Tuesday, May 17, 2022; The Mayo Clinic, Hand Pulled Noodles and Fossils
The cooler weather is welcome, particularly when power isn’t available on site. We awoke to find turkeys wandering past the RV. Jenny picked us up and drove us to the Mayo Clinic for a tour. Although the Pandemic has caused organized tours to be canceled, Jenny served an able guide and her employee badge granted us access to the campus.
There is a tremendous history and culture that has lead to the institution called the Mayo Clinic. It all started with a terribly destructive tornado which leveled much of the town of Rochester. Dr William W Mayo and his sons Charlie and William J had to tend to the mass casualties as the only doctors in the county. They soon joined forces with an order of Franciscan nuns, who became nurses and together they formed one of the first integrated health care systems. What is distinctly unusual is the fact that Rochester MN is not a particularly large or urban area, and that such a comprehensive medical industry sprouted up in the middle of corn fields.
There is a lot of expensive and exclusive art on display, and the buildings and grounds are over the top medical temples of glass, granite, marble and steel. The Mayo Clinic is certainly the largest employer in the state and Rochester has grown up to be a company town.
We met Arthur for lunch at a hand pulled Chinese noodle shop curiously named First Meeting.
The food was quite good, and a noodle puller was working his craft in the kitchen behind glass as we entered the restaurant. Arthur had an early work shift so he had to retire for a nap after lunch. Jenny had an appointment at 3pm, so after a quick look at the Olmstead County Historical Center gift shop and glance into the galleries, we returned to Arthur and Jenny’s home for some fresh orange slices and tea.
We were allowed to borrow Henry’s car, a Mazda 5, to go see the Quarry Hill Nature Center and park. The Nature Center is a small science museum with lots of live animal displays.
They had some interesting fish in a huge aquarium, as well as lots of turtles, snakes and other critters. The park has lots of trails, but the main attraction for us was the limestone quarry where there was a possibility of finding fossils. They say you can keep any fossil smaller than your hand if you find one.
We found small fossil specimens in the limestone of shells of various sorts, but nothing so spectacular as a trilobite. But it was fun to pick through the limestone to see what we could come up with.
Jenny and Eric returned home with their arms full of groceries, and they went to work to prepare an elaborate home cooked feast for us. It was delicious and healthy.
We finished up with a strawberry shortcake and late happy birthday for Jenny, who’s birthday was last week. We bade Arthur and Jenny farewell after dinner because we plan on heading back into Iowa early tomorrow morning. We are hoping to tour the Winnebago factory n Forest City.
A heavy rain began in the evening as we were dropped off back at the RV by Eric.
