July 26, 2015

Although Lyla and I stayed two nights in this small North Dakota town of Valley City it seems I’m only now getting a blog off and almost dozing at the keyboard. So to catch up I’ll try to post some photos instead of a lot of words. Here is a brief overview of them:

The house my grandmother Ada Houyde Upton grew up in in Shell Lake, Wisconsin in the late 1800s, is still occupied. The kindly couple who has lived there 57 years invited me to step just inside the door.

We visited the Buskala Jewelry shop in Cloquet, Minnesota, where it is likely my grandfather DeForest Upton, bought a wedding ring in 1904 from the grandfather of John Buskala, who is the fourth generation to run the shop.

Mosquitoes drove us to leave our camp at Mille Lac Lake at 5 a.m. so as we arrived at the lake we were able to see this beautiful sunrise being enjoyed by a couple who either got up very early or were going to bed very late.

David Brekke and his wife opened The Vault, a coffee shop with much more in Valley City in 2013. The shop is in a renovated bank that had sat empty for many years. The only employees are the cooks in the kitchen. Customers help themselves to sandwiches, drinks, baked goods and more and push money through a slot or scan a credit card, all on the honor system. David, on the right, Lyla (who gets into every act if people are involved), and the building owner, Paul Stenshoel, were replacing a door when we met them.

Tomorrow we are off to the parks and Bad Lands. Lyla has been itching to give a report, so she will be up next.

Your observer,

Joy