Day 10 - This and That

Taken in Maplewood MN - can you imagine having to decorate that for Christmas?

We spent the day doing this and that and seeing many parts of the Minneapolis/St Paul area of Minnesota.  Took a short tour of the cute little town of Maplewood....old houses mixed with buisnesses on the same streets....some of these houses were early 1900's and maybe even late 1800's.  I love just driving by and seeing them from the outside.  So much green in the area too....so different than the rock/pebble yards of Arizona.  We then met a friend and her husband at Chili's for lunch and did the usual of talk, talk, talk....she is a real estate agent here in the Minneapolis/St Paul area so we had much in common.  

When we got back to my sisters we all took off again and did some damage in the stores :)  There's NO SALES TAX in Minnesota so I had to take advantage of it and do some serious shopping!  Later we hit Culver's for dinner and then picked up Dairy Queen Blizzards for dessert later (which may have to wait until tomorrow to be eaten :) ).

This area of the country is so beautiful with it's many lakes, beautiful greenery, green grass and trees galore.  I could take living in an area like this if it didn't get so stinking cold during the winter! At the top of the page is a picture of one of the beautiful trees we came across.

Mark, Howard, me, Martha, Gerry, Aiden on table and Hazel on floor

Day 9 - Just Chillin' and Enjoyin'

Monday we spent most of the day just chillin' and resting up from our long drive Sunday.  We went to Perkin's for breakfast (man, I wish they had these in Arizona), did some grocery shopping, re-evaluated our trip schedule and mad a couple small changes.  And then we had a wonderful home cooked meal provided by my sis and brother in law.  We will leave here on Friday for Wisconsin and see our Foster-son and his children while there.  Saturday we'll head to Indiana....where we have some special places we want to visit.

Pictures taken from the windows of my Sister and Brother-in-Laws beautiful condo.

A View from the Balcony

Another View from the Balcony

One more View from the Balcony

Day 8 - Pictures

After an 11 hour (600 miles) drive yesterday we finally reached my sisters home in Eagan MN (near St. Paul).  We ran into much rain on the drive and even some hail, at one point we had to pull into a rest stop and sit for 15 minutes until the heavy rain died down.  We ate lunch at a Perkin's, which was nice since at one time we had one in Phoenix but as far as we know it's no longer there.  We were exhausted upon arrival in MN and just had some sandwiches for supper.  This post is short as we're about ready to turn in for the night - I'm showing additional pictures from Mount Rushmore.  Will try and do a better job with my posting tomorrow night.

Emtering Mount Rushmore

Fog slowly lifting from Mtount Rushmore

Day 6 - 7 Monument Colorado to Rapid City South Dakota

We left Monument Colorado about 7am on Friday, May 30, 2014.  Saying farewell to long time friends was hard but we know but we know we'll get to see them again soon.

We drove 500 miles in the one day to Rapid City, South Dakota - driving through Wyoming was awesome nothing but green grass and fields for 100's of miles.  Wyoming is by far one of the most beautiful states we have driven through.  We just wish we'd have had more time to stay and visit and explore.

Pulling into Rapid City about 4:30 (we got lost in Wyoming and it took a little longer than expected) we were amazed by all the mountains and greenry.  We met my sister and her husband, my nephew, and my niece and her husband and 2 children at the Holiday Inn Express just a few miles from Mount Rushmore.  Friday night we ate dinner at Ruby Tuesdays (across from the hotel) and then flopped exhausted for a good nights sleep.  Up early on Saturday morning we ate a quick breakfast at the hotel and then packed up 3 cars for the trip to see Mount Rushmore.  Fog was very thick and we had to wait around about an hour for it to lift before we could get decent pictures.  Had a ton of fun visiting, watching people, watching the young ones but we were all exhausted by 1pm-ish and decided to head back fro a nap.  

Our biggest disappointment in this part of the trip was that it rained steadally from the time we left Monument, CO on Friay morning  until after we woke up Saturday morning.

Day 4 - 5 Monument Colorado

We left beautiful Santa Fe at 9am on Wednesday morning - heading for Monument, Colorado (just outside Colorado Springs).  Our good friends live there and we spent 2 days with them.  There home is located not far from the Air Force Acadamy (where they held graduation on the day we arrived).  The Thunderbirds (an elite Air Force group) who flew over the area in celebration of the graduation. We just missed this - which is probably a blessing because we ran into virtually no traffic as we drove into town.

We went out to dinner that evening and then came home and talked up a storm for hours on end....reminding us all of the old days when we did the same thing - it's amazing how you can be away from friends like this for so many years and then just pick up where we all left off so many years ago, just like it was yesterday.

On Thursday we slept in, visited somemore, went out to lunch at Golden Coral, and then went to the North Pole.  What fun we had visiting all the cute little shops and feeling like it was Christmas in May.  If your ever in the Colorado Springs area and you haven't been to the North Pole you  should give it a try.  Seniors get FREE admitance...so you can't beat that!

Day 2 - 3 Santa Fe New Mexico

It was so beautiful and so comfortable at our campsite in  Santa Fe that we decied to spend 2 nights.  The cabin was very comfortable and the air so clear and fresh. One afternoon we had heavy rain and thunder for about 2 hours and I right through it.  Other than this the weather was beautiful, about 70 during the day and in the 40's at night.  Our only (small) problem was having to walk to the bathrooms. The cabins did not have those facilities in them - but heck, this is what camping is all about.  We are going to be looking into staying at more KOA's as we travel the country.  We ate at a cute little cafe for lunch on Tuesday.  It was located not far from the KOA we stayed at Highway 25 just east of Santa Fe. It was an organic and vegan restaurant and the food was worth the cost (which was just a little pricey for our budget)

On Wednesday morning we took a 3 hour drive and stayed a couple days with our good friends in Monument, Colorado.   We had fun eating and talking, just like the old days.  More on that tomorrow.

In the meantime please enjoy our the pictures from our stay at the KOA

Day 2 - Santa Fe New Mexico

We left Phoenix on Sunday after Church and traveled via Flagstaff,  We stopped in Winslow Arizona for a quick bite and you could see us 'Standing on the Corner in Windslow AZ' - Winslow is truely a one corner town ;) . From there we went to the Petrifried Forest National Monument which was really another hole in the wall.  They had a nice Visitor Center and little store but that was about it.  The park was open but it was ater 5pm and they were closing at 7pm...all it offered was hiking and seeing the sights.  We left there and drove to Grants NM where we found a Travel Lodge to spend the night....free breakfast, free internet and a bed to flop in for the night was about all they offered.  A Denny's next door filled our growling stomachs.  The next morning after our free breakfast we headed out again on the road by 9am.

The sights in NM are awesome - it's truely God's Country.  We saw a man carrying a cross across the dessert following the I-40.  A friend sent me this link to a man who is doing this currently and we suspect it was him we saw: http://www.wptv.com/news/local-news/water-cooler/terry-pollard-texas-man-carrying-cross-across-all-50-states  We also saw red mountains galore....just beautiful and so clear.

We pulled into Santa Fe exhausted from another day of driving, but we had only driven a couple hours.  We were hungry and just wanted food....low and behold we saw a sign for a KOA (Kampgrounds of America) and we stopped to see if we could get a spot for the night.  We were just going to get a tent site (we sleep in our van) but they had cabins available for $50, so we are here for 2 nights....it's colder than heck at night - it was 42 degrees when I woke up at 4:30AM.  This morning at 10am it's 60 degrees.  We took a nap yesterday afternoon and it rained, thundered and lightening the entire time....I'm not crazy about cold but it was getting so hot in Phoenix this is a nice reprieve.

I've taken pictures but it's taking forever for them to e-mail from my phone to my computer...will post them later today or tomorrow.  I'm going to try and update daily and post pictures for everyone to see.