Alaska Bound!

 Wednesday May 25, 2022 - We're finally off to Alaska!  We drove 5.5 hrs to the Wisconsin Dells, had a beer at the River Walk Pub, and walked around the town (which looked abandoned, but I'm sure will be hopping this weekend!  Then we drove a bit further and slept in the Mauston rest area on I90.

Pulling out of the driveway!

Dinner at a rest area in Wisconsin

Beers at River Walk Pub, while we waited for the rain to pass

River Walk

Wisconsin River running through the Dells

Thursday May 26, 2022 - We drove another 5.5 hours this morning to Fergus Falls, MN.  We got tickets to see Top Gun Maverick at the Fergus Falls theater.  What a crowd for opening day (there were about 10 of us)!  After the movie we wandered around the town and found a few little interesting spots.  They aren't kidding when they call Minnesota the land of 10,000 lakes!  Fergus Falls was full of wetlands!  Once the sun set we went to the Fergus Falls Walmart for the night.  

Otto the Otter in Adams Park.  Fergus Falls is in Otter Tail County so I guess they thought they needed an otter mascot 

Kev thought he could ride the otter

A very abandoned movie theater for Top Gun, but it was really good!

in the evening we hung out at the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center

Dinner with a view

a bench that's part of the sign, how cool!

An after dinner walk around the wetlands, with a view of Tiny

Friday May 27, 2022 - We got up early and headed off to North Dakota.  We spent the afternoon at Theodore Roosevelt National Park (the "other badlands").  What a beautiful spot.  It's very similar to the South Dakota badlands, but much greener.  We did a hike from Painted Canyon rest area down into the canyon and then went to the South Unit entrance to see the Maltese Cross Cabin that was Roosevelt's when he first lived in North Dakota.  There was a small museum at the information center and a short movie.  Next we headed to Medora to walk around and have a beer before a night on BLM land (Scoria Pit dispersed camping).  What a beautiful spot for the night!  Kevin spent some time flying the drone and we enjoyed having a piece of the badlands all to ourselves. 

We got an early start...thanks Walmart!

We stopped at Painted Canyon Rest Area which is part of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, for a quick hike

We saw lots of bison cow pies, but only one bison

The Maltese Cross Cabin that Roosevelt lived in

This cabin has a bench built into the side!

love the antlers over the front door

We walked around Medora looking like locals

We have to stop here!

beers on the roof of the Little Missouri Saloon

We ran into my buddy Ted

Home for the night

A storm rolled through but missed us.  It was quite the beautiful spot

Kev's drone video of our campsite

Weekend in the Country

Thursday, May 11, 2022 - We had a great weekend in the country, even though it was the first 90 degree weather of the year.  We ate dinner out, had an afternoon with the pinochle gang, spent an afternoon in Rosebud, MO, played some poker and in general had a good shake-down weekend with the RV before we leave for Alaska in 2 weeks! 

Pizza and beer at Gibby’s

An afternoon of pinochle (Kev was so happy to test out his newly acquired pinochle skills)

Bob's tomato plants

Nice spot for some great views and wildlife viewing

The garden is looking great!

A visiting peacock and guinea hens

Pretty oak tree over Bob's trailer

Deb and I checked out the antique stores in Rosebud...

while the guys checked out the fried ravioli and beers in Rosebud

more fried ravioli and beers

a freak hailstorm, then a rainbow over the garden

an evening of poker, I think Deb and Chuck played with us?

Can't wait to see the garden when we get back from Alaska

We'll see you guys in September!

Mother’s Day with Mom

 Friday, May 6, 2022 - We spent Mother’s Day weekend with Mom and had quite a day of sightseeing in Alliance on Friday. First we took an hour long tour of the Troll Museum and then to add to an already spectacular day we did the Cat Museum as well!  The rest of the weekend was filled with game playing, eating ice cream and going for walks.  It was a perfect weekend!

The famous Troll Hole Museum

Maybe Mom needs a troll for Mother’s Day?

A troll replica of the Hall of Fame stadium in Canton

Troll Kev

9000+ trolls, the Guinness record for largest troll collection…yikes!

The cat museum, which houses the Cat Fanciers Association responsible for registering cats with a pedigree

Frank Lloyd Wright design for a cat house

Kevin working on his app for leveling the RV

Yummy dinner!

Maybe a new  game?

Second day in a row for ice cream at Almost Heaven

A walk around the lake at Copeland Oaks

Day 3 of ice cream…today it was Dairy Queen

A Mothers Day chat with the kids and a few games of QWIXX

We cleaned out the garage…

And went for a walk on the Berlin Lake Trail