A mix of photography, recipes, personal thoughts, faith, and lots of family stuff, but not necessarily in that order.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Road Trippin'

Saturday mornings you will typically find Rick and I at Caribou coffee. 
Me, with my latte,  Rick with his Diet Mountain Dew.
Oh we talk about lots of things, 
what's going on in the world, hot topics, our kids and grandkids and everyday stuff. 
I enjoy this one on one time, away from the house that is often distracting with things
 that need to be done. No electronic devices....just us!

It is here we usually decide what we should do for the rest of the day 
(If there are no other obligations)
Road trips have become a favorite thing to do, especially winter road trips,
 it's a good time to get out and explore from the car.
Saturday we decided to head south and west of Rochester to a little town called
 St. Ansgar across the boarder in Iowa .
The prairie was littered with these giant windmills, not sure what I think about that. 
They are interesting but certainly take away form the vastness of the open prairie.
I wonder what the farmers think about it....was it their idea, is it something they wanted or was it forced upon them?
 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~


While in the little community of St. Ansgar Ia, I wanted to visit historic Lutheran Church
This beautiful Gem was finished in 1869, it was added to the National Register in 1976 
First Lutheran Church
As you might expect I was giddy with excitement when I reached for the door handle and it was open....YES!!!  So I waved Rick in and we entered this historic church. You cant help but think about all who have entered through the years. As always I was interested in its history, here's just a little excerpt from a website on found on the church



The St. Ansgar Congregation was organized by Rev. C. L. Calusen on
 December 4, 1853, with 79 people becoming members.
 It is remarkable that in 150 years from 1853 to the present day only nine pastors
 have served the congregation.


Looking back
A beautiful chair for the pastor
Simply elegant stained glass windows
Kids packs to occupy busy minds during the service...such a great idea!

Another awesome find...this time in St. Ansgar Iowa,
 I love exploring and learning about the history of these old churches.

Part 2 of our little road trip coming soon...

11 comments:

  1. I love your tour of these little churches. I especially like the stone on this building. Such a sweet little spot. I would love to worship in a little church like that. I think someday Mr. Young and I will start our Saturdays like this. Thanks for sharing Jackie!

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  2. Yah, it's definately not something we did when the kids were still at home, our weekends were filled with kid stuff! I'm sure you know what I mean Rachel. For every age there is a season of life, the season you are in is a lovely one..stay there while you can :)

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  3. Anonymous7:19 PM

    I just love St. Ansgar!!! and your photos are so beautiful......especially with the surrounding snow!!!! Like a storybook!! Thanks for sharing....and look forward to the next installment!!!! Hugs......................

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  4. It's a cute little town, but they need one good diner/cafe, all we could really find were a couple of bars. They have the 3 cute little houses that are business's for home decor and antiques, we didnt stop to look this time, maybe next time.

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  5. Jackie, you know how I love road trips and old churches and this looks like a sweet place to visit. I, too, appreciate the simplicity of those stained glass windows. I am adding St. Ansgar to our list of "must visit" places. Thanks for the tip. The husband and I need to do a road trip soon.

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    1. It's a very small town Audrey, with just a few things to see. I remembered that my mother in love and I went there a long time ago to check out the "crafty, home decor" placed. I believe one of them also has antiques. There is also an old mill somewhere down there that I forgot to check out.....yes, I really did forget, so you'll have to check into that for me :)

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  6. Hi Jackie, I just came upon your Blog and loved your header of the old barn of which I love! Barns are a passion of mine. We have many acres of those wind turbines here in West Virginia, high in the mountains. I'm torn about them also. Interesting to see, but to think about all the trees that were taken down to make enough room makes me unhappy. The Lutheran Church was just beautiful!! I'll be back to see where your travels take you next....debbie

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    1. Yay, a new friend, thanks for stopping by Debbie. I am a lover of old barns, schoolhouses, churches and graveyards. It's always fun to relate to those with the same interests. Too bad about all the trees that had to be taken down for the turbines in your neck of the woods, The ones here on on the desolate prairie where there is always plenty of wind. Hope to see you again, I'll stop over to your blog as well .

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  7. I love the idea of you and Rick sitting at Caribou on Saturday mornings (especially cute that Rick is drinking his diet dew since I'd be drinking a diet coke while Brent drank coffee if it were us:)). A great chance to focus on each other and a time to look forward to each week!

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    1. It really is a time of focus for us, it's good to get away from the house where I tend to be a busy-body, and just sit still for a while :)

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  8. Been to St. Ansgar a few times ... for the cute little shops. There used to be a place in one of the homes that served very delicious lunches!

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