From Thursday June 23rd through Monday July 4th Melissa and I were back in our home country!  Our trip was our once a year visit home, and the excuse we used for taking it this year was a wedding for my cousin Sam to his bride Marianne.  We only visited our home state of Minnesota, but managed to see a lot of it – from the Twin Cities, to Faribault, to Mankato, to Atwater, to New York Mills, and even to tiny Wolverton.  As we busily criss-crossed the state squeezing in as many visits with friends and family as possible.

Our flight into Minnesota landed at 6 p.m. local time Thursday – just thirteen hours after we boarded our first flight in Geneva.  As we exited the airport my sister-in-law Ann was already waiting for us, and she quickly whisked us off straight to Sam and Marianne’s rehearsal dinner in St. Paul.  At the dinner we had so much fun catching up with everyone, we didn’t have time to feel tired.  It wasn’t until we left at 10 p.m., (21 hours after we woke up in Switzerland) that we finally started to crash.  By the time we made it to Dan and Ann’s house it was a challenge keeping our eyes open as we brushed our teeth before collapsing into bed.  The busy and late night did the trick, though, because we both woke up the next morning ready to go, and on the American sleep schedule, with hardly any jet lag.

The next day we had the sad honor of attending the funeral of Fred Klose, a family friend of the Johnsons’.  It wasn’t in our plans originally, but it was nice for Melissa to be able to pay respects to someone she’d known her whole life.  Janell picked us up in the morning from St. Louis Park, then drove us out to Spicer, Minnesota, where the funeral took place.  It was a standing room only event, with lots of people staying after for coffee, snacks, and conversation, which I’m told Fred would have liked.  We were able to see much of Melissa’s family at the funeral, and also stopped to see Keith who was stuck working.  In the late afternoon we drove back to Dan and Ann’s, taking Melissa’s Hyundai Elantra, which we never sold before moving.

Saturday was the big day of Sam and Marianne’s wedding.  It was a hot and humid day, but there was air conditioning at the Fort Snelling chapel, and Bloomington reception site.  Sam and Marianne both wore white (Sam in his Navy uniform) and everything went off without a hitch.  After the ceremony we had some time to visit with all of my mom’s side of the family outside the chapel.  Then, because there was a few hour gap until the reception, we went back to Dan and Ann’s house, and brought along some cousins to hang out too.

The reception had a few less people than my and Melissa’s wedding, but that didn’t stop everyone from dancing and partying late into the night – led by Sam’s group of Navy friends.  The navy guys really knew how to dance, which makes you wonder a little about what they do alone on those ships.

Sunday morning was our last morning at Dan and Ann’s.  After a breakfast of crepes, Melissa and I drove down to my parents farm near Faribault.  Our day in Faribault was low-key and relaxing.  An old friend of mine, Jon Lisowski, and his wife Jackie came over to visit, and we had fun catching up with them as well as checking out my Dad’s gardens, and picking some strawberries.

The next day my parents, Mike, Melissa, and I all went on a road trip to Mankato.  Since the last time I’d seen my brother Kevin he had bought a house in a quiet neighborhood in North Mankato, so we had to go check it out.  It’s an older, well-built, house, big enough to keep Kevin busy with lots of projects, and it has space outside for a garden to remind Kevin of his farming roots.  Kevin’s neighborhood is quite friendly, with Kevin knowing all his neighbors, and by chance one of his neighbors is the mother of someone I knew from college.

In the afternoon, after our house tour and lunch, we headed over to his neighbor’s  house where my college friend Jason happened to be home.  We stayed and chatted a while, then went back to Kevin’s house and hung out until supper time.  Around supper time another friend of mine, Mike Blonigen, stopped over and we all went to a Chinese buffet together.  American Chinese food was one thing I’d been craving, but I was a little disappointed to find my taste buds have changed and everything tasted a little bit too sweet now.

Tuesday was another calm day in Faribault.  We tried shopping in Medford in the morning, but Melissa didn’t quite find what she wanted.  In the afternoon we had a nice long visited with my grandparents in Faribault, then went on a short canoe trip on the placid Straight River just before supper.

The next day, Wednesday, was our last with my parents in Faribault. We took advantage of the nice morning weather by being outside in the garden and picking more strawberries.  Growing up my parents always had a large strawberry farm, but it gradually shrank as their child labor grew up and moved away.  It was fun and nostalgic for me to be out picking again.  It was also a big deal for Melissa because surprisingly, even though we’ve been together six summers, it was her first time picking strawberries at the Olson Berry Farm.  She’s finally a real part of the family!

After lunch we said goodbye to my parents and headed up to the cities and the Mall of America.  The clothing prices are much cheaper in the States compared to Switzerland, and Melissa took advantage of it.  Toward the evening we made a stop at the Surly Brewery where we stayed late into the night talking with friends Anna Haugen, Tim Gillard, Colleen Crook, and Ralm Ricarte.  That night we slept at Tim and Colleen’s apartment that is fortunately within walking distance of the brewery.

On Thursday we left for Melissa’s parent’s house after eating some delicious french toast made by Colleen.  After we arrived at Melissa’s house I took a nap while Melissa and Janell ran some errands.   Melissa actually needed to renew her drivers license, which had expired in March.  When Melissa got to the DMV window she simply stated that her license expired a little bit ago and she needed a new one, only for the clerk to exclaim “A little bit expired?!” Fortunately all they need was a few signatures, an eye test, and a check.   After all of that running around (and napping) we filled up on some delicious home smoked (by Tim McCoy) barbecue ribs.

The next day, Friday, we again got to visit a sibling’s new house. Melissa’s brother Kyle had just bought a house in New York Mills, and we all drove up early in the morning to help him move in. The Johnson’s new Hyundai Santa Fe, as well as their Chevy Silverado towing a cattle trailer, were completely filled up with Kyle’s stuff from the Johnson home.  We quickly unloaded all of Kyle’s things with the help of Melissa’s friend Eric Adams, who just happened to be nearby in Detroit Lakes for the weekend.  When everything was unloaded and we scarfed down a few slices of pizza, Melissa, Eric, and I rode off together to visit another friend of Melissa’s, Renata Smeby, who lives in the town of Wolverton, right on the North Dakota border.  We caught up, reminisced, and played with her two kids for the whole afternoon.  Before we knew it, her husband Travis came home from work with a giant pan of pasta for dinner.  All too soon, we were saying our long Minnesota goodbyes, and we drove back to Kyle’s new house.

Once we made it back to Kyle’s house, we learned that we missed out on a lot of work.  It turned out that Kyle had a few more loads of ‘stuff’ tucked away at the house he was temporarily staying at. After hauling back and unpacking more of Kyle’s things, Keith and Janell had started painting, and were still at it as the sun was setting. There wasn’t anything we could do to help, so Melissa and I headed back to the Johnson farm, arriving at 11:30 PM.  Keith and Janell eventually pulled in around midnight, and Kyle managed to make it to the farm around 1 AM.

After a long and busy Friday, it was nice to have a more relaxing Saturday.  Just before noon we drove into Litchfield to visit Melissa’s Grandma Mae Johnson for a few hours.  In the afternoon we went out to Green lake for a ride on Melissa’s aunt and uncle’s (Jean and Jeff’s) pontoon.  For supper we went to Jean and Jeff’s house and visited with much of Janell’s side of the family who also came out.

On Sunday my parents, Kevin and Mike came over to the Johnson’s. We had a special desert ready that day.  The Johnson’s had been storing our wedding cake in their freezer for two years, and we finally decided to cut into it after lunch, it was, surprisingly, still edible. In the afternoon Kevin, Mike, and Kyle went for a boat ride, while the rest of us went to the Glacier Ridge winery where we sampled nearly the whole menu, shaded from the hot afternoon sun. Because of the beautiful warm weather, Jeff and Jean were again on Green lake, so after the winery we took my family out for a cruise with them.  Eventually we all found our way to Jean and Jeff’s for another large family dinner until the wine and sun caught up with us and we headed back to the Johnson’s.

Monday the fourth of July was our final day in America.  We stayed at the Johnson house all day, and had family friends Tim and Tracey McCoy, as well as my brother and sister in law, Dan and Ann, come out to visit at lunch time.  It was our last big American meal and Janell spoiled us with as much ribs, pasta salads, and desserts as we could handle.   The afternoon was spent chatting with the constant shadow of our soon departure hanging over everyone.  Then at 5:30 p.m. we started our rounds of hugs and tears to say goodbye.  Dan and Ann drove us to the airport, dropping us off with plenty of time for our 9:50 p.m. flight.  Being the fourth of July it was really cool to see fireworks going off all along the horizon as our plane lifted off.

This was a very “list-y” post filled with the facts of our trip.  But I need to say as briefly as possible how it felt to be “home”.  To me the best analogy is the feeling of visiting your parents house after first moving away.  Things changed without me knowing, and people lived their lives without me there to experience it with them.  Switzerland definitely feels foreign, but I caught myself marveling in Minnesota at newly constructed buildings, stories from my friends and family about all the changes in their lives, and of course the crazy national politics.   Things you wouldn’t think of like not seeing mountains on the horizon, driving a car everywhere, and being able to speak English to anyone also gave me pause, and reminded me that I live somewhere else.  It is quite the adventure Melissa and I are on, but soon we will have to decide if we want to keep making Europe feel less foreign at the expense of making America feel more so.

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