My life before Mexico

Before we start on our adventures, I wanted to share what life was like before Mexico. My partner these last 27 years, B, and I owned a 48 acre hobby farm. We also had a small rental house on the property. It was located about an hour north of Minneapolis and quite close to the St Croix River. The St Croix is a protected wildlife river and forms the boundary between Minnesota and Wisconsin before eventually joining the Mississippi. Here is an aerial view of the farm:

And a closer look at our little farm house. It was built in 1836 and the floor beam under the living room was actually a log with the bark still on it! There was nothing special about it, just an average, small 1 1/2 story house. But we loved it.

Over the course of the 15 years we lived there we had various livestock. Chief amongst them were the horses. This was a great little barn. It had four box stalls, two tie stalls and an actual staircase to the hayloft. Some of the siding and most of the original cedar shingle roof were destroyed in a bad hail storm so we had the whole thing covered in steel.

This is an overview of the St Croix Valley, just above Taylors Falls, Mn. You can just barely see the St Croix in the middle left of the picture. This is a tremendously beautiful area in which to live.

A closer look at the St Croix as it runs by Taylors Falls. Lots of glacier rock and potholes. I fun place to explore and just romp around on the rocks. A great place to just sit quietly and meditate also.

But, finally, the real reason we left Minnesota for retirement in a slightly more friendly environment!