Through Hail And Back

Yesterday was a mess with a mixture of hail, tornadoes, wind, and storms. I drove to Mankato Minnesota to have some work done at Best Buy and the wind was horrible. Mom and I discussed staying in Mankato but a little voice in my head was saying “keep on going.” I don’t like to drive in heavy winds and I am not from Minnesota so I am not use to it but I kept on going. An hour later we pulled into New Ulm (we drove the back roads). The wind by now was getting worse and there were ominous sounds of thunder. I decided to stay in the State Park because it was safer weather-wise than the fairgrounds All we got was brief storms with burst of rain but the area we came from, Mankato, and the surrounding towns were not so lucky. My neighbor was on the phone most of the evening and she came from one of the towns that were hit by a mile wide tornado. We have been so lucky in avoiding these storms. I just hope our luck stays with us.

We are in Redwood Falls Minnesota in a RV park that has a storm shelter, Internet, and cable. We are planning to go back to New Ulm and Sleepy Eye to do a little sight-seeing. I did stop to see Herman the German while I was in New Ulm. Herman the German is a 102 foot statue and I was determined to climb to the top. The first part is wide stairs and the last part is a spiral staircase, which I had a problem with. I made it to the first step of the spiral staircase. I stopped to take a few pictures and then I took a deep breath and started trotting up the stairs.

I am afraid of heights. I do very well if I don’t look up, look down, or look around. I focus on the steps and I focus on not thinking. When I get to the top I will look around and most times I am fine. It is just the process of going up and down that scares the weebies out of me. Halfway up the stairs I stopped and I looked down. There are times when I am not my own cheerleader and so as fast as I ran up I ran back down. . I don’t know why but I know if there was someone behind me encouraging me I would have made it. Since we are going back, I am going to give it another try.

We are alive and well and still in Minnesota!