This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

A Nostalgia Trip: The Moon Landing of Apollo 11 and the Muppet Movie

Within the past week, two happenings caused me to revisit 1969: the moon landing of Apollo 11, and the advent of the Muppets on Sesame Street.

There was some unusual synchronicity at work for me a few days ago.

It began with conversation with Brett, one of the staff at in Woodbury. Apollo 11 had come up as a trivia question, and I noted my memories of that riveting afternoon and evening, July 20, 1969: of stopping along U.S. #2 west of Bagley, MN, glued to the car radio, during the time when Apollo 11 touched down on the moon; and many hours later, back in suburban Minneapolis, watching the astronauts on the moons surface on television.

Brett, it turned out, was 8 years old and growing up in Bemidji that day in 1969. I knew I had some really rough photos I had taken of Apollo as it appeared on television from the moon that night. They wouldn’t rate star quality—snapshot camera, slow film and low light weren’t a good combination—but I said I’d see if I could find them and make a copy for him.

Find out what's happening in Woodburywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

It took a bit of looking, but I found the slides (note photos. A selection of much better photography is easily accessible on-line at YouTube and other places.)  In order of appearance: 1) is a snapshot I took of the TV screen late at night July 20, 1969; 2) a personal opportunity to view a mockup of the Lunar module and the return vehicle at the Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, November, 1969; and 3) and 4) visiting the exhibit of the return vehicle at the Minnesota State Capitol in June, 1970.

It happened, almost the same day Brett and I had our conversation, that daughter Heather made a request to see the new movie, the Muppets. Frankly, I hadn’t heard of the movie, but I said "sure", so last Wednesday, I picked up Heather at Proact in Eagan, and went to the Muppet movie at the Woodbury 10. Just enter zip code to find theaters and show times in your area.

Find out what's happening in Woodburywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Of course, I remembered the Muppets from parenting days. Coincidentally, as I re-learned, they first appeared on Sesame Street in 1969, the same year as the moon landing, and were Sesame Street staples until 1976, when they spun off as a separate Muppet show.

We went to the Muppet movie and it was fun. The receptionist at Proact said the movie would be "corny", and for sure it was, but if you want to refresh from the tasks of last minute Christmas shopping, and get back in the Christmas spirit give yourself a gift and drop in on the Muppets movie. You’ll leave feeling good.

The movie is delightful.

(The author, a Woodbury resident, blogs regularly on diverse topics at www.OutsideTheWalls.org/blog)

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?