In MN

I made it to Minnesota today.  My brother took me to the train last night.  After getting my seat and putting my luggage on board I stood outside talking to my brother.   A man carried his sister's luggage on board and upstairs to the top level for her.

A few minutes later I noticed a man trying to open - with no success - the opposite door on the train.  I called out and asked him what he was doing as that door led to the train tracks on the other side.  He then noticed me and the open door on my side.  It was the man who carried his sister's luggage upstairs.  He sheepishly mumbled something and exited the train through the open door.

The train was on time the whole time.  It also had few people on my car.  I easily was able to find a pair of open seats.  I even had my choice and chose a pair of seats where I had part of the wall to lean my pillow against.

I brought my larger pillow along  and a thin blanket so I was set for the night.  I slept fairly well although not deeply.  Lots of half remembering dreams.

In Minneapolis/St Paul lots and lots of people boarded.  I stayed asleep spread out over my two seats.  Once the train left the station I woke up to find most of the seats filled.

At Red Wing, MN an older woman and I were getting off.  We were in the third from the last car and were not near the station.  The train attendant mused wondering if the others remembered we were getting off the train.  I told her I was willing to walk to the station but the attendant wouldn't open the door because there was no platform, only train tracks.

At the station a large group of people were on the platform.  Once they were loaded the train started up.  Is the train picking up speed? Will it stop?  Well,  the train did stop at the station and let us off the train.   And there was Tammy waiting for me.  Yay!

Before heading to Rochester we drove up to a park on a bluff overlooking Red Wing and the Mississippi River and valley.  It has been many years since I had been there so after crossing the river into Wisconsin (oops, my bad), we used Tammy's Garmin GPS unit to find the park. After the GPS unit kept telling us to turn right on non existent intersections we stopped listening to "her".  We stopped at a visitor center and I found the park using a map.

This photos are of Red Wing.  The bluff on the right in the second photo is Barn Bluff.  I don't have a photo editor right now that stitches photos so you'll have to see them in two photos.

Notice, this is Minnesota.  There are no mountains.