Rochester, MN and the Mayo Clinic

Chris has a cousin, also considered the sister she never had, who was at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN having five weeks of radiation therapy. Her name is Deb. Upon completion of her five weeks she would ring the bell to celebrate the end of the torture. Chris and I decided to travel to Rochester to help her and husband Tim celebrate the momentous occasion.

 On Wednesday, March 15th, we loaded up the car and drove to Rochester. It was about a six hour drive. The further north we drove the colder it got and the more snow we saw on the ground. After checking into our motel and using the hot tub we went to visit Deb and Tim at the Hope Lodge, their home for most of their stay in Rochester.
That evening Tim and I cooked us a spaghetti dinner in the kitchen at the Hope Lodge. It was LARRAPIN good if I say so myself.

On Thursday, March 16th, Chris and I met Deb and Tim at the Mayo Clinic after Deb had her radiation treatment.
We took a tour of a portion of the Mayo Clinic, checked out the museum, and went up to the 19th floor to see the view.
It is an impressive facility and they were sure good to Deb. All the employees seem to be so friendly and helpful. Late afternoon we returned to our motel and Deb/Tim returned to the Hope Lodge to get some rest.

Chris and I returned to the Hope Lodge with a couple pizzas from Mr. Pizza. Best pizza I ever had and loaded with toppings. After eating we retired to the basement where Chris and Deb talked and Tim kicked my butt at pool. I won the first game and Tim won the next seven or eight. It was embarrassing.

On Friday, March 17th, we again met Deb and Tim at Mayo. It was Deb's last radiation treatment. Upon completion, she rang the bell with applause from all the patients in the room.
It was great being able to witness this. Afterwards, Deb and Tim returned to Hope Lodge to pack up and drive home. Chris and I did a little sight-seeing.

We drove to the Historic Mayowood Mansion, where some of the Mayo family lived in the 1960's.



We left the mansion about 11:00 and drove home, arriving at 6:00. Our total mileage for the trip was 895 miles.

To see all the photos taken today click on the following link:
RochesterPics

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Colorado; Day 9; June 30, 2012

Image
The evening of June 29th we saw the play, “Is He Dead” at the Creede Repertory Theater ( http://www.creederep.org/ ).  It was very entertaining,  one of the better plays I’ve seen. When we drove away from Creede at 6:05 am it was 41 degrees.  A short distance south the temperature dropped to 39.  We tried soaking up the cold for what we knew would be a hot afternoon. We rode South Fork and then east to Alamosa.  From Alamosa we took a detour north up Hwy 17 to see the UFO Watchtower ( http://www.ufowatchtower.com/ ).  It is a place for UFO enthusiasts to go to watch for UFO’s.  The lady who runs the place said something about some sort of vortex existing on the property.  Weird stuff, even for an open-minded guy like me. If the UFO Watchtower wasn’t weird enough we saw a male driving a Jeep with eye lashes over the headlights at a gas station in Alamosa, CO.  Hopefully it was his wife’s Jeep and he was just gassing it up for her. We c...
Read more

My Last Ride

On January 11th, 2017, I departed on a ride to Kelli's Korner (Paradise, MO - near Smithville, MO) for lunch with four friends (Carl, Gary, Bill and Larry). It was a beautiful day, which was all the excuse we needed for a ride. I was leading the group and we were taking a long way there. Riding north on county road N, about 6 miles north of Hwy 152 and I-435, the road turned and I didn't. I exited the road into a field. Fortunately there were no fences, trees, rocks, oncoming cars, etc. I have no explanation for this except that I was out of it for awhile. I remember crossing the center line but I was looking down at that time, which is weird. I have no memory of seeing anything after that until I was laying in the field separated from my motorcycle. I do remember a sensation of tumbling but that is all. My first thought was to drive my motorcycle out of the field and get it cleaned up so Chris would not know what I did. What a ridiculous idea that was. After I'd been up ...
Read more

Florida Trip; Day 11

Image
A beautiful, sunny and warm day! After our B&B breakfast we rode away on our golf cart at 9:45 AM. It was 51 degrees. We spent an hour or so exploring Cedar Key again and Chris did a little shopping on Dock Street. Morning is low tide. It was strange seeing boats sitting in the mud at the marina. This next picture is of the marina at high tide. At noon we had to return the golf cart and then we walked to lunch at Tony's. After lunch we walked the Railroad Trestle Nature Trail. We went to the Cedar Key Scrub State Park to walk but found it uninteresting so we didn't go far.  Back at the B&B we watched a movie and then watched the sun set. We drove a whopping 13 miles today (not counting miles in the golf cart) and our high temperature was 68. A very relaxing day! Tomorrow we start home. Click here to see all photos from today - Day 11 Photos  
Read more