Howdy all! Thought that it is time to give you an update on how we have been doing. It has been a couple of months, and also in Minnesota, winter has subsided and summer is finally here!
Not so Minnesotan things
Lets start this post by looking back at our visit in CH in March and April. It was absolutely amazing to see all our friends again and we can only express our gratitude for the absolutely stunning and warm welcome we received when back at home. If people start smiling at you immediately when seeing you for the first time after a year, this is the biggest gift imaginable. During our time, Jerome was able to meet with all his friends and gain 5kg in weight, do lights at a show at his beloved venue Gare de Lion in Wil, made a quick trip to St. Gallen, Europapark, and saw the band Russian Village Boys in Winterthur. Seraina toured through all her old and other offices in Bern, Zürich, Birmensdorf and Davos and spent a lot of time looking at the mountains.
Northern lights over Minnesota
I believe we all heard of the event, here is the pictures we were able to take. The aurora in Minnesota was really strong and very well visible to the human eye. It was amazing to see them in person for the first (and second) time!
New apartment
After returning to the US, we moved our apartment. Some of you might know that we lived in a small but beautiful (and very expensive) apartment in NE Minneapolis. We were able to find a new apartment with 1000$ less rent per month, and it was now time to move our stuff. Many thanks to Anthony, Neha, and Pengfei for helping us with the move!
Our new apartment is only a few minutes away from the old one, still in the same overall area. While views and amenities are not on the same level, we appreciate the lower price tag 😀 .
The best thing about the apartment is probably the neighbors. Ok, not all of them, but one in particular: The bald eagle family that has a nest in the nearby trees. We have a great view and could observe the adult eagles come and go, the chick peeking over the edge of the nest, the chick being fed pieces of whatever prey the parents caught to the first explorations of the chick on the branches around the nest and lately the first hopping around and flapping of the wings. Normally, bald eagles don’t like humans in their neighborhood and often even abandon their nests when there is too much human disturbance. In some areas, however, some bald eagles have started to accept human presence and even build nests inside cities.
Business trips for Jerome
For Jerome, lots of travelling was required just after he returned. He attended Petfood Forum in Kansas City (see below pictures from KC Live, an outside venue in Kansas City and a picture showing off BBQ. Few weeks later, Jerome was off to Raleigh and St. Louis to participate in a customer training and for another customer visit.
After these trips, it was time to travel once again to Idaho Falls in Idaho.
During our time there we again had an off time (like last years) and we travelled to Grand Teton National Park once more. The season was different than last time, and this year we got snow on the way back home (this was in late May). There was also time for a quick photo shoot :).
Cicadas, kebab and pizza in Chicago
For a customer visit, Jerome had to travel to Chicago by car, and Seraina was able to join for that trip. She was especially interested in the periodical cicadas in the Chicago region.
While there, we ate amazing Kebab and even more amazing deep dish pizza pie. With the pizza, there was a slight oversight of ours: While we did look at the menu properly and were discussing the high prices for a pizza, we did not take into consideration values posted in inches for pizza sizes. Turns out that the pizzas actually were about the size of what Italians would call normal pizza size, but just so much more thick. We of course ordered two pizzas. We were able to eat a quarter of our pizza each, which meant we had leftovers for about a week :D.
But back to the actual reason of the visit: Cicadas. You have likely heard of Cicadageddon, the mass emergence of two big broods of periodical cicadas. The larva of cyclic cicada live in the ground for years until they all emerge at the same time, become adults, make a lot of noise, mate, lay eggs and die. This year the 13 and 17 year cicadas emerged at the same time. They have different distribution areas, leading to a large area of the US experiencing a cicada emergence in the same year. For the first time since 1803! So quite a phenomenon. Well, we can confirm: they make a lot of noise and they are really fascinating.
In Chicago, Seraina went for a hike in Illinois Beach State Park on Lake Michigan through amazing sand dune habitats along the shore.
Little Big concert, comedy show, art festivals, outdoorsy things
For Jerome’s birthday, Seraina gifted me tickets to the Little Big show in Minneapolis, and it was an absolute blast :). We had an amazing time.
And just recently we saw the comedy show: Science is no Joke! at the Comedy Corner Underground in Minneapolis, which was also really cool. The wall décor reminds me of a certain place in Wil :).
Since it is summer now there are lots of things going on in the Twin Cities. There were two art festivals already with lots and lots of art to see and try. Seraina tried out glass blowing with her friend Neha at Art a whirl and we enjoyed strolling through the art stands at Stone Arch Bridge Festival.
Seraina also visited two more state parks: She went for a nice, but very wet hike with Becky and Sibele at Afton state park and a bike ride to Fort Snelling state park.
From the category: Weird and funny
YES.
Nerd Talk
Six Flags Great America, Chicago
I was already able to travel to Six Flags Great America near Chicago last year, however, I was not able to ride all the coasters they had back then. So of course I did not say no to a second chance of going there.
I immediately set off to ride all coasters that were still on my Todo list. I would like to point out that I still really like this park, as its price structure is fair, there are no hidden charges (like lockers which have to be used for an upcharge), and the park overall is in a good shape. That being said, three coasters were not running that day, and for two of them (American Eagle) there was no reason for the park not to operate the two dueling rides. They used some construction work in the queue line as an excuse for not operating them, which was a shame…
The remaining rides are not by any means something special, but count is count :D. I was able to ride Flash: Vertical Velocity, Sprocket Rockets, Demon, Batman the Ride, and an odd one, Aquaman Splashdown (which is in fact a boat ride but due to its ride system, it counts as a coaster). Besides that, re-rides on Maxx Force, Raging Bull, X-Flight and Goliath were a blast. Maxx Force is now the second fastest accelerating coaster in the world after closure of Do Dodonpa in Japan, very intense. I also had the pleasure to meet the owners of Coaster Studios’ Youtube channel near that ride and had a quick chat with them. Coaster Studios on Youtube
Overall it was a really nice day and I enjoyed myself a lot.
If you want to see my initial review, please go here: A perfect summer
Lagoon, Salt Lake City
This is a new park for me! Lagoon, situated in the north of Salt Lake City about 20mins from the airport, is the biggest (and one of only two) amusement parks in the Utah region. The park capitalizes on this, tickets are usually about 100$ per day, this is just a bit lower than Disney, which of course is a much better park. The park stands out, as there are trees, and it has a very long history. The park offers two dark rides that are comparable to older type scare houses, 11 roller coasters and many flat rides.
Other weird quirky features of the park include that for some reason, queue lines are held very short. This results in people standing in line spill out to the main pathways, which makes the park feel more cramped than it actually is. Even for new attractions, the park decided to have short queue lines. A second problem is that all rides do not allow riders to take backpacks with them, and that there are not enough lockers to be found anywhere. So if you want to go on some coasters, put your bag in one locker and leave it there until done in that section of the park. Finally, the park is known to plan and make their coasters themselves, which is super unique. Accordingly, the rides are very special. A previous owner of Arrow Dynamics is working for the park nowadays and is accountable for their creations.
Food was good, I got the suggestion of eating at the “German brewhouse” while there, and the food did not disappoint, however, the menu was not German at all (the German thing you get there is beer).
Regarding coasters: The park has two standout coasters, being Cannibal and Primordial. Cannibal is a self built, has three row and four across ride cars, and features many inversions as well as a vertical elevator lift. The ride is very intense, smooth and a lot of fun, also having near miss effects and a lot of hangtime. The lines on this coaster moved very fast. Primordial is the newest addition to the park and supposedly cost 70 million $ to build, which is an insane number. That being said, the ride sadly has a low throughput, meaning that lines can be two hours or more. I waited for about 1.5h. The ride itself is a mixture of coaster and 3D adventure. You wear 3D googles during the ride and have to shoot at enemies appearing on many different screens. In the end, depending on how well your car did, there are two possible endings, one being a vertical drop track or a slide drop. I only experienced the vertical drop track, the slide drop is supposed to be unique. I liked the ride, but it is not worth the wait today in my opinion, it is definitely something novel I have not yet experienced.
Also important to mention is “Roller Coaster”, one of the oldest standing wooden coasters in the world. It was built in 1921. It burnt down in 1953 and then rebuilt.
One final mention: The only ride I was not able to go on was Jet Star 2, as the ride cars need at least two people per vehicle. Supposedly, the reason for that restriction has to do with insurance requiring the park to always have two people per vehicle being able to monitor the situation to have reliable statements available should something happen.
Overall, the park was nice, but is not up there with the best parks I have ever been to. It however has its moments, especially due to Cannibal.
Bringing back the old ranking list:
- Silver Dollar City, Branson MO, 10/11
- Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Orlando FL, 10/11
- Busch Gardens, Tampa FL, 9.5/11
- Busch Gardens, Williamsburg VA, 9/11
- Six Flags Great America, Chicago IL, 8/11
- Kings Dominion, Richmond VA, 8/11
- Carowinds, Charlotte NC/SC, 7.5/11
- Lagoon, Salt Lake City, UT, 7/11
- Six Flags St. Louis, St. Louis MO, 6/11
- Valleyfair!, Minneapolis MN, 5/11
- Nickelodeon Universe, Minneapolis MN, 3/11
Thats it. We are already late posting this blog post entry, actually more has happened that we will not yet write extensively about, for example Jerome being invited to a typical American vacation in Branson, MO; being evacuated out of a cave and boating on a lake near Branson, as well as a visit to Duluth. More about this next time :). See you soon!