it with others. All be using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and this blog every step of the way (#welcatg). 

Wednesday, July 23 = travel day

Thursday, July 24 = touring Charlotte and enjoying dinner with the other social media folks, Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, WELCA staff, and other awesome folks 

Friday, July 25-Saturday, July 26 = the official gathering

Sunday, July 27 = worship and journey home

Highlights I'm most looking forward to:

-Hearing Susan Sparks (she's a lawyer, pastor, AND comedian!)

-Exploring Charlotte, North Carolina

-Meeting women from around the country

-Attending interesting workshops

Thank you, WELCA for this opportunity!

I am thrilled and deeply thankful.