THE RED RIVER OF THE NORTH

This morning we attended worship services at the church where we were members for over seven years, back in the 70's and early 80's.  It was so much fun to see people that we saw every Sunday, thirty years ago!  Many of the older folks have gone home to Jesus, but still so many faithful members were there.  We had a wonderful visit!  After services, we went out for breakfast with Arlene, Ernie's childhood friend from his hometown of Oklee.  We had a great visit and caught up on kids and grandkids.

We also took another visit to the old neighborhood, this time from I street, looking down Teak towards the east.  Yesterday I said that Twining School was gone, but now today we see a part of it at least, way down at the end of the street.  So, Barbie, your house is gone, but part of the school is still standing.

When we lived there, the streets were almost bare of trees.  There now are trees, but no homes.  The white truck is parked just about in front of where our house stood.  There is a pile of debris there now.

We picked up Lenny, Connie and Sammy again, and went down to the river, the famous Red River of the North, the river you hear about almost every spring because it is flooding.  That cone shaped monument in front of Sammy lists the dates and the water levels of the most devastating floods.  The very top mark is 1997, the worst flood recorded, the year the water covered the downtown of Grand Forks, and many of the buildings burned down.  It is nicely rebuilt now, looking better than ever.  And the main change is that they have build a wonderful dike system along this area.  The water still rises, because the river flows north, so the thawing waters from the south flow north and run into the frozen waters and the ice jams that aren't moving as fast.   The mark about the middle of the cone reads 1979, when we were at the Air Force Base.  I remember coming into town and filling sand bags one weekend, and another time riding the bus into town and slinging sandbags along a street running parallel to the river.  I don't think I ever ached so much in my life!  And these people sling those sand bags almost every year!  It must be the sturdy Norwegian stock.

The water is still high and outside the actual river banks.  In the exact center of this picture you should see a couple of red spots.  Those red spots are fire trucks, the white ones are huge trailers of rescue equipment.  There is a search going on in this area of the river where someone had jumped from the bridge this past week.

This is the rescue boat heading up the river for another search for the body.  How sad for the family having to wait for closure to this terrible event.

Sammy wanted his picture taken with the train crossing the river on the railroad bridge.  So here you are! 

And just to show you that the river is still high, this spot is further north from the downtown area, and that line in the water across the center of the river, is a dam!  Yup!  It really is water over the dam and water covering the dam!  There will still be a lot of work to do when the water goes down.  Look at the mess of trees and brush that needs to be cleaned up.  And like I said, these people do this year after year after year!  Only now they won't lose their city as the dikes are protecting the businesses and homes.

We will be taking off early in the morning.  We have really enjoyed our visit with our son and his family and hope we can get back up here again soon.