Mayo Clinic in Rochester

A view of the Gonda building.

There are statues everywhere. These statues are on the outside face of one of the buildings, next to the Gonda building.

The Mathews Heritage Dome in the courtyard outside the Gonda building.

You can look down on to the lower level through the dome.

One of the beautiful gardens.

There were gardens everywhere on the Mayo campus. I couldn't check in to our hotel, which was across the street, until 3 pm and we arrived at 8 am, so I walked around the shops and then spent much of the afternoon sitting on one of these wooden benches reading my book and enjoying the beautiful fall weather. The sun was shinning and there was a light breeze, it was pure bliss! I love it when I have a wonderful excuse to read, because there is nothing else for me to do.

Another statue, this one looks like a bunch of birds.

I really liked this statue, it is in the childrens garden.

The statue is a child riding on a dolphin.

The statue on the left is W. W. Mayo, the father of the two brothers (see next picture). He and this nun started the first Mayo hospital together. He provided the money and the doctors and she provided the nurses and facility.

The two brothers/doctors who started the Mayo Clinic.

William Mayo and Charlie Mayo

Last Monday was our 8th anniversary. We had a very busy week, so we just went out to dinner at the Olive Garden. Thursday and Friday, Jon had a conference in Rochester, MN so I decided to join him for a little getaway. It was wonderful! As I said above, we arrived at 8 am and I couldn't check in until 3 pm, so I wandered around the Mayo campus and the many shops nearby. I wandered around some of the buildings on the Mayo Campus taking pictures, and I spent almost an hour wandering through the Mayo Clinic Museum. It was so neat to learn about the history of the Mayo Clinic and how it was started. I loved the feeling I felt, just being on campus. I would love to work for Mayo, but I don't know that that will ever happen. What a great place the Mayo Clinic is.

The shops were all so expensive, which was probably fortunate, because I didn't end up spending any money. However, I did spend some money on food. I had breakfast at Brueggers Bagels, which I love and then I had lunch at this salad and soup shop. I had the yummiest salad, it was spring greens with strawberries and sliced almonds with a strawberry dressing. I loved it so much, I had the same thing for lunch the next day. I also had a cup of their wild rice soup the first day and a cup of clam chowder the second day. While I was wandering around, I discovered a European Chocolate shop that sold all sorts of fine chocolates as well as Gelatto. Of course, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to indulge, so I took Jon back to the shop when his conference was over and each of us picked out three yummy chocolates. Each one cost $1.50 unless you bought five or more, then you paid by the weight. Obviously that is a better deal, so we bought six and shared. What a wonderful treat to have before dinner. We ate at John Hardy's which is a local BBQ joint, recommended to us by Corey Johnson. The food was good, and we left stuffed. We spent the evening walking around at the mall and then relaxing in the hotel. The next day was rainy, so I stayed in our hotel room while Jon was at his conference. Luckily he was finished by 1:00, so we spent the afternoon just having fun. We went to a movie, did a little shopping and then went to dinner at Outback. Later that evening, after our food had settled, we walked back over to the Chocolate shop and had some delicious Gellato. We had a wonderful time in Rochester. I loved downtown Rochester. It's always fun to have a getaway and we sure enjoyed ours.