For $20, you can treat yourself or someone else to a neat Christmas activity. On Saturday, December 3, you can board a coach bus behind Slumberland in Albert Lea at 3 p.m.
The bus will arrive in Clear Lake, Iowa at about 3:45 p.m. You can tour the Christmas activities on Main Street — a petting zoo, Santa Claus, strolling Dickens characters, carriage rides, even antique shopping, plus many other activities.
The lighted Christmas Parade starts at 5 p.m. on Main Street. This is followed by fireworks over the lake (you can view the parade and fireworks from the bus if you wish.) The bus will take us to Kentucky Fried Chicken in Clear Lake for a chicken buffet.
Once back in Albert Lea, the bus will drive through a live outdoor Nativity, from there, back to Slumberland about 9 p.m.
Deal or No Deal will be played on the bus en route to Clear Lake for prizes. Reservations are required. Contact Bob or Genie Hanson at 373-8655 or Darryl or Karen Flim at 373-9268. (If you plan to attend, dress warmly.) This event is sponsored by F.R.O.G. (Fully Rely On God) of Central Freeborn Lutheran Church. (My church.)
Mid-morning on a Saturday I stopped in at First Lutheran Church in Ellendale. A youngish lady blew me away with her “Minnesota Nice” as she met me at the door. She explained to me that she was just a volunteer doing some altar work, however she would help me. I told her why I was there — her “Minnesota Nice” solved my wanting to put up a “Christmas By The Lake” flyer.
I asked her if I could identify her in this article. She didn’t say yes and she didn’t say no. I’ll just say she married into the Langlie clan and North Freeborn Lutheran Church moved in by her.
In talking to the Steele County Sheriff, I mentioned what a boring, dull, no fun town Ellendale was after church on Sundays. He politely told me that it might be because of me! He suggested that I stop in at the Ellendale Café for breakfast/brunch after noon on a Sunday. Genie and I did just that. We learned that the Methodist Church crowd was not dull. They were not boring, and they led a fun life. I refer you to Larry Otto for “this is most certainly true” of the fun-loving Ellendale Methodists.
The following paragraphs are some of the interesting things we observed on our way out to Vermont and back, driving by way of Canada. The paragraphs are all fact.
Vermont freeways have a mile marker every two-tenths of a mile. Vermont traffic lights are placed higher than in Minnesota. Street signs and highway signs are few and far between.
Vermont suffered a huge amount of water damage from Hurricane Irene, especially along the White River with roads, bridges, trees, homes and buildings washed away.
Upstate New York and south of Ottawa, Canada, fields were very wet with beans and corn still in the fields in late October.
While traveling along Canadian Freeway 401, we saw the ultimate in wayside rests which opened April 2011. I pulled off the freeway into this big parking lot for about 200 cars and parked my car. I entered a building with seating for about 300 people after purchasing food from a fast food place, a deli or Tim Horton’s Restaurant. There were recycling containers for everything except the food you didn’t eat. The restrooms all had two choices for flushing the stool. One choice button was for flushing just liquids. The other choice button was for flushing solids. After pushing a button you washed your hands under a self-starting and self-stopping faucet. You then put your hands inside a self-starting dryer. You could then sing, “O Canada.”
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Bob is a retired AAL (Aid Association for Lutherans) agent. His wife, Genie, is a retired RN, currently working on her doctor’s degree in volunteering. They have two children, Deb in North Carolina, and Dan in Vermont. This is the Hanson’s 36th summer at Beaver Lake. They leave the lake in mid-October to go south — to Albert Lea — and return in April. Bob says if you enjoy his article, let him know. If you don’t enjoy it, keep on reading, it can get worse. Words of Wisdom: There is always room for God.