The 2010 Annual Meet committee went beyond the call of duty by offering not just one, but a choice of two tours on Tuesday. One group went to the Mall of America, the largest shopping mall in the United States, with 540 stores and an indoor amusement park.

The other group went to Elmer's Toy Museum, located on the highest bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. Elmer has an extensive automobile collection, 750 restored pedal cars, and a huge collection of antique toys. We enjoyed a picnic lunch in the yard overlooking the Mississippi River valley.

We toured in our Pierce-Arrows on Wednesday to the Olmstead County Historical Museum, and to Mayowood, the historic home of Dr. Charles Mayo. We stopped for lunch in historic Mantorville for lunch at the Hubble House, where home cooked meals have been served since 1854. Many PAS members took the opportunity to stretch their legs and browse the nearby antique shops before heading back to Rochester.

Our Thursday tour took us to the old Mississippi River town of Winona for lunch on a two-hour Mississippi River cruise. As we enjoyed our lunch, the guides pointed out items of interest along the shore, including a large number of eagles in the trees along the shore. When we returned to Winona, we had the option to tour four different museums dealing with the culture, art, commerce and history of this interesting town. Thursday evening the ladies enjoyed the annual Ladies Tea, this year featuring a reticule workshop.

On Friday, we toured through the hills and valleys to visit the world famous Niagara Cave. After touring the cave, we drove on to Lanesboro for lunch and a little antique shopping. On our way to Lanesboro, we came across a large group from a tractor club, touring the same roads on their tractors that we were enjoying in our Pierce-Arrows.

After lunch, PAS members boarded buses to tour some Amish farms. We saw how the Amish people live and what makes their country such a popular tourist attraction. Our return trip to Rochester took us over beautiful winding roads, arriving back at the hotel in plenty of time for the Swap Meet and Vintage Attic events that evening.

Saturday was Show Time with the beautiful cars displayed in the War Memorial Park. Later in the afternoon, Arnold Romberg conducted a technical seminar on mold making and casting. Arnold has learned a lot about this process over the last several years as he has been recreating the Detrich convertible sedan body on his 1930 Model A that was converted into a farm truck.

Many PAS members took the opportunity to tour the Mayo Clinic's art and history collections. Located directly across the street from the Kahler Hotel, the Mayo Clinic tour was easily accessible anytime during the meet.