From the bathroom in my hotel in Guadalajara.

Cody and Denver Singer/Songwriter Kate LeRoux smiling for a school project.

What a voice!

That’s the Guthrie Theater jutting out behind the Mill City Museum. That’s right, Minnesota has a museum dedicated to flour mills.

Bench outside the Hilton next door.

We were at the indoor farmer’s market and dogs are not allowed.  This is just one of the many reasons downtown Fort Collins is amazing.

Here’s another: Bike Valet.

At the Fort Collins Indoor Winter Market.

Groovy ceiling at this hotel.

What didn’t come out so well in the picture were the streams of tinsel flying off the tree as the car drove along.

Eating at the Oak Grill in Dayton’s (now Macy’s, but in an act of defiance, most Minnesotans still call it Dayton’s) is a family tradition dating back to when my mother was a child.

Now, we head down each year to see the display in the 8th floor auditorium and lunch at the Oak Grill. The popovers are divine and the people watching is good, too. Children dressed up to visit Santa. Parents who waited too long to get their name on the seating list placating sugar stressed children for over an hour. Elderly grandparents and great-grandparents in their finery treating grandchildren. (They’re seated, of course. They KNOW to get their names on the list FIRST.)