The Wigleys of Mendota (and Northfield)

I took the photos, Robbie did the cropping. See 200+ photos in six albums:

After a day of dirt biking, we went to the Blue Door Pub in St. Paul for dinner, courtesy of Tyson who bartends there.

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The whole fam damily went dirt biking yesterday at a gravel pit near Cannon City. I hauled my Montesa trials bike and my best buddy Jim Douglas lent us his pickup trucked loaded up with a fat tire dirt scooter, a Suzuki trail bike, and his Sherco trials bike. It was Gilly’s first-ever clutch-driven motorcycle experience and after getting the hang of it on the trail bike, she quickly got the hang of the no-seat trials bike.  Collin, Tyson and Graham beat the piss out of the trials bikes on the big sandy hillclimbs, while scotter-mounted Amanda splattered mud everywhere, much of on herself. Robbie took the photos and I pretty much stuck to coaching. I never thought I’d see this day. What a memory-maker.

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Robbie’s women’s group threw a wedding shower for Collin and Amanda last night at Ray and Ellen Cox’s house.

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Robbie orchestrated a surprise party for my 60th birthday yesterday at the Contented Cow in Northfield. Surprise #2: Gilly, Graham and Tyson showed up. Surprise #3: Collin and Amanda flew in from New Jersey.

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Robbie and I won a New Ulm Chamber of Commerce drawing back in March when we saw the New Ulm-based movie, New in Town. The Chamber’s gift basket contained all sorts of goodies, but the biggie was a night’s stay in the Silverson Suite at the Beyer Haus B&B, courtesy of the owners (also bloggers), Bill and Peggy Beyer.

The meticulously restored Beyer Haus B&B has many charms, including luxurious hot tubs, a hilarious dog named Mr. MacDougal who can briefly balance a basketball on his nose while zooming around the backyard, and miniature dioramas hidden in the baseboards of every room.

We were joined at breakfast by a neighbor of the Beyer’s, Ann Makepeace, who serves on New Ulm’s Heritage Preservation Commission. Ann was one of those involved in the creation of the Historic Downtown Walking Tour Video Podcasts that I’ve heard so much about from Northfield Historical Society’s Hayes Scriven. We checked out two iPods from the Visitors Center and spent a couple hours downtown on Saturday afternoon on the podcast walking tour, including the Post Office/History Center above. We used most of the 50 dollars of Chamber Bucks that were in the gift basket for some outdoor dining at the ‘upscale Italian’ Lola’s Larkspur Market (newspaper story) restaurant. Fun coincidence: our waitress, Maggie Mae, grew up in the Beyer Haus. Maggie’s Room was her bedroom.

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I went to take photos of Tyson and Graham doing a tandem skydive yesterday near Baldwin, Wisconsin. When I got there, they surprised me with an early birthday present: "We’re paying for you to go, Dad." I needed no arm twisting. As I wrote back in July on Locally Grown, I don’t have a bucket list. But as a bit of a thrill seeker, my list would likely have more than a few adrenaline rush experiences, skydiving among them.

I love extreme roller coaster rides but nothing I’ve ever ridden compares to this. Dangling your feet out the door of the plane for 15 seconds at 13,000 feet is thrill #1. A-n-t-i-c-i-p-a-t-i-o-n. The first 15 seconds of the plunge is thrill #2 and it was the biggest rush I’ve ever felt. Nothing else comes close. The next minute of free-falling is thrill #3. Weightlessness rocks! Add spins to it for an extra kick. The final 10 minutes of turning and spinning after the chute is deployed is thrill #4. They hand you the steering straps so you can experience how easy it is to control the chute. Landing is thrill #5.

John Bucsko, co-owner of Skydive Twin Cities was my tandem guy. He said this has been their best year ever despite the recession. It’s a first-class operation. The staff was fun and friendly, the plane was top-notch, and all their preparation routines smacked of a rigorous approach to safety. I watched them pack their chutes. It was like a prayer service. Complete silence as the focused completely on the task at hand.

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Tyson paid the extra fee to have them video his jump.

Update Sept. 15: Collin jumped in New Jersey to join the club: