Turtle Races

On Wednesday, we took Maddie and Wil to their first ever Turtle Races in the little town of Nisswa. I remember turtle races from when I was a kid. Every Wednesday in the summer months, the town puts on the event. It's quite organized. You pay $3 per turtle and when they call your number, you go to the center of the race ring which is drawn out on the pavement, pick out a turtle from the yellow buckets and race it! The crowd gathers around the race ring and everyone cheers and shouts. It's a bit chaotic but well worth it. Maddie loved it. The races start at 2:00 so William was in need of a nap and a bit of a handful but we really had a great time anyway. Nisswa is a very cute town. We parked right by this old train caboos that is like a mini-mini museum. You can walk through and check out the memorabilia and imagine what it would have been like to sleep on the train. On the way out, Maddie wanted to take her picture by the American flag.We couldn't miss a shot with Paul Bunyon's Babe the Blue Ox.

This shot was taken right before Grandpa handed Maddie the turtle to hold and she dropped it flat on it's back! Good thing turtles have hard shells. You could tell she felt bad but said it "pinched" her.

I definitely want to make the Nisswa Turtle Races an annual tradition on our summer trips back to Minnesota.