What's New in New Ulm?

 The answer is: not much as far as we could tell! 😂 Maybe someone changed: the color of a particular house or perhaps there's a new business in town.  But these Midwestern towns seem to hold on to their charm with century old houses, familiar parks, statues and huge trees lining the streets.  There is something comforting in the fact that you can come back 10 years later, and the same buildings will be there.  Indeed, it is a much slower pace here than the frenzied one in Phoenix.

Our friend Norm came this week and was able to park his Oliver trailer right by the garage. He is also good friends with Verl and Clara and had received permission to stay for a few days. 

Our first outing was to show him Schmidt's Meat Market in Nicolette.  We ended up buying sausage, brats, meat, cheese, pork sausage and even homemade German potato salad.  The smell of smoked meat when you enter is heavenly (if you are a carnivore).  This definitely is not a place where vegans or vegetarians congregate. Here is part of the selection of meat sticks that come in all sorts of flavors.

This was Norm's initial visit to New Ulm, so we followed the suggestion of the New Ulm Visitor's Guide and showed him Martin Luther College, Hermann the German statue, downtown New Ulm plus side trips to Schell's Brewery and Morgan Creek Vineyards during the time he was here.  We are way too old to have accomplished this in just one day.

Our first place to stop in New Ulm was the Glockenspiel.  We did notice that this year the Dakota Indian was missing.  Perhaps the winter was too hard on him, or he's waiting to come back until he is labeled a Native American.  There was no one around to ask(maybe because it was 50 degrees and the cold wind was blowing). 

The three of us did agree that we would never, ever want to live in a house across the street.  The chimes are LOUD and the glockenspiel goes off 5 times each day during the summer. 

We supported one of the local businesses by visiting the local brewery that has been in business here for over 150 years.  Schell's beer has been enjoyed by generations of Minnesotans and students from Martin Lutheran College. 

Our granddaughter Tatum gave Don suggestions as to what beer to order.  Both Don and Norm liked what they got at Schell's. Cheers for the beers!🍺🍺

In fact, Norm liked the beer so much we stopped by the local liquor store so he could purchase some to take to his summer place in Wisconsin. 👍