Rapunzel in Rochester?

Yes, several of you Sherlock-Holmes-wannabe's were correct........my destination yesterday was Rochester, Minnesota. A blogger friend, Nancy of SewManyDays blog, is from that area. Nancy......can you provide any info about this intriguing tower perched on one of the hills above Rochester? Did Rapunzel live there?

About once a year, my husband's cousins from the Twin Cities buy a half-beef from us and they meet me in Rochester to get the meat. The two-hour drive usually provides an enjoyable escape, giving me chance a chance to shop and view new scenery. Yesterday's trip turned out to be rather rushed, though, due to Daughter and I spending all morning at UrgentCare. An evening basketball game forced a quick return trip, also. I tried to make the most of hurried day, however.

After delivering the meat, I shopped for a few necessities at Target and then before heading south again I ventured up the hill to the Sisters of Assisi convent (photos coming Sunday) which overlooks Rochester. I was in luck......there didn't seem to be any guard dogs around, trained to chase Protestants away. This next photo is from the convent hill:


Rochester is home to the Mayo Clinic, of course. Several years ago, I toured there with a school group. It was most interesting. A country doctor/farmer named Mayo settled in this area during Civil War times. He had two sons who became doctors and ended up establishing the Mayo Clinic. They originated the concept of the group medical practice. One of the larger hospitals connected with the clinic is St. Mary's.......the Mayos were not Catholic, but they needed nurses to care for patients and ended up asking the nuns at the convent on the hill to fill that need and that's how St. Mary's Hospital came to be. The other hospital in town is Methodist. A tidbit of info: the older Dr. Mayo died in his nineties.......he got caught in a corn shredder one day. He died with his farming boots still on!

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Highway 63 took me north to my destination. There were lots of interesting things to see along the way. Honestly, I've never seen a farm shed of this color before:

This next scene was taken on the way home, of course. Want to push this amateur photographer toward insanity? Force her to view myriad, ever-changing scenes of a gorgeous sunset, while allowing little chance to catch any of it on camera.

There were old farm buildings galore:

And, an occasional church spire........this one is at Lourdes, Iowa:

Here's a sight rarely seen nowadays.......corn stored on the ear in a wire corncrib. When I was a kid, we had two large wire cribs which were filled with ear corn every autumn. The following summer, the corn sheller man would come for a day of shelling. The next day there would be a huge mountain of corn cobs for us kids to play on......plus a pile of corn husks. Fun, fun!!

Here's another style of open-air corn storage from the past:

Sailing along right through the "golden hour".......

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As stated, I will post photos of the convent on Sunday.

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