Day #8: Wednesday

Yummy breakfast = GO power!

Good breakfast and start to the day and a lovely walk to the Clinic.  When I arrived, I was just in awe of this large lobby full of people from all over the world and from all sorts of different backgrounds.  This place is absolutely amazing and the memories that I have from here are so very positive!

~ Mayo Lobby ~

My prayer for Rose today!

I don't know if I mentioned it, but I finally found the stairs that go all the way up to the 14th floor.  Once I found them, it has been my morning routine to use them at least on my first PT visit for the day....sometimes again later in the day!  This was a fun, challenging way for me to increase my steps without making it a big deal.  It was a great fit into my overall plan of implementing simplicity while also using exercise as a stress reliever.

Ever since I saw that picture hanging above the couch in my Air B& B, I wanted to see the real deal!  The Kahler Hotel is directly across the street from the Mayo Clinic and, in fact, it is connected underground through "the Subway."  The picture portrays a swimming pool on the roof of a building with a BIG old-school red light up sign above.  Earlier in the week I had tried to go up to see the swimming pool on the top floor, but it was locked and you had to be a key-carrying guest.  I decided to try again at a later time.  Today, I tried again, but instead of going straight up there, I stopped at the front desk and asked if I could just take a peek at the pool.  They made me a temporary key and had the security guard on duty direct me how to get there.  It was fun and kinda creepy at the same time.  I rode up this old, creaky elevator to the top floor and then had to find a 'secret' set of stairs to then walk the rest of the way up to find it completely empty.  I found this interested because upon arrival to the pool, they had a wheelchair access entry into the water.  This was the place that the picture was taken and now I can say that "I've been there."  It seems that this was an iconic hotel back in its day.  It definitely needs some upgrading/updating I would say, but you can't beat the location for Mayo patients!

Kahler Hotel
Pool Seen = CHECK!
~ Mission Accomplished ~

Lunch TIME!  Tomatoes, mozzy cheese, and homemade beet chips....

and goulash!

I made it a point today, in between appointments, to sit outside and enjoy the nice weather with my book.  My goal is to finish this book before I leave (or at least make a good effort)!  It's a great book and I really like the idea of a "Supper Club" as Jen refers to it.  Just getting together the good ole' fashioned way.  Visiting each others homes and sharing a sit down meal together; she even offers recipes!  This got my wheels turning to think of 3 other husband/wife couples that we could "all do life together."  Lots of prayer will go into creating a "Supper Club" of our own!

In PT today, we had 'arts and crafts' class.  I learned how to make my very own balloon drop kits.  This balloon is used in conjunction with the biofeedback meter to retrain my muscles how to relax.  The only way to expel this balloon is to relax those muscles.  We, of course, had to make my balloons lots of bright colors!  The last one that I am to use is light pink because Rose wants me to remember her and all that she has taught me during our two week program together.  Rose said these balloons should last me several years and that the are reusable!  LOL, somehow that was initially gross to me until I learned the whole cleaning process.

After my last session, I headed home and had a plan.  Since, it was a nice day and my mama was coming into town tomorrow, I decided to give my plan a whirl!  I had my eye on this inflatable water park just a few miles down the road.  Since, this past weekend I did not feel up to driving to Wisconsin to go to Noah's Ark like Heath and I had originally thought would be fun, this was the next best thing.  Just a few miles down the road, I packed a towel and some snacks and hit my bike.  I used this as a fun little tour to see the town by bike and explored several of the trails in their amazing bike system.  The beach was free and nice and sandy and sunny!  I found a nice, quiet little spot to set up a camp for a short while.  But before I did this, I had to check out the inflatable water park connected to the beach.....maybe later, I thought to myself, maybe later....

Fun times relaxing on the sandy beach!

After I laid in the nice warm sand and read for a while, I was nice and relaxed.  It was a super nice feeling that I let linger, but still had a small desire to check out the water park....so....I did!  When I went over there, I told the guy that I only had 30 minutes to do it and he offered a pro-rated rate which was super nice and totally unexpected.  I got my lifejacket and got into the cold water.  I was a bit hesitant at first because those of you who know me, know that stuff touching me in open water totally scares me.  (For being an open water swimmer in tris, I'm still not sure why this bothers me....)  So, I counted to three (with another little kid) and we swam really fast and awkward with my lifejacket on over to the park.  The seaweed totally freaked me out but, GUESS WHAT??  I made it!  I met another girl about my age and she asked if I was here with my kids.  "Nope, just me, " I replied.  It was 99% kids out there running around playing tag and climbing and jumping and sliding like crazy and having a great time.  I watched them to see how to use some of the different obstacles.  My favorite, which I totally conquered, were the rainbow shaped monkey bars.  I DID IT!  It's been years since I have done monkey bars and straight across ones at that, these went up in the middle and then back down on the sides.  I called Heath and told him that I need some of these to play on at home please!  Boy, will I be sore tomorrow!

Foster Arend Park Inflatables

While walking over to the water park,
I stopped to pick a 4-leaf clover!

On the way home, I tried a different route sort of on purpose, sort of on accident.  It was quite lovely and shaded.  I even saw this sweet little deer having a bite to eat.  She wasn't afraid of me even when I paused to take out my camera to capture this moment.

*God Winks*

When I first arrived to town, Kristi - my landlord - recommended a yoga class that she really liked and thought that I would enjoy.  It happened to be full, but she invited me to a different class that was offered tonight.  I thought that would be a great way to end my day, so I went.  It ended up not  quite working out for me because they were burning some type of incense that gave me a headache.  No big deal, I just went outside and waited for the class to finish to thank Kristi for inviting me and for such a lovely place to stay!

Lovely supper with fish!