Micah and I made it to Clarion at about 7:45 and found the church just fine. We went in to look at the church proper there and then visited with a few Clarion people. The bus came shortly and picked us up and from there we went on to Belmond to pick up parishoners there. We then headed north to St. Paul, stopping at the Minnesota Welcome Center for a break. When we got to the museum, we ate lunch and saw the film "Arabia" in the IMAXX theater. It was a very interesting film about Saudi Arabia and how it came to be. It also talked about Islam and the Golden Ages of Arabia. It was a good film to see prior to seeing the Dead Sea scroll exhibit as it kind of opened up your mind to the mindset of that time period.
I must say I was a little disappointed in that they only had 5 remnant pieces of the actual scrolls there to view but I suppose they really must be kept in ideal conditions for them to not deteriorate and the travel would be hard on them. They had the 5 remnants and they had their translation as to what they read. There is still some contriversy as to if those scrolls were placed by the inhabitants of Qumran or just happened to be placed in the caves near Qumran by someone else.
They did have a very interesting exhibit following the scrolls of the St. John's bible that is being handwritten and "illuminated" by the calligrapher of Her Majesty in England for the Collegeville, MN museum. They had some of the finished pages there and they are absolutely gorgeous. The detail work that goes into those pages is absolutely amazing!
Some people who know me are always amazed at how I can find people I know wherever I go. Today Rickee Ewing was with the Clarion bunch (I kind of figured she would be) and when we got to Belmond we picked up Pat and Mary Grant. The Grant's used to live in Britt until they retired and they moved to Belmond. It was nice to see them again and kind of catch up on our families. Micah was just 10 years old when they left Britt. Also, they have 8 great-grandchildren now! I really don't think they look old enough to even have 8 grandchildren if you ask me!
After going through the Dead Sea scroll exhibit, Micah and I relaxed and gazed out onto the Mississippi river that goes through St. Paul. Some of the people in the group had been up in this area a week prior and said the leaves were prettier then.
It was a good day all in all but, as I told Fr. Huber, please don't let me become one of those old church ladies in their orthopedic shoes! As you can see per the pic, I did not sacrifice fashion for comfort and my body is still handling it well even today. Frs. Huber, Dellaert and Miller --- when I start wearing orthopedic shoes please just shoot me!
We hit the road slowly but surely as it was just after 5 p.m. when we pulled away from the museum. The bus stopped at Trails in Albert Lea and we ate supper there and it was pushing 10:00 by the time we got home from Clarion. My nephew texted us about the football game. WOW! That must have been a great one to watch! Eagles over Bishop Garrigan, 29-28. Way to go!!!
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