Christmas 2010

Well, as usual, we are a little behind on the blogging. But, nevertheless, here is some information regarding our most recent trip to the frozen tundra. As most of you know, Laurie and I made the trip back to lovely, warm Minnesota for the Holidays. We ended up freezing for ten days in Minnesota and returned to DC (and 50 degrees) on New Years.

PART I

Our first stop on our whirlwind tour of Minnesota was Mankato. We spent several days in Mankato to see Laurie's family. The Sellners are a blast, especially with little Max running at full speed. Everyone in Laurie's family made the trip to Mankato including Scott, Lana, Hannah, Emily, Keri, Dave, and Max. We also spent some time with Laurie's aunt Deanna and her Grandma. We had a blast! It was a full house at Bonnie and Gene's, which made for some fun entertainment. One can only imagine...

The days at the Sellner "Homestead" were primarily spent playing games with the kids, building snow forts, watching movies (Despicable Me gets 4 stars), eating tons of great food, and watching our youngest nephew Max run, and run, and run, and then run some more. I needed at least two cans of Mountain Dew a day to keep up. This little guy is destined to be a track star. The snow fort that Scott, Dave and I built ended up turning into a small city, with a couple of hills for sledding and several tunnels. Hannah and Emily, the supervisors of the construction, were pretty impressed.

Our next encounter with the Sellners will be in March, when Laurie and I meet Bonnie and Gene in Fort Myers to watch a few Twins Spring Training games. Only 22 days until pitchers and catchers report! I will be sure to let all you Minnesotans know how warm it is in Florida...

PART II

Next on our whirlwind tour was a stop in lovely Perham, MN. The short five hour drive from Mankato to Perham was much better this year than in the last two years, given we didn't run into any snow. The highlights of our Perham visit included lots of sledding, playing games with the kids, watching a lot of hockey and swim meets, and of course, eating at number of fine establishments such as Mrs. B's, Pizza Ranch, Zorbaz, and Taco John's. My entire family made it back to Perham as well. We had a blast...it was really hard leaving. That list includes Tammy, Paul, Zach, Hayden, Ana, Brenda, Tony, Faith, Bryce and Ty. As you can see in the photo below, there are no barbers within a 20 mile radius of Perham. Zach and Hayden...that was directed at you...

Here are some pics from the day spent at Perham Hill...

We were also able to watch our nephew Hayden play a few hockey games. Nothing beats watching hockey, except watching basketball, unless your nephew, who loves checking people, is playing, then I guess hockey is pretty fun. All kidding aside, Hayden played great and it was a blast watching him spend several minutes in the penalty box.

We also made it to Brainerd to watch our nephew Zach swim. Zach did great in all of the events he raced in. He has already qualified for sections in the 200 individual medley, the 200 butterfly, the 200 breaststroke, and the 400 relay. I can hardly wait to see how he does at Sections and see if he can make it to State. Oh, and ladies...grab a number...look at those pipes!

PART III

After a few days in Perham, Laurie and I made the trip back to Minneapolis and Saint Paul to visit with friends. I met a bunch of buddies at Joe Senser's in Bloomington for some beer, food, and sports, while Laurie met up with some of her old high school friends for another Chirstmas party. The next day was spent preping for the night ahead...New Years. We went with a bunch of friends to the middle of nowhere in Wisconsin and it was a blast! Here are some pics from the night...

I still don't know why Laurie was laughing so hard...I look good!

And, as a finale, this was our buddy Brian the next day at lunch. Priceless.

That's it for now. Stay tuned! You never know when another posting could pop up out of nowhere!

- Bobby

Minnesota Visitors

Our very close friends Kris and Gemma paid us a visit this past weekend. They were pretty excited to step off the plane in DC where the lows for the weekend were in the mid-40s versus the mid-teens they've grown accustomed in MN.

We kicked off the weekend by having dinner at Potenza, an Italian restaurant a couple of blocks from the White House. This restaurant rocks! Kris and I enjoyed the Cherry Bombs (Crown and Cherry Coke) and Laurie and Gemma enjoyed lots of wine. The food was fabulous and was served, and cooked, by true Italians. Hands down, my favorite Italian restaurant. After dinner, we made our way to POV to have a few more drinks. POV is located in the W Hotel and is a trendy bar that overlooks the National Mall and White House. We ended up discussing politics the entire time and  needless to say, Kris and Gemma now agree with my views.

The next morning I treated Gemma and Kris to a famous Riepe tradition, German Pancakes! For those of you not lucky enough to have tried them, let me know, and I will be glad to treat you.

After breakfast, we made our way to the National Mall for some site seeing. We made some stops at the White House, Jefferson Memorial and the Marine Corp Memorial (i.e. Iwo Jima).

After taking in some of DC most beautiful sites, we decided to head to the Blue Ridge mountains and visit some of Virginia's finest wineries. We started the wine tour at Bluemont Vineyard, which is located on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge mountains. While enjoying their exceptional wines, we took in the spectacular panoramic views from the wine tasting room high above the Virginia countryside. At an elevation of 951 feet above sea level, Bluemont Vineyard has clear views of DC and the surrounding suburbs. As you can see below, Kris and Laurie are very serious about their wine!

The wines at Bluemont were spectacular. They actually name all of their wines after farm animals, which makes it easier for people like me to say their names! Here is a little more information about Bluemont: http://www.bluemontvineyard.com/winery.php#wines.

After Bluemont, we made our way to few more wineries throughout the Virginia countryside. We had no idea that Virgina was home to so many fine wineries! I guess Virginians have made wine for more than four centuries starting with the Jamestown settlers  in 1619. Not until the 1820's did wine really take off in that region, thanks to the Virginia Norton grape, which was first grown by Thomas Jefferson and George Washington.

After the wine tours, we made it back to the National Mall to take in the monuments at night, which happens to be my favorite time to see them.

Alright, now on to something more serious: football. It just happened that Kris and Gemma's visit to DC also coincided with the Vikings visit to the nation's capital. There was no way we would miss out on this! We began tailgating at 9:00am. Nothing is better at that early than a brat, burger, and some beer. We had a blast talking with the Redskins faithful and were quite surprised at the number of Vikings fans. A quarter of the stadium was wearing purple!

We also had our friends Brian and Kimya join us for the festivities. As you can see below, Kimya's Viking jersey was dirty, so she had to wear a Redskins jersey. Needless to say, she had to cook her own brats. As I am sure you know, the Vikings ended up beating the Skins and snapping that nasty 9-game road losing streak. Thank God they finally fired Childress! FedEx Field was pretty old, but still much better than the Metrodome. Outdoor football is much more fun to watch.

Here are some more photos from the game:

Thanks again Kris and Gemma for making the visit. We loved having you and can't wait to see again soon.

- Bobby

Gettysburg, PA

This past weekend, Laurie and I joined our friends Briggs and Lynn on a day-trip to one our favorite historical sites, Gettysburg, PA. To begin, the weather was absolutely perfect: 65 degrees and sunny. How was the weather in MN this past weekend?

We started the day at the Gettysburg visitor center where we watched a quick movie, viewed the famous Cylcorama painting, and toured the museum. The world famous Gettysburg Cyclorama was completed in 1884 and depicts Pickett's Charge, the turning point of this historic Civil War battle. The picture below doesn't begin to show how amazing this painting is. You stand in the middle of the 360° cylindrical painting where the intended effect is to immerse the viewer in the scene being depicted and includes the addition of foreground models and life-sized replicas to enhance the illusion. The completed original painting was 22 feet high and 279 feet in circumference. The version that hangs in Gettysburg, a recreation of the original, is 27 feet high and 359 feet in circumference. Believe me, it was very impressive.

After spending a couple of hours at the visitor center, we made our way into town. It was lunch time, which happens to be my favorite time of day. We found a great sports bar named after the famous hall-of-fame pitcher Eddie Plank, who won 324 games for the Philadelphia Athletics. Lynn and I both decided to have the double-header, a must have if you like burgers. After a great lunch, we started our audio tour of the various battlefields, which stretch a total of 24-square miles.

Alright, here is a quick history lesson of one of the most historic battles on American soil:

The Battle of Gettysburg, which was fought on July 1-3, 1863, was the battle with the largest number of casualties in the Civil War and is often described as the war's turning point. Union General George Meade's army of the Potomac defeated attacks by Confederate General Robert E. Lee's army of Northern Virginia.

The two armies began to collide at Gettysburg on July 1 as Lee urgently concentrated his forces there, with an objective to engage the Union army and destroy it. Low ridges to the northwest of town were defended initially by a Union cavalry division, which was soon reinforced with two corps of Union infantry. However, two large Confederate corps assaulted them from the northwest and north, collapsing the hastily developed Union lines, sending the defenders retreating through the streets of town to the hills just to the south.

On the second day of battle, most of both armies had assembled. The Union line was laid out in a defensive formation resembling a fishhook. Lee launched a heavy assault on the Union left flank, and fierce fighting raged at Little Round Top (see below, a view from Little Roundtop), the Wheatfield, Devil's Den, and the Peach Orchard. On the Union right, demonstrations escalated into full-scale assaults on Culp's Hill and Cemetery Hill. All across the battlefield, despite significant losses, the Union defenders held their lines.

On the third day of battle, fighting resumed on Culp's Hill, and cavalry battles raged to the east and south, but the main event was a dramatic infantry assault by 12,500 Confederates against the center of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge, known as Pickett's Charge. The charge was repulsed by Union rifle and artillery fire, at great losses to the Confederate army. Lee led his army on a torturous retreat back to Virginia. Between 46,000 and 51,000 Americans from both armies were casualties in the three-day battle. That November, President Lincoln used the dedication ceremony for the Gettysburg National Cemetery to honor the fallen and redefine the purpose of the war in his historic Gettysburg Address. 

Oh, and before we wrap it up, we have to give a shout out to the 1st Minnesota Regiment. The men of the 1st Minnesota are most remembered for their actions on July 2, 1863, during the second day's fighting at Gettysburg, where the regiment prevented the Confederates from pushing the Federals off of Cemetery Ridge, a position that was to be crucial in the battle. General Hancock ordered the regiment to assault a much larger enemy force telling the men to take the enemy's colors. The fateful charge bought the time needed while other forces were brought up. During the charge, 215 members of the 262 men who were present at the time became casualties.

The unit's flag fell five times and rose again each time. The 47 survivors rallied back to General Hancock, but not without great losses. The 82 percent casualty rate stands second to only the 1st Texas Infantry regiment, which suffered 82.3% casualties at the battle of Antietam. The unit's flag is now in the Minnesota Capitol's rotunda.

Despite the horrendous casualties the 1st Minnesota had incurred, it continued the fight the next day, helping to repulse Pickett's Charge. The surviving Minnesotans just happened to have been positioned at one of the few places where Union lines were breached during that engagement, and, as a result, charged the advancing Confederate positions one last time as a unit.

Here is an impressive memorial in their honor:

Here are few more photos from the day:

What a great day! Anyone who loves U.S. history should make a trip to Gettysburg, or at least watch the movie!

- Bobby