Fred's Minnesota Blog

This summer we have a new theme. There are fourteen Minnesota Wineries most of which offer tours and tastings. We would like to visit as many as we can this summer. Last week, we stopped at three on the northeast side of the Twin Cities. This week we traveled northwest to St. Cloud and on the way stopped at the Goose Lake Farm and Winery . The lady was very nice and we tasted the Rhubarb and White Grape wines. We decided to add the White Grape to our collection. They also make a complete selection of other fruit wines, like apple, apricot, blueberry, cherry, cranberry, peach, pear, plum, and raspberry.

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Afterwards it was off to St. Cloud, MN. Last year we went before Memorial Day and it was too early for the Gardens to be open and for the Trolley to be running.

This year we decided to wait and we rode the Trolley for a tour of the city plus had a nice relaxing time in the gardens. There are two gardens next to each other. The Munsinger Garden is owned by St. Cloud and maintained by the University of St. Cloud on the Mississippi River. On the bluffs above the river were the Clemens Gardens. Mrs. Virginia Clemens was confined to a wheel chair and her husband created the gardens for her enjoyment. Their house is right accross the street from the gardens. At first we expected to see a multi-story mansion but realized the logic of a quite large single story home. (In Minnesota ranch houses are called ramblers, I don't know why) It was a most impressive rambler.
Kathleen in the lower garden. Another view of the fountain.