AUTUMN LEAVES LEAVES BRIGHT in MINNESOTA

Fall colors were glorious here in the North Woods, and even farther south!

This post will have some of our best pictures of the Minnesota fall foliage, but in honesty it will fail to capture the very best we saw. Most of the time when we would come upon something that took our breath away, we were on our way somewhere and on a schedule. It is embarrassing to admit, but once or twice Darrell even had overlooked having his camera along.

Still, there are some pretty good photos here and we hope you enjoy them.

Early fall colors starting to show up around the damage of a summer storm. 

Scenic-Byways at every turn. 

Not visible from the road... 

... we only saw this red barn because we pulled off to take a picture...  

... of this. 

Lakes add a nice contrast.

There are plenty of lakes from which to choose.

I love a little tree that will just give its all!

Wish I could take a picture with the smell of autumn on a trail through the woods.

Tamarack trees are among our new favorites.
They are deciduous pines that turn vibrant yellow
before loosing all their needles in the fall. 

PIERRE, or PIER

September 16th we drove through Fargo, SD to finish missionary apartment inspections in that zone and then drove on to Pierre, SD where we had a weekend district conference to attend. Pierre is the smallest state capital in the nation. It is spelled Pierre but if you say it that way, South Dakotans may look at you with a blank face. They pronounce it like the place you tie your ship when you dock it: Pier. Say it in one and a half syllables and you've got it. 

With the apartment visits, the drive was 9-10 hours, but we loved it.  

The Great Plains are ripening toward harvest time and it is beautiful. Our particular favorite fields are the giant sunflowers. They are past their peak now, Their big heads are heavy and drooping and the yellow flowers starting to wilt, but occasionally you still find some hanging on to the glory. 

Loretta finally got a new phone a month ago, an iPhone 6. It has a great camera ("For a phone" points out Darrell) and she is discovering the joy of taking pictures, even to the point of doing her own 'selfies.'

See below: 

Resulting in: 

We have been quite excited for this district conference because our kid brother Rulon and his wife Linda were scheduled to be there. Rulon was assigned to be the first member of the 70 to visit a Pierre District Conference. Also, since we would be cutting 8+ hours out of the drive to get Loretta's car to us, Megan and Kevin agreed to drive it to Pier, uhh, Pierre. Also, since Rulon and Darrell would be together Dad wanted to ride out with the kids.

The Utahns drove all night and arrived in
Pierre in time to have breakfast with us. 

Conference was outstanding. There was a great spirit there and it was really enjoyable to watch Rulon preside at a conference. He's still Rulon with the sense of humor and personality, but there was more. When he was speaking or running a leadership meeting the mantle of his calling was there and he was magnified by his calling in a way that was inspiring and testimony building. 

If he reads this he will blush, but we're kinda
proud of Rulon and glad to be his big sibs.  

Loretta with Kevin and Megan. Picture taken by
Linda at a park next to the Missouri River in Pierre.
They had a picnic lunch here while waiting for
Darrell and Rulon who both had some interviews
to perform and a meeting to attend after conference.   

Following conference activities, Megan and Kevin, had to fly home from the Pierre airport since neither of them could get Monday off. Dad drove to Minneapolis with Rulon and Linda to spend a little more time with them before flying home from there.

Yes, there is an airport in Pierre. It has security too. 

We drove back in separate cars and obviously didn't quite enjoy the drive to Bemidji as much as the drive to Pierre. We spent Sunday night at a motel in Jamestown, ND and when we got into Bemidji Monday, it felt like home.

ZONE CONFERENCES

De-stressing in Bemidji Monday before Zone Conferences begin.
Top-left shows where the Mississippi River flows north into Lake Bemidji.

Our second week in Bemidji coincided with the start of zone conferences. Pres. Hess asked Darrell to give a 15-20 minute presentation in each conference on managing stress. Great topic for missionaries. Come to think of it, it’s a great topic for everyone. 

Returned missionaries will recognize
Zone Conference dining.

The first conference was on August 2nd in Fargo, ND and included the Fargo and Grand Forks Zones which include the missionaries in the eastern portion of North Dakota and upper Minnesota. Darrell’s last zone conference was nearly 44 years ago but it didn’t take long to remember why he looked forward to them. We drove to Bismarck after conference and on Wednesday met with the Bismarck and Minot Zones that cover the central portion of North Dakota.  

Selfie with the Bismarck Temple

We stayed most of the week at the mission home in Bismarck with Pres. and Sis. Hess because the following Friday was monthly Mission Leadership Council, a time for all the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders to come together in council. This time it was more special than usual. Elder Ulisses Soares of the Presidency of the 70 and Elder Rulon Stacey of the 70 attended and taught. 

Higher Rank to the Front!
L to R: Elder Stacey, Sister Stacey (mine), 'Pres.' Stacey (me), Elder Soares

That evening the Mission Presidency and all the Stake Presidents throughout the mission along with wives were invited to come to a dinner with Elders Soares and Stacey. It was really a special day. Not only was Elder Soares loving and inspiring in all he did and said, but it’s just not every day you get to watch your little brother function in a calling such as this. 

Mormons believe in kissing. 

At the ND State Museum in Bismarck.
Loretta with the remains of Sid the Sloth.

Getting friendly with the native's
eating establishments.

As with every drive we have taken, we enjoyed the 5 hour drive back to Bemidji on Saturday. 

Monday August 8th we headed west again, this time an 8 hour drive to Sidney, Montana for the combined Glendive, MT and Williston, ND Zone conference on Tuesday. These are the missionaries from eastern Montana and northwest North Dakota. A highlight here was the new Glendive Stake President coming and pledging the support of his stake to the missionary effort, likening them to the Nephite army who fought alongside the 2000 ‘Sons of Helaman’. We didn’t stay long after conference, because we had another conference 6 hours away in Rapid City, SD the next morning. 

Did any of you know there are no gas stations between Sidney, MT and Rapid City, SD? Just wondering. 

There are some pretty good sunsets and rainbows though. 

Outside our hotel room in Rapid City. 

Rapid City, South Dakota where we had conference for the South Dakota missionaries of the Rapid City and Pierre Zones, was inundated with motorcycles while we were there. This was the week of the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. For any who are unaware of this event, it is way famous, by far the largest motorcycle rally in the world and Sturgis is only a half hour west of Rapid City on I-90. There were swarms of nice bikes everywhere. 

The "World Famous Wall Drug" an hour east of
Rapid City is a bikers itinerary 'must'. 

The Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills is taking shape.
The face and outstretched arm are the major features after 60 years.
In fairness, this is much larger than Mt. Rushmore and funds itself
with donations, grants, and admissions. 

Mmmm, road food! A smore donut is as good as it looks.

By the time we finally got back to Bemidji, after a 10+ hour drive, we were down to our last clean change of clothing. Going to the laundromat is another missionary activity Darrell hadn’t done in nearly 44 years, and it didn’t take long to remember why he didn’t look forward to them.

From the "Things we didn't expect to learn on a mission" Department: 

FIRST DAYS IN BIMIDJI

We arrived in Bemidji the evening of July 23, staying at the Doubletree at the southernmost end of Lake Bemidji. Pres. and Sis. Hess were also there because they were the sacrament meeting speakers the next day.

On the lake by our hotel wishin' ya'll were here!

After Sacrament meeting Bishop Hebedank hosted a dinner for the missionaries and ward mission leader. (It was here we had our first wild rice - there will be more on that in later posts!) There are a pair of elders and a pair of sisters in this ward, plus us. Of course the Hess's were there too. We talked about the prioritization of missionary work in this ward and the ways to achieve the vision. After lunch the Bishop took us and Hess's to Lake Itasca State Park. For those who have not heard of it, the outlet of this lake is recognized as the official Headwaters of the Mississippi.

L to R: Staceys, Habedanks, Hess's standing in the Mississippi Headwaters.
Lake Itasca in the background. The grass is a bed of wild rice.
(ignore the pale legs)

First bridge over the Mississippi

First sunset in Bemidji

Bemidji is literally the First City on the Mississippi, and that is its official slogan.

Proof it's the Curling Capital of the USA. If it says so it must be.

They are equally proud of their famous Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues on the lakefront downtown, of course. At one time Kodak, who at that time was the major developer of pictures in the nation, said this was the #2 photographed monument/statuary in the nation. Maybe that's because so many people come here to watch curling, this is also the Curling capital of the U.S. (If you don't know what Curling is, look it up. It has nothing to do with hair or ribbon.)



Our first impression of Bemidji was "Wow, this is beautiful!" The town/city is home to about 15,000 people, but serves and area of small towns and woodland dwellers (the people kind) numbering over 200,000 people. Still, there is definitely a small city feel that is comfortable and a little slow, but with enough businesses around for all that we need. (Except Costco, which is 2.5 hours away in Fargo, ND! :()

Sunset over the Mississippi at the outlet from Lake Bemidji

Our cute little Townhouse! And no yard work!!

We quickly found a small one level 2 bedroom townhouse on a peaceful side of town right by the airport. Really, it is peaceful, there are 2 Delta Connection jets a day that fly in and they don't fly over the houses in our units. The rest of the traffic is small private planes. We even see a few with pontoons. Our place was devoid of any furniture so we got a card table and two chair along with an air mattress and shopped for furniture as we could between zone conferences.

There are lots of pickups and boats here. Not a surprise with so many fishable lakes a short drive away. Darrell's BMW was definitely a minority auto. That is not to say it hasn't been appreciated, there just are not many BMWs here; we've seen 3 or 4 others. When Loretta's Explorer gets here in the fall we'll fit right in. Having said all this, the 8000 or so miles we have put on the BMW have been unbelievably comfortable and fun. We have been in the car a lot together, but have loved every mile. Part of that is the car, but mostly it's the company.

An interesting thing happened a couple of days before we arrived. There was a tremendous windstorm that blew over or broke thousands of trees over a wide area. There were prolonged power outages, streets blocked, and houses, cars and garages damaged. It was interesting to watch as the town just got to work and cleaned up a terrific mess without asking for outside help or aid. Within a couple of weeks you could hardly tell there had been a local disaster.

A few examples of very many we could have shown. Trees were blown down for many miles. The only time we have seen anything like this it was when we lived around tornado areas.