Minnesota in June

Seems like I just left Minnesota and I guess I did but this trip was necessary. There were new family members to meet and fish to catch so off I went again.

Emaleigh and Dereck are just darling at two months. They do all the normal two month things like eating and filling their diapers. A great niece and nephew are special folks to this old guy.

Mom Carrie and Claranna are doing just great. Claranna is a darling little girl. Guess she takes after her Mom..... sorry about that Mark!

We drove to the lake ( big Winnie) ... about a 6 hour drive and Tuesday morning we were treated to this view from the cabin. Here the Mississippi empties into the lake. It's a beautiful area especially in the spring.

Fishing is always good and sometimes catching is as well. Here Kevin shows off his "big" Walleye. It was over the 17 inch maximum so it was released back into the lake. What a pretty fish! We came home with our limit of Walleye and Northern and stuffed out faces with three big meals of fish while we were there.

We headed back to Pine Island just in time for the Cheese Festival. the "cheesefest", as the locals call it, stems from the fact that there once was a cheese factory in town. As in Germany, most of the small towns in Southeastern Minnesota have a festival of some kind in the summer. Part of the festivities was a "mud bog". Here the ground is prepared so that it's pretty much a muddy mess. Then the folks take turns driving through the pit. It's a competitive thing where time and distance is measured to determine the winner in each class.

Here Kevin is getting ready to try his hand and the pit using his cousins truck.

At the end of the day they have a muddy truck and, for Kevin, a 6th place finish in his class. Not bad for a rookie! A little dirty but you couldn't see the dirt because of the big smile on his face.

Thanks to friends and family for making this another great visit. Guess I'll just have to dream about the fish till next year.

The adventure comes to an end

Well gang, for those of you who have been following us for the last 7 weeks you know that it's time to be back in Sacramento. We did arrive home yesterday the 15th. Here's some pics from the last few days of the trip

We spent a few days in Sierra Vista, Az visiting Sharleen's family. We took a walk and found this little lake in the middle of the desert.

On Friday evening we went up to Tucson and watched Ryan (Sharleen's nephew) race Motocross. He ran in the 85cc class and won both events he raced in. Way to go Ryan!!

We headed to Scottsdale, Az on Monday and visited some long time friends who live there. We had dinner on their patio with the view shown here. What a great evening to end the trip. Thanks John and Brenda.... great to see you again.

Well, as they say in the movies..... that's a wrap!

We head out again in late August so..... look for us then.

New Mexico

We made it to Tijeras just East of Albuquerque for three fun filled days exploring. Here's a short version of the days.

We started with dinner at John and Sandy's house on Friday evening. A great evening of catching up on days gone by. The next morning we headed to Santa Fe.

We had breakfast at this four star New Mexican restaurant..... great food and super people. John and Sandy know the folks so it was just like home.

On Sunday we drove to a area North West of Santa Fe and visit the Bandelier National Monument. Here the ancient Pueblo Indians built dwellings and occupied these lands some 700 years ago. If you enlarge the photo and look closely you can see the caves at the base of the cliff that they carved out as part of their homes.

I just had to climb the four ladders that took me to a ceremonial cave in the side of the cliff. Well worth the climb

The same afternoon we visited Los Alamos national lab most famous as the home of the Manhattan project which developed the atomic bomb in 1942. The museum was awesome and it gave a great deal of insight into the time and the people who were working in the town that didn't exist to bring a end to WWII.

Monday we headed to Albuquerque and rode the longest tram in the world to the top of Sandia crest.

The view from the top of Sandia Crest was spectacular. The Crest is 10,300 feet msl and nearly 4000 feet above the tram station at the bottom. The entire Albuquerque basin was visible from the top.

We hit the road again today..... we're in Deming, New Mexico tonight and tomorrow off to Sierra Vista, Arizona for a few days with Sharleen's mom, brother and families.

What a great time in the Albuquerque area...... thanks to John and Sandy for all they did.... great food, great tour guides and most of all great just to catch up on old times..... Thanks again.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park

We visited Carlsbad Caverns and spent about three and a half hours 800 feet underground. The pictures here don't do the sights justice. The cave is amazing in it's sheer magnitude. The rooms are gigantic with the biggest being the "big room". We spent about a hour to walk around the perimeter of that cavern. The ceiling was as much as 90 feet from the bottom in one room.










The formations in the Kings Palace were spectacular with stalactits and stalagmites everywhere.






The colors were not as bright as Blanchard Springs due to the lack of minerals found there. The cave is also carved out of Gypsum rather than Limestone and is etched away by Sulfuric
Acid found in a natural state when water combines with Gypsum.

Tomorrow it's off to Tijaras, New Mexico to visit friends for the weekend. We hope to see the area and maybe get to Santa Fe. More from there.

Houston

We arrived in Kingswood.... just north of Houston on Thursday afternoon after a short drive from Carthage.

We nestled the trailer into the driveway at Fred and Janes Kingwood RV park. A tight fit but a great spot to spend a few days. After some great food and lots of talking we got some sleep and headed for Galveston the next morning.

We took the ferry from Galveston to the Bolivar pensinula. There we saw the devestation that Ike left in it's wake. No pictures..... I was too busy looking at the houses that we not there and the piles of debris.

On Saturday we found a garden and took a walk. Here's Fred and Jane beside the flowers...... What a great couple. We also went to Old Town Spring to see the crawdad festival. Fred and I sat on the"husband benches" while the girls looked at the shops.

Sunday was a day for church and rest for the guys... the girls went to another festival..... party time.!! Monday was a day of cousin stuff. Tuesday morning found us saying farwell for now and heading to Junction, Texas where we are now. Thanks to Fred and Jane for a great visit! Tomorrow the plan is Carlsbad, New Mexico. More from there,

Bald Knob take two

On Monday Mary took us to Little Rock to do some sight seeing. It's a pretty town on the Arkansas River with a lot of history.

We visited Central High, the site of the 1957 integration activity. Here the Little Rock 9, as they were to become known, Attended classes with the national Guard called in to protect them.

There is a great visitor center which tells the story complete with newspaper accounts from that time.

We then visited the Bill Clinton presidential library. It's a interesting place with lots of artifacts and pictures of the 8 years. Of particular interest to me was the pictures of Dr Bill Perry, Clinton's Sec of Defense during his first term. Dr Perry was the president of ESL when I worked there and I still consider him a friend.

On Tuesday we attended a lecture on Falling in the elderly presented by Mary. I am convinced that I am not going to age as it leads to falling and falling leads to bad things. We then went to the Parkin Archaeological state park where we read of the history of the Mississippian Indians who liver here from 1000 to 1550AD.

It's now Wednesday and we headed down the road reluctantly after bidding Buddy and Mary farewell. What a great time...... what interesting things we saw..... but best of all...... what great friends who went out of their way to show us around. Thanks, Buddy and Mary!!!

We're in Carthage, Texas for the night and then on to Houston tomorrow. More from there.

Bald Knob Arkansas

On Saturday we headed south through the Ozarks to Bald Knob. We ended up at Buddy and Mary's lakeside RV park and tour company. The park is complete with electricity and water as well as trained catfish that come when a few pellets of cat food are thrown in the water. It was a great Reunion as Sharleen and Mary went to nursing school together and hadn't seen each other in many years. It was also a chance for me to make new friends.

The view from the trailer is great!

Standing on the dock was a treat.

On Sunday Buddy and Mary showed us the Ozarks with a stop outside of Mountain View. Blanchard Springs caverns have to be one of the most beautiful caves I have ever seen.

The formations in the cave are spectacular.