Way up North

this is love: a few days after surgery

Why would you want to spend your official honeymoon in Minnesota you ask? Well my husband was donating a kidney to his father 11 days after our wedding. What a wonderful man I have chosen. Some background here, in the fall of 2009 my husband found out that he was finally going to be able to help his dad by donating a kidney. And before this was going to happen he said he wanted to get married just in case the worst happened (which has never happened at the Mayo Clinic by the way). 

So after our May 2010 wedding we headed to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN for the operation. What a nice little town! We enjoyed all the sights they had there and once his dad was feeling up to it we took a trip to La Cross, Wisconsin where we took a ride on the mighty Mississippi! This ride was a big deal for me; I got to see Bald Eagles in their natural habitat! I had never seen them in the wild before! It was quite nice, we packed a picnic lunch and then found a homemade ice cream shop with homemade everything…even soda (not as good as coca cola). Had lunch and desert on the Mississippi and watched the barges and tug boats go by. And on the drive back to MN I had to drive in this awful storm, honestly some of the most intense driving I have ever had to drive through. While we were there we stayed at The Gift of Life House where you have to be either donating or receiving to stay there. What a place to recover! So peaceful and clean and for only $25 a night. We left about a week after surgery, I was so glad to be home and have my little Lola (dog) back home with us too!

my eagle!