Fort Smelling

Another thing on the list to do this summer was visit Historic Fort Snelling. Molly decided on the way there that it made more sense to call it Fort Smelling. It just sounded better.

The boys were certain that this would be the MOST BORING day EVER. I tried to convince them that this one of my favorite places to go as a kid and they might just enjoy themselves. But, I am just a mom and what do I know anyway?

On the way, we decided to have lunch at Fat Lorenzo’s. Fat Lorenzo’s is the kind of neighborhood restaurant that makes me long to move back into the city. This place serves up a pizza like nothing you get in the ‘burbs. Good enough to forget the gluten free diet for the afternoon!

If I hadn’t mentioned, my children are getting a bit squirrely with all this summer vacation nothing to do business. We have had several moments in the past 6 weeks where I am left wondering if having children was really my calling in life. My boys are fighting now around the clock. So these fieldtrips have provided the respite from the boredom and fighting. I guess my alternate reasoning for doing a new activity every day is to stay sane not just to check things off a list. I thought good pizza would be a nice boredom fighter. No such luck! After a tic-tac-toe game gone wrong resulted in a screaming match and a spilled soda can, I realized we weren’t in Kansas anymore. No rainbows and Lolipop Kids on this trip!

We got back into the car and headed to Fort Smelling, a bit grumpy, but full of good pizza. The fort was filled with costumed actors playing the part of a early 1800s frontier fort. We walked around learning about life in the 1820s, or at least I did. The kids learned how to shoot a gun, make a nail, carve a wash basin, ready a cannon, and march like a soldier. At the end of the day, I let them buy some rock candy from the Fort’s general store. One of the three of them thought it was a nice treat. The other two decided to put theirs in the nearest garbage can. It turns out that Fort Smelling might not be the worst way to spend a day, but nobody was going to admit it was actually fun.

The fort was beautiful and the restoration has come a long way since I was a kid. It was especially meaningful to me because we could talk about what the Fort meant to our family history. My Great-Great Grandfather (or is it three Greats?) reported to Fort Snelling to begin his tour of duty in the Civil War. Many of the buildings are restored to be like what he would have seen in the 1860s. I think it is important for my kids to realize how much has been sacrificed by the family members who have come before us. We should appreciate the place their sacrifices have allowed us to be today. I cannot imagine what it was really like to have to cook my food over a wood stove, growing all the vegetables my family would eat outside my kitchen door, and killing the meat myself. I cannot imagine how my back would ache sleeping on a bed of rope and a mattress of straw. I cannot imagine how hot it would be to spend an August afternoon in a dress, apron, bonnet and shoes while doing my laundry over a boiling kettle of water. But our day allowed us to get a taste of what it might be like.

On the way home, sitting in our comfortably air conditioned minivan, eating granola bars purchased from the supermarket and drinking filtered bottled water, we watched our modern world pass by…the airport, the Mall of America, the gas station, the supermarkets, and the other drivers locked into their air conditioned automobiles. We were all thankful for our day in the past, but even more thankful for our modern conveniences. And when that moment passed, then the fighting started again…