We were invited to attend our friend's wedding during July 4th weekend. I freaked out a little bit after I read M&D's wedding invite information. July 4th - Highly suggest to go watch fireworks over beautiful Excelsior Bay. July 5th - Welcoming Boat Cruise, with appetizers and drinks, leaving from Port Excelsior 7:30 - 10:30. July 6th - Wedding Day at Mimi's House, arrival 3:30, ceremony 4:00, cocktail hour 4:30, dinner 6:00 , first dance at sunset, 9:30 fireworks, and 10:30 farewell. July 7th - Brunch & Bubbles at Six Smith Rooftop at Wayzata Marina, 10:00 - 1:00. I read the invite information and knew my teacher clothes wardrobe was not going to work for this weekend.
I called up my friend LG, who does make-up and styling for a photographer, to go shopping with me to find four outfits for this weekend. LG said she would help me as long as, "You go where ever I want to go shopping, you try on as many things as I tell you to, you agree to buy outfits with color, and you don't argue." Of course I agreed to her demands. We shopped for hours and I bought four dresses plus shoes and jewelry to go with each dress.
I did not take this dress on the trip. I ended up wearing a patriotic t-shirt and a blue & white skort I already owned.
I wore this to brunch.
LG "let" me get this blue dress for the boat cruise even though she did not approve of its "BORING" color.
Dress for the wedding.
A couple of days before we left for the trip, I went to see my doctor for my left ear. It had been hurting and I still could not fully hear out of it since our flight back from Fiji eleven days before. I was worried about how my ear would be on the flight to Minnesota. The doctor told me, "Even if you eardrum bursts on your next flight, it should not cause any permanent damage and it would help relieve the pressure you are feeling." Well, that was encouraging. He ended up giving me a prescription for steroids and a prescription nose spray to help clear it up. My ear started getting better with those prescriptions.
We stayed at a hotel in Chanhassen, Minnesota. The weather was wonderfully cool with lovely sunshine.
There had been a lot of rain and flooding in the area a few days before we arrived. We went to Port Excelsior to watch the 4th of July fireworks only to find out they had shot off the fireworks the night before because the town was worried about the weather. We went to M&D's airbnb and hung out for the evening.
The next day, we had time to explore the area before the boat cruise. We really wanted to be outside to enjoy the cooler than Texas weather. We spent a lovely day at Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska. It covers 1200 acres with many different types of gardens and trails. It is a part of The University of Minnesota and is used for research. It also has protected natural areas. We visited many different gardens and walked the 3 Mile Loop Trail. Here are a ton of pictures from our day.
My husband insisted on playing with the coin drop.
I always take pictures of trees when we go on trips to show to my mom. I sent her this picture with the caption, "Mom, this tree is huggable. Isn't that interesting?"
This is actually a pond. It was completely coated with green algae.
I felt like Alice in Wonderland in this little house. There were several other little houses near it.
A lot of the trail was nicely shaded. We really enjoyed out walk.
The sculpture garden had sculptures by Native American artists.
I loved the sculpture of two children looking into the pond in the rose garden.
We could not resist trying to find our way through the hedge maze.
My husband led the way.
Oops! We hit a dead end. We eventually found our way out of the maze.
The whole area was so beautiful. We really enjoyed our time in the Landscape Arboretum.
We cleaned up at our hotel and then had dinner at a little restaurant in Port Excelsior before getting on the boat cruise. The cruise was a lot of fun. We got to visit with people we knew and people we just met. The sunset view from the boat was gorgeous.
LG was right, my outfit was a little bit boring for the boat cruise. Here is a picture of M&D on the boat.
This post is getting too long. I will write part 2 in a little bit.
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