It’s one of those years. (Well, hopefully it’s just ONE YEAR with no repeats, ever.) The options for vacation are pretty limited, so I decided on a day trip, since the car we’re leasing gets turned in soon and we have a lot of unused miles on it. I decided to go to Mankato, Minnesota, a 90-minute drive south, and asked my daughter Gennie to come along. I was so happy she said yes. The corona virus and quarantining has changed the kinds of interactions I have with people, and I relished a whole day to spend with her, all the talking and laughing and sharing we would do.
For those who don’t know, Mankato is the home of Minnesota author Maud Hart Lovelace, who wrote the 10-book Betsy-Tacy series about her life growing up in the late 1800s/early 1900s. The books cover stories about her and her friends from age 5 until they get married. Maud fictionalizes her experiences, renaming the town to Deep Valley, renaming herself to Betsy, changing names of people and locations. I fell in love with these books when I was a kid and reread them a lot. Then I grew up and found hundreds of women and some men who loved them too, and we’ve formed a great online community since the 90s.
So the last Sunday in July I picked up Gennie (who turned 29 today! along with her brother Leo). We began our lovely drive and the mood was festive. Gen is alas, not a fan of the Betsy-Tacy books (though I tried and read the books to her and her brothers) but she knows a lot about them and my passion for them. Besides the BT sites, I also wanted to visit the grave of my great aunt/Gen’s great-great aunt, Sister Eulalia. She was a School Sister of Notre Dame and lived for many years at the convent on the hill in Mankato. Sister E’s birth name was Genevieve Luberda – yes, Gen is named after her. My great aunt was a very positive influence on my life when I was growing up, and we wrote letters to each other regularly from the time I was about 11 until she died at 91. Gennie was 9 when Sister died and barely remembers her, but loves to hear stories about her
So we had our lovely drive through the leafy greenness of a Minnesota summer. We wore our masks in the car and had a breeze coming in the window, which is what I’ve been doing when I’m with people in the car ever since I talked to a doctor when I got tested for COVID. He recommended it, and it eases my mind to have some protocol. Along the way, we stopped in the cute old-timey town of St. Peter’s for coffee.
When we got to Mankato, we first stopped at Sister Eulalia’s grave in the small convent cemetery (which had old graves of sisters with some of the MOST UNUSUAL names I’ve ever seen. I want to go back and write them all down so I can use them in writing!). We realized belatedly that we wished we’d brought flowers, so we decided that we’d come back again after doing so– and I wanted to visit Maud’s grave too, and get her flowers too.
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So fun! I’ve been thinking of a day trip somewhere just to get out of the city. I didn’t know about the falls- now on the list to check out. Happy birthday to your twins! Hope we can do wine soon. – Christine
I would love that, Christine! Let’s make it happen. And thanks… it’s so good to hear from you.
Thank you for your blog post, Theresa. As a fan of all things BT I follow the BT hashtag on IG and stumbled across your IG post which turned me on to your ‘tiniest vacation’. As a Canadian, I’ve never been to BT’s birthplace but read everything I can about it. And now, with COVID and our borders closed, it may be even longer before I make the trip. So I dearly appreciate you taking your readers by the hand and sharing a day in the life. As an armchair traveller, you gave ME the ‘tiniest vacation’. Stay well.
I’m so glad to hear from another fan of the BT books! I hope you one day will get to make a trek to Mankato yourself. I have written about the books and Mankato in another blog post: http://penandmoon.com/living-inside-books Also, in case you don’t know, there are several Facebook groups for fans of the books, and it’s a great way to connect and hear about more events and informations. Search on FB: Maud Hart Lovelace Society, Maud Hart Lovelace – Betsy-Tacy Fans, and Maud-l on Facebook. That last one is a community that started as an email listserv in the mid-90s where hundreds of fans share their love of the books. The listserv still exists, but some people choose the FB group as more convenient. (Let me know if you’re interested in access info for the listserv.)
I so appreciate your comments and I’m glad the post was meaningful for you.
I’m a little late in reading this, but looks like you both had a fabulous vacation! So glad you could get away!!!
It was such fun! Now it feels like forever ago, sigh.