Rochester MN and the Mayo - Rochester is the Mayo!

We certainly enjoyed our 18 day stay in Wisconsin but the main reason we spent so much time in Iowa and Wisconsin is that we had scheduled our annual checkups at the Mayo Hospital in Rochester Minnesota. Most of the campgrounds around Rochester MN are pricey so we opted to stay at a local park just outside the town of Zumbro Falls, MN.

After scouring the internet for an interesting place to stay I came across one called the Sportsman Park Campground. This park has 50 amp and water, no sewer and no dump station, but was right on the Zumbro River. With the heat predicted for the area to be in the 90’s we certainly wanted 50 amp service to run our A/C’s and being next to a river is a bonus. All this for $20 per night with the only downside being we would have to drive 20 miles to Rochester for our appointments at the Mayo.

We won’t bore you with details about all of our appointments but between the two of us we had appointments in Rochester for four straight days. Sharon is a breast cancer survivor and I had a melanoma before so we don’t really look forward to these appointments but know that they are necessary and are vital to our well being.

After four days of appointments we were certainly tired of all the prodding and poking as well as all the mental anguish but we must say that the Mayo Clinics really are wonderful places to have medical concerns taken care of. The quality of care, friendliness of staff and punctuality of appointments are unheard of at any other hospital or clinic we have ever been to.

Since we didn’t spend every moment of every day seeing doctors we took the guided tour of the Mayo one day and I also did the self-guided tour of the art inside the Mayo while Sharon was at an appointment. We highly recommend when in Rochester Minnesota to take the time to take the tours as they are well worth the effort. We also strolled around downtown Rochester only to learn that Rochester is the Mayo!

What began as the Mayo Clinic goes way back to the practice of a frontier doctor, William W. Mayo, who was an Englishman that settled in Rochester MN in 1863. In 1883 a tornado ravaged Rochester and Mother Alfred Moes, the founder of the Sisters of St. Francis, proposed to build and staff a hospital in Rochester only if Dr. W.W. Mayo would provide the medical care. He accepted and his two sons joined him in the 1880’s and they founded the first Mayo in 1889. Shortly thereafter more physicians (of like mindedness regarding patient care) were asked to join.

Their passion for medicine and their attention to patient care become known worldwide as visiting physicians would come to learn from them. What these three doctors started eventually gave rise to the renowned medical facilities that make up the Mayo today. We have now visited and been treated at all three of their major clinics, the one in Jacksonville Florida, Scottsdale Arizona and now the one in Rochester Minnesota.

There have been a lot of medical innovation at the Mayo’s. Cortisone was first identified by American chemists Edward C. Kendall and Harold L. Mason while doing research at the Mayo Clinic. For their efforts the Nobel Prize in 1950 was given to Mayo doctor  Edward C. Kendall  "for their discoveries relating to the hormones of the adrenal cortex, their structure and biological effects."

At the end of all our appointments we walked over to the Ground Rounds Brew Pub and cheered the end of our appointments. We plan to leave the next day heading an hour NW to stay at the fairgrounds just outside of Minneapolis/St Paul MN. We need to stay close to Rochester in case any of our results require further appointments. We are certainly hoping that isn’t the case…

Last Days in Wisconsin…

We still had one more day to kill before heading down toward Rochester Minnesota for our planned annual checkups at the Mayo Hospital. We talked about staying at the Expo another day but decided to pack up early and go down the road a mere 31 miles to the town of Durand. We decided to camp just outside of town is Tarrant Park, a city owned park that lies near the Chippewa River.

We pulled into the park and found a nice shady spot. After setting up we went over to the pay station and wrote a check for $25 for the night for 50 amp service and full hookups. What makes this stay a good one is that right beside the park is the Chippewa River State Trail. The trail winds along the river for nearly 40 miles between Eau Claire and Durand.

After setting up we hopped on the bikes and rode into town on the bike trail. It was a nice flat trail with some pretty scenery and it dumped us right into downtown. Durand is a small town so we rode along nearly all the streets since the ride into town was short. We stopped on the trail along the river to enjoy the view when suddenly a large bald eagle flew right over us.  We stopped at this location because we read about a nice place for happy hour on the trail where folks gather on the deck to watch the eagles.  How fun that we saw an eagle right away!  It was too early for happy hour but we vowed to return and then rode back to the RV.

After lunch we decided to drive over to the town of Wabasha Minnesota. It was a nice drive through wooded land and rolling hills until we reached a very marshy section we found out later was part of the Nelson-Trevino Bottoms State Natural Area. There were lots of boaters out enjoying the day.

Wabasha itself was a neat little town with a nice vibe. It is located on the Mississippi River near its confluence with the Chippewa River making it another great spot for bald eagle sightings. Wabasha is home to the National Eagle Center but we opted not to pay $10 each to peruse its holdings. Instead we walked along the trail beside the water and later walked all around the town which has several really interesting buildings.

After enjoying our afternoon walking around Wabasha we headed back to Durand to the Happy Hour at Corral and Riverside Grill.  At first we sat on the deck hoping for more eagle sightings but sadly saw none. With record heat in the area we abandoned the deck in favor of the inside air conditioned bar where we enjoyed ice cold beers and ordered our last Wisconsin fried cheese curds. These were from Ellsworth Cooperative and were award winning curds.  We can attest they were indeed delicious and a wonderful way to spend our last night’s stay in Wisconsin before moving on down the road toward Rochester MN.

NOTE: We left the Rochester MN area and headed an hour NW to stay at the fairgrounds just outside of Minneapolis/St Paul MN.

Spending a few days in Eau Claire Wisconsin…

Leaving Dorchester we headed a short way over to Eau Claire, Wisconsin. I wanted to stay close to Eau Claire and we found a great inexpensive site at the Eau Claire Expo Center. When we pulled in we were told to simply park anywhere we wanted but we soon discovered there were only four 30 amp sites (the rest were only 20 amp).  We filled up with water at the snack bar where the guy pointed out and then we parked along the roadside to plug in to the 30 amp site. No sewer but perfect for us to explore Eau Claire!

   

Even better the Eau Clair Expo Center is happens to be adjacent to another great park (Lowes Creek County Park) which  we had planned to explore. But first we wanted to get some groceries and check out the downtown area.  Since we found a sculpture tour online we hoped it would help us get to know the town better.

We headed downtown and parked near one of the sculptures. Most of the sculptures were on the main road we parked on so we walked down the street and took in the sights. The sculptures were nice but nothing to write home about however we did come across Phoenix Park in the downtown area. What a nice park with a great hike and bike trail it was as it meandered along the Chippewa River.  We saw lots of flowers as well as butterflies out enjoying themselves despite all the people around also enjoying themselves in the near perfect weather.

As a perfect ending to a perfect day we found a neat spot for happy hour. With its name reminding us of Betty’s RV Park how could we not stop at Bug Eyed Betty's for a cold beer at happy hour...

The next day rain was predicted so we chose to go for a morning hike in Lowes Creek County Park which I mentioned was right next to the Expo’s RV park. The park had a mix of trails for mountain bikes and hikers. It made for some interesting hiking as we took several of the bike trails that twisted through the woods. Again lots of wildflowers were in bloom and we even found a bounty of berries including blackberries, black raspberries and red raspberries.

I was walking and munching as we went. I had my head down eating raspberries when Sharon said stop! I froze thinking she may have seen a snake. But when I looked up there was a doe and her fawn a mere 25 feet in front of us. We stayed very still as they foraged for some fresh  herbaceous snacks and we simply watched them in awe for about 5 to 10 minutes. We were able to quietly snap a few pictures with our phones before they ambled off…

With a nice morning hike behind us and no rain in sight we ate lunch and drove over to Mount Simon Park to play on their Disc Golf course. It wasn’t a particularly challenging course as it was shorter than we normally play but it had no water hazards which we abhor. Since it was a short 9 hole course we played it twice.

After a full day we headed back over to Bug Eyed Betty’s for one last happy hour before moving on down the road. Next up is Zumbro Falls our first stop in Minnesota…

NOTE: As I mentioned before we are still in the Zumbro Falls area through the weekend!

Halfway Between the Equator and the North Pole…

After two stops at Casino Campgrounds we opted next for a quieter spot and we found just the park in Dorchester, WI. It was another short driving day and we pulled into a nice campground called Dorchester County Park. Peaceful, quiet and green… and halfway between the equator and the north pole - perfect!!!

With rain in the forecast we really didn’t plan to do much for our two day stay. Dorchester is a small town with not a lot to do so we figured it was a perfect spot to wait for the rainstorms to pass on by. The park itself is really quite nice. The pads are a bit overgrown in that the grass is about to reclaim them but they have full hookups at the bargain price of $18/night.

 

It rained most of the day our first day in Dorchester so we didn’t do a whole lot of anything other than watching some of the newer episodes of “Orange is the New Black.” Sharon made some bread trying out a new recipe after the dough we took out of the freezer was a bit flat. She usually makes enough dough to make two loaves of bread so she will freeze one. Sometimes the second dough comes out of the freezer a bit flat and she read online about a way to “bring it back to life” and made a new type of bread for us. It came out really plump and tasty!!!

The rain did let up enough on the second day for us to take in a walk around the lake adjacent to the park. This park also has a disc golf course on it that we also played and enjoyed. Those who that aren’t very good golfers really should consider taking up disc golf. A great beginner set is all you need and they can be purchased pretty cheaply. We love playing as it is a great way to get in some good walking (some courses will have us walking 3 miles) and provides some really inexpensive entertainment (most courses are free).

This turned out to be a quiet but enjoyable two day stay before moving on to Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

NOTE: We are currently in Rochester, Minnesota…