On the vaccination train at last!

[dreamshark]

The trip to Wisconsin went great!  It really did seem like a Great Adventure. As far as we could remember, the last time we drove anywhere further away than St. Paul was well over a year ago when we attended a funeral in Benson. We got all excited, packing a lunch, loading the car with extra water bottles, and arguing over the best way to get on the highway. 

First stop was the Franconia Sculpture Park. Much like Big Stone Minigolf in St. Boni, this endeavor appears to be a hobby that got out of hand. It's mostly very large, weird, interactive art installations with a strong child-friendly slant. I'd like to go back when it is not quite so mushy and muddy, preferably with Lena. There are many structures to climb on and sit inside of. And many artistically designed places to sit and rest, which I appreciate these days. Very cool.

We had our little picnic there, and then proceeded on to the Amery Hospital and Clinic, just 30 minutes away. The vaccination experience was entirely pleasant, with absolutely no waiting even though I arrived 40 minutes early. Their vax operation seemed to be vastly overstaffed (or underutilized, depending on your point of view), which is great for the patient but presumably not so great for the hospital bottom line. At every step of the way (and there were an awful lot of steps) there seemed to be about 3 helpful, friendly staff members for every patient. Weirdly, they had only a handful of appointments still available on April 1 for my second shot, all after 6:30pm. But considering my experience today, I'm pretty sure I could show up at 5pm again with no problem. Which I might do, since I'd rather not drive both ways in the dark. In any case, the first vaccination is done and I'm on the train to relative immunity!

Here are a few pictures from Franconia Sculpture Park. 

Most of the installations here look they were constructed from old junk or leftover construction materials. I can't imagine what these things were in their former life, but they are REALLY BIG. 



A view from inside the big climbing structure. 


This is probably the coolest thing in the park. Both of the larger chambers have seats inside. If you put a person in each seat they can see other through what appear to be simple holes and tubes in the walls, but at all kinds of odd angles. Presumably there are mirrors involved, but you really can't see them. If you happen to have seen Tales from the Loop on Prime Video (which I recommend) this installation will send chills up your spine. But it turns out to be less dangerous than it looks. 


This one is clearly by a different artist. Three naked men sitting in the snow surrounded by a beautiful spruce grove. There is a sign that says, "Please do not walk on the sculpture" that makes me suspect there is more to this piece that is currently hidden under the snow. Intriguing.

Comments

"I'd rather not drive both ways in the dark"

[ng_moonmoth]

I doubt you'd have to. In fact, a 6:30 appointment will just miss being a daylight round trip by then, depending on how long they want you to stay there. First off, it's a month from now, which will move sunset a half hour or more later all by itself. And then there's another hour of evening light available as of a week from Sunday. I would expect sunset at your location then to be somewhere around 7:30. (Pretty close -- ephemeris for MSP says 7:41.)

Hope you have an appropriate reaction, and that all goes well.

Re: "I'd rather not drive both ways in the dark"

[dreamshark]

Remember, it's a 90 minute drive. Eventually, it does stay light until in 8:30 in Minnesota, but not by April 1. But yes, it will probably be nice and light by 6:30 by then.

Re: "I'd rather not drive both ways in the dark"

[ng_moonmoth]

Thanks for the time check. Although I'm generally familiar with how the roads like the ones you'd be driving on go (even drove that section of US 8 once), I could only guess at the specifics -- and recognize that the Twin Cities cover enough area to introduce more variation. I was pretty sure it would be at least an hour.

I grew up in Wisconsin, and spent a decent portion of summers at roughly your latitude. So yeah, my experience aligns well with your clock.