Farwell Minnesota

Just a couple of more pictures from Minnesota and then down the road.

Saturday evening we had dinner with some special cousins. Ella, James and Claranna are just great fun. Thanks for spending your time with us!

Sunday we were treated to Dinner (our lunch) by Grandpa. Emeleigh, Rachel and Derick made it even more special.

Rachel knows how to drive grandpa's Kabota and she's really good at it. Good job Rachel.

One last look at our spot at Don's barnside RV Park and then off to Michigan. Tonight we're in Munising, Michigan and tomorrow we'll take a boat ride and see some sights. We're here for three days so more on the area in a day or two.

More Minnesota

Just a couple more things from Minnesota.

  On Thursday friends Jack and Gail drove us over to the Mississippi River for a tour of the area and then we ended up at this little Bistro in the middle of nowhere near the Rush River in Wisconsin. It's a place you have to know about since there are no road signs or advertisments for the place.It's nestled in a valley near the river with grape vines around and called "Vino in the Valley"

14 of us gathered for a dinner of pasta or pizza and a little wine or beer. This is some of the Casa Grande Gang that winters in the valley between Phoenix and Tucson. Thanks for spending the evening with us!

"Oh beautiful for spacious skys, for amber waves of grain" as the song goes. This is farm country and as the sun rose on Friday morning I was reminded of the song. What a great, diverse land we live in. The sky is as pretty here as any place on earth. So..... I sat with my coffee after my run and just gave thanks that I am here and able to enjoy the wonder of nature.


We must leave here on Tuesday and head East again across Wisconsin to the Michigan upper peninsula and some new adventures. Maybe one more post before then.

Minnesota fun

As they say "it's all relative" and so it is for us in Minnesota. We're camped at Don's barnside RV park with full hookups! Haven't got the nightly rate yet so we'll see if we can afford it.

Saturday evening we went to a musical presented by the kids from music camp with Ella as one of the "Gully Washers" girls. She had a solo and did a great job. The entire presentation was superb and only 10 days to prepare. Great job!

Sunday was "hang out on the farm" time. So..... we did it with Sara and Kory whose family just seems to keep growing. Twins Emeleigh and Derick, and the new arrival Jonathan.

Tuesday morning we headed to the Olmsted Co fair to see Ella show her calf, Nestle. She won a blue ribbon and did a great job showing the calf.

In the afternoon we went to see James play in his baseball game. He is a super player and had several hits including a double as well as some excellent fielding. Way to go James!

Rachel went with us to the fair on Wednesday morning where we saw all the animals and the worked in the milk booth. All the milk you can drink for a $1.  What a deal!

Then it was off to Kasson and the swimming pool. Rachel, Emeleigh and Derick hit the water and had a great time. A really great way to spend a afternoon.
We'll rest up when we leave!

The Black Hills day 2

Just a couple of pics from the Black Hills on our last day here.

We drove up to Mt Rushmore this morning just to take it in again. The sight is amazing in the early morning sunlight.

To think that they carved the faces out of solid stone using drills and dynamite just boggles the mind. We truly enjoyed another visit with the presidents. We then headed to Rushmore cave for a little exploring before driving back to Keystone and Hill City. We wrapped up our stay here with a afternoon dunk in the hot tub and a little dinner. Tomorrow it's off to Souix Falls for a overnight and then to the farm near Rochester, Minn. More from there.

Deadwood South Dakota

We drove up to Deadwood from Hill City this morning just to spend the day in town.

Just to show you all we were there. Deadwood is an interesting little town with more tourists than residents.

Deadwood is famous for being the place where Wild Bill Hickok was shot and killed. Lots of stories around town concerning that event and the events that followed. So..... we just had to visit his grave.

In  many ways Deadwood is still a old west town. We walked out of a store to find the street filled with horses instead of cars. Gambling is legal in Deadwood so there's a casino on every corner.

We toured the Adams house built in 1892 and owned by two of the prominent families of Deadwood. Deadwood was a Black Hills gold rush town with a colorful and somewhat sordid history. So..... an interesting day.

Yellowstone to Cody

Sadly, we left Yellowstone Natioal Park for Cody, Wyoming on Saturday morning. Our drive took us across the park and over the pass, out the East gate and down the canyon to Cody just 130 miles away.

Driving along the road in the park we saw herds of Bison and this one that was close to the road. Sharleen grabbed the camera and got a quick shot as we drove past. What an amazing place with all the wildlife.

We stopped at a turn out along the road and were rewarded with this great early morning view. What a great day for a drive.

Just had to include this one ..... I think Sharleen had a little too much coffee this morning!

We made it to Cody in time to do some things in the afternoon. This is the museum in town that is really one of the great ones. It's 4  museums in one and includes the Buffalo Bill museum, Gun museum, the best Plains Indian museum we have seen and a natural history museum. The gun museum alone has 2700 guns and to really look at them all it would take days.

This is the Shoshone river below the dam. The town of Cody was founded by William "Buffalo Bill" Cody with the goal of becoming a rich farming area. He built the dam on this river and the lake that it formed was used for crop irrigation. The town never realized his dream but the dam and lake remain today.

We drove out to Heart Mountain shown here. It's the site of one of the internment camps where the Japanese were held for three years from 1942 to 1945. There isn't much left of the camp but there is a visitor center which has the history and stories of some of the residents. In all, about 14,000 residents were housed here in very sparse conditions.


After a day of exploring Cody, we headed for the Black Hills with a drive over the Big Horn mountians. We're now in Hill City SD with two days to enjoy the sights before heading East again. More from here in a day or two.

Yellowstone day 2

Since yesterday was Yellowstone National Park day 1 then today must be day 2 and so it is!

We drove from base camp (West Yellowstone) to Geyser basin ( about 30 miles) some of which was along the Firehole river seen here. It's some of Yellowstone's finesr scenery in my opinion. The morning was clear after over night rain and the air was crisp as it can be at 6600 feet even in July.

Old Faithful was indeed faithful and the 9:05am show went off right on time. The picture doesn't do the erruption justice as it was, as it always is, truly spectacular. Erruptions last 2 to 5 minutes, expell up to 8000 gallons of hot water and reach up to 185 feet in the air. Pretty impressive stuff!

From Old Faithful we headed down a 2.8 mile round trip trail to the Morning Glory pool. Look closely and you will see that this is indeed a pool filled with hot water. The colors are created by different bacteria that live in different tempreatures of water. I don't know how deep the pool is but a guess would be at least 15 feet.

There are some 10,000 hydro-thermal features in the park. This pool is called chromatic pool and is indeed a kaliadscope of color. You can see the clear water in this pool with the trees reflecting on the surface. In Geyser Basin there are thermal events everywhere you turn.

We stopped at Fairy falls trailhead on the way home and while we didn't make it to the falls we did take a 2 mile hike. It brought our hiking mileage for the day to between 6 and 7 miles. Here water from the hot pools flows into the Firehole river.

Yellowstone day 1

We got a early start today and headed for the northern part of the park,

The first stop was Gibbon falls and we just pulled into a area and were rewarded with this view down the river. From there we headed to Mamouth hot springs at the far north cornor of the patk.

We were rewarded with this view of the terraces. Here the hot water from deep in the earth boils to the surface bringing minerals and bacteria with it. It then cools and leaves this spectacular hill of color.

At the top the water cascades over the rocks and steam rises from the pools. It's hard to imagine how the water comes up so high on the hill and how hot it is. You can feel the heat just walking around the area and sign tell you not to touch the water.

In a area called the artists paint pots water boils from a hole in the ground. It's another thermal area with mud pots that bubble and pop.

On the way home we stopped and found this thermal spring. The steam was rising and the water bubbling so we just had to take a look.

Someone saw a Elk so instant traffic jam. So goes it  in Yellowstone in July. We had a great day. 130 miles all in the park, 8 hours, 5miles of hiking and spectacular sights. Tomorrow it's Old Faithful and the geyser basin. Now it time for a glass of wine and some rest.

Monday and Tuesday

What a poor title for this section.  But  We just did some fun stuff Monday and then hit the road for Deer Lodge on tuesday.

We drove out to the old mission about 25 miles East oof Coeur d'Alene and spent a couple of hours visiting the site and the museum there

Monday evening Sharleen;s great neices visited us. What a great treat! We haven't seen them in 26 years and they brought the twins Ryland and Kingston.

Sharleen holds the two great great Nephews. Thanks for visiting us!

We got to Deer Lodge about 1:00pm and with some time to kill we headed to the old prison ruins and car museum. This is a Cushman motor scooter just like the one I rode 50 years ago. Now I feel really old and in need of a rocking chair! We're in West Yellowstone today after a easy drive this morning. We'll do some serious exploring tomorrow.

Eastbound

Time to say "goodbye" to George and the farming country and head East.

Before we hit the road it was time for a family moment. Thanks Ginny and Arnie for a great visit as usual. We love the time we spend with you.







It was then down the road to Coeur d"Alene and then a drive to St Maries to visit some family on Sharleen's side.

Maddie, Sharleen's great great Niece, is the queen of the house and just as sweet as they come. She has an amazing vocabulary for a not yet three year old.

Sharleen and Maddie share a moment before we headed back to the trailer for some rest.

Sunday we took the opportunity to attend Church and then took a 2.5 mile hike around Tubbs hill. We were rewarded with spectacular views of Lake Coeur d'Alene along the trail.

Sunday evening we drove over to Spokane to have dinner with cousins who live there. Once again we had a great evening of "catching up" with the family and just enjoying the time. Thanks Beth and Ray for the good food and great company. Thanks to Cindy and Harold for spending the time with us and to all the young adults who visited with us. Time is precious and we feel special that they would share it with us. What a great pair of families!

George, Washington

On the 4th of July there is no better place to be than George, Washington. We're back in the rich farm country of central Washington visiting cousins and just having fun.

Irrigation if the way things are done up here and that means several different types of irrigation. There are circles which irrigate a large area with sprinklers in a circle covering as much as a quarter section of land in a day. Another method is siphon tubes. Here Steve and Craig set siphon tubes which take water from the ditch and send it down channels in the field. This method is labor intensive since pipes have to be changed daily.

Even the circles have to be monitored. Here Steve and craig check the water content of the soil in a circle. Water content is checked down about 18 inches and irrigation is changed depending on the results of the test. Craig is using a high tech water sensor while Steve is doing it the "old fashoned"way..... just digging a hole.

We had dinner at Rick and Kathy's new house on the Columbia river Wednesday evening. This is the million dollar view from their patio.

Rick did the BBQ and Steve cut the meat. The food was plentiful as you can see and really good. The food, the view and the company were all spectacular.

Just had to include this picture of Rick and daughter Julia. Thanks Rick and Kathy for a great and special evening. Great to see you all again! Good luck to Julia at WSU.

Now.... back to the 4th of July. The little town of George has a celebration every year on the 4th. How can you not when your town is named George, Washington? There was a 2 mile race and a 10K race. Sharleen, Ginny and I did the 2 mile and got a tee shirt for our efforts. Ginny placed third in her age group so she got a medal as well.

After the race there was a parade and then it was off to get some huge corn dogs and sit and listen to some music.

    It was then time for some cherry pie (remember we're in George, Washington). They made the worlds largest cherry pie and then served it free to all who wanted some. What a treat!        

        Back home the three of us had to show off our tee shirts. Then a nap was in order for all of us. Celebrating is a tough job! Now to get ready for the fireworks tonight. Happy 4th to everyone.