Bakken

Offspring #2 and I made a Scandinavian ice lantern. This was a group effort. Oh, and by the way, the bird I identified yesterday as a yellow warbler was actually a saffron finch.

Forty years ago my brother-in-law talked about taking his son to the Bakken Museum. Today I finally made it there myself. The museum is near Lake Harriet where I saw people fishing, skating, and skating with sails.

As usual I start museums on the top floor and work my way down. This is the great hall in the mansion. QR codes on the wall led me to a website that described what I was looking at. Nice wood floor surrounds the rug. Under the rug is the cheap wood.

Minnesota plants and animals are depicted in the stained glass windows.

The owner of this mansion was really worried about being kidnapped. This was after the abduction of the Lindberg baby. Gangsters were everywhere. The study has 6 doors for escape. A large stone wall surrounded the property.

Veterinary tools.

Nice copper top fire place.

 

One exhibit featured the life of Mary Shelley - the author of Frankenstein. This was a play reenactment of Frankenstein confronting his maker and demanding he make him a wife or he would be killed.

Another view of the study. When I came upstairs a docent was showing a family experiments with static electricity. I was offered a chance to hold hands and feel a static electrical charge. That was a hard no, thanks.

They had a section on medicinal plants. Other parts of the museum featured Earl Bakken who was one of the founders of Cardiac Pacemakers, Inc. Back in 1977 I worked for Cardiac Pacemakers, Inc. My job was to x-ray and package pacemakers with the appropriate paperwork. My boss, Marty, would walk by several times a day and say, "Faster, faster." He was nice. They had examples of prosthetic devices. I put one on my right arm and then tried to pick up the checkers for a game of Connect Four. I had a lot of difficulty. This would be a great place for kids to visit.