Well after our hike and castle exploration was rained out we decided to do a little shopping . We hit a bike store where I promptly fell in love with this. And no, it didn’t cost THAT much at the store. I stopped dreaming about a blue and brown bike and we he headed for lunch.

After lunch the skies had cleared up considerably and we decided to visit the Arboretum. In all of the years that I lived in the Cleveland area I never once visited the Arboretum there. It turns out it that is a very nice place with many hiking trails lots of activities and areas to explore.  We hiked for a little more than 2 miles and took a tour in an electric tram car.  With so much to see there we were only able to see a fraction of what the facility has to offer.

Waterfall in the Butterfly Garden @ Holden Arboretum

Pine Reflections

The Butterfly Garden was in full bloom.

More flowers

Carson hiking map and walking stick in hand

A large part of my day was spent trying to get a decent bee picture.

Trying...

and trying once again.

We finally capped the day with an 8.2 mile bike along the Maple Highlands trail starting in Chardon, OH.  It was fun, I thought I would die around the 3 mile mark but I pushed through and actually enjoyed the last half of the ride.

Since the sculpture garden was too much culture for my children the next stop on our trip was Austin, MN and the Spam Museum.  Just to be clear, this is a museum about spam and not a museum made out of spam.  That would be awesome.

At the end of the tour they were sampling Spam and I took my first bite of Spam ever.  It wasn’t as horrible as I had expected, it was just so very salty.  If you are going to put meat in a can and expect it to last a decade or two I suppose you are going to have be generous with the salt.

The museum really seems to embrace Spam’s place in pop culture .  They had activities for kids and memorabilia to appeal to all ages.  It’s a small museum and can be gone through completely in less than an hour.  If you happen to be driving through Minnesota and find yourself passing through Austin, MN the Spam Museum is a great place to get out and stretch your legs.  Best of all, it’s free!

The Spam Museum Austin, MN

What a friendly can of spam.

This card made me laugh.

Riley learning how to can Spam

Carson's turn. Dressed to work the line.

While in Minnesota I really wanted to make a trip to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.   As some of  you know, I have a thing for cherries and featured at the Sculpture Garden is a giant cherry on a spoon.  I’ve seen pictures of it in the past and I really wanted to see it in person.  The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is located across the street from the Walker Art Center.  We happened to visit on the Monday which is the day that museum is closed.  Next time we are in Minneapolis the Walker Art Center is high on my list of things to do.

The gardens were lovely and I found it so peaceful to walk in the garden and view the fantastic pieces of art.  I really enjoyed the large scale pieces and was fascinated by not only the art but the engineering that had to go into each piece.  The kids were not as into the art as I would have liked.  They wanted to spend the time with their grandparents who don’t have the same interest in art as I do.  What can you do?  You try and expose them to culture and they could care less.  Sorry to break it to you kids, Spongebob is not fine art.

Two-way Mirror Punched Steel Hedge Labyrinth by Dan Graham

Walking Man by George Segal

Even the Pedestrian Bridges were sculptural near the gardens.

Spoonbridge and Cherry

Another angle.

Molecule by Mark di Suvero

Selections from the Living Series by Jenny Holzer