My husband, Mike, and I took a couple's getaway over the weekend. We don't often do this, in fact – the last time we did was three years ago. That trip was in northern Wisconsin to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. This post would get way too long if I mention every restaurant, the hotel, etc. so I am just choosing some highlights of our trip to mention here.
Note: Some links in this post are affiliate links, which means I receive a commission if you click a link and then make a purchase.
The Arrangements
For this trip we decided to have some of our adult children care for the pets and home. Our youngest four children, ages 5 to 13, stayed with my brother, his wife and their children in northern Wisconsin. They crafted an amazing itinerary to keep the kids busy the whole weekend.
The Why
As large family parents of eight kids (four are adults now), it is often difficult to have private conversations, private time together, etc. Once in a while, we like to do a little getaway for the two of us. When my mom died in 2003, we scheduled a trip to Jamaica, for example. My dad recently died in September of 2023 and so we had been thinking it would be good to do another getaway.
The Location
When we go on mini vacations, we often like to go to antique shops or flea markets, see some local history and take in a show. A place that had all of those, plus a church I wanted to attend in person, was Red Wing, Minnesota.
The Pottery Museum
I had heard about the Pottery Museum. It is advertised far and wide in the Wisconsin and Minnesota markets. I do own a Red Wing two gallon crock. I use it to hold a little birch decor.
The Pottery Museum is so full of history. There are videos online that you can watch to see some of the back story. Here is my favorite video.
There are different designs on the stoneware because three pottery companies merged into Union Stoneware Company. These crocks have the white-ware with the stamp decorations of birch leaves and elephant ears.
It is amazing to see all the different sizes of crocks and imagine how they must have been used in the home and business back in the olden days. In 1908, the red wing logo was added to the stoneware.
My husband, Mike, was impressed with the very large 70 gallon jug. This was made for the 1923 Minnesota State Fair. It weighs 250 pounds and was never used. It was found in Texas and carefully transported to the museum in Red Wing.
Kitchens were a little different in the olden days and stoneware was an important part of everyday life. Carrots were stored in sand inside the crocks with lids, for example.
The Pottery Place
For our antiquing, we decided to go to The Pottery Place, which is on the same property as the Pottery Museum, so we could just walk to it.
Inside, there are shops like Godfather's Pizza, and another food vendor, as well as some history and a large consignment antique shop we went to.
The Laser Lounge
Mike was looking for sports cards in there as we do resell them in our ebay store as well as in person at card shows. He did find some, but not in the best shape.
We went downstairs to the main level of The Pottery Place and found a shop that sells wood signs, wooden pet tags, basically all things wood with writing on them. He noticed a zion case of sports card slabs sitting on a table not far from the register and started talking to some of the workers about sports cards.
He ended up buying three sports cards in a wooden sign shop. But the thing that was interesting to me is that sports cards is part of their business story. The artistic owner, Alex, of this store has an Etsy shop at TheLaserLoungeMN. He was looking for a better way to organize and display cards in his own personal collection as well as at card shows and created his own labeled dividers and boy are they ever nice! Take a look at these sports card dividers…
The Show – Larry The Cable Guy
The show we decided to see was Larry The Cable Guy, also known as the voice of Mater on the Cars movies. He was performing at the local casino.
I don't like to hear swear words and there was some of that, but not as much as I expected. We had lots of laughs, it was a good time and I do recommend seeing his show if he comes to a venue near you.
Calvary Chapel, Red Wing, MN
I am a member of an evangelical free church near my home, which I attend and dearly love. I enjoy listening to online pastors during the week as I am doing my household chores. I keep listening to Calvary Chapel pastors. Ever since I was saved in 2004, I have held to a pre-trib belief.
The EFCA changed it's view in 2019 to be open to more views. I understand that it is not a salvation issue, but I prefer learning and believing in this way as it makes the most sense to my thinking. I did check in 2021 to see if we had this type of church near my home, but the closest was Calvary Chapel, Red Wing. That is quite a distance from my home.
I don't know if they have updated their website or if they had this before and I didn't notice, but I thought they did not have online sermons back then. I just tucked this location in the back of my mind for nearly three years, thinking I would like to attend in person someday. They do have online sermons if you would like to hear them online. I intend to go back and listen to more of the 1 Thessalonians series.
Mike and I were able to attend on Sunday morning at their newest location on Highway 19 in Red Wing, MN. We were welcomed at the door by Pastor Mike Montgomery himself. He is very cordial with a great handshake and smile. We felt very welcome.
His wife, Kristen, gave me a beautiful coffee mug full of goodies as a welcome gift. Check it out.
The sermon was very good. I love to hear the truth preached in a bold way and this Pastor does not disappoint! I look forward to attending there again someday.
Wrapping It Up
We headed back to my brother's house to get our children, who were well cared for and had a wonderful time with their cousins and Aunt and Uncle.
My love language is quality time/quality conversation, so this was a great “love tank filler” for me. I highly recommend you take a couple's getaway if it has been a long time and if your kids will be well cared for.
Amy at NeededInTheHome
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