August 22-26 - Quebec

We camped 25 miles outside of Quebec City in a really nice setting off the highway & amid farmland. Most campers seemed to be locals who keep their "VR"s on site all summer. Not knowing French didn't hamper us since most everyone was happy to be able to practice their English. Thank goodness! Now, the people were as nice as could be & their language is beautiful, but I must ask why most the men walked around the campground with no shirts??? The worst offenders were those who definitely should have worn their shirts. Isn't that always the case? But I digress... We took the ferry across the St. Lawrence River on our first visit to Quebec City. The ferry terminal is in the perfect location. The town is built on two levels that are connected by stairs and a funicular. We wandered around the lower town & then took the funicular up the hill. The Chateau Frontenac hotel opened in 1893. It sits at the edge of the hill & is visible from EVERYWHERE so it ended up in a lot of pictures. It was a great spot to grab a snack, cool down, use the facilities, etc. We wandered all over the narrow streets in town & marveled at so many beautiful stone buildings that dated back to the 1700's. Knowing nothing about Canadian history, we went to a museum that explained the 6 attacks on Quebec City over the years, the last of which was led by Benedict Arnold in 1775. It's amazing that anything is still standing. Quebec City is celebrating its 400th birthday this year with many special events. Celine Dion gave a free concert for 250,000 people the night before we arrived. We drove in for our second day of sightseeing & ran right into a marathon! This slowed us down a bit & changed our intended route, but it was interesting to see the sights & many of the runners. We visited a museum with such a variety of exhibits that it took us half the dayto see. The museum was across from the cruise ship terminal, so Barb whimpered as the lucky cruisers set sail. One of our best finds was our dinner at Aux Anciens Canadiens. The restaurant occupies the oldest house in Quebec, built in 1675. Our $17 early bird special included wine/beer, bread, soup, entree & dessert. Dennis loved his wild meat pie entree & Barb could have eaten a whole maple pie dessert. We returned to the campground & visited with Dennis' new friend, Gaston. We hope to hear from him when he comes to Mesa this winter. Gaston told us about another campground about 100 miles down the road & it was even nicer than we expected. We passed so much beautiful farmland in our drive. The fields are laid out in ribbons & remind us of pictures we've seen of France & Italy. Quebec is a beautiful & friendly province. We hope to return again one day.

August 18-21 - Vermont

As expected, we ate our way through Vermont. So many yummy factories. Surprisingly, Barb's long-awaited pilgrimage to Ben & Jerry's did not meet expectations but it was interesting enough & capped off with free samples of brownie cheesecake ice cream. Cold Hollow Cider Mill was an unexpected treat. We tasted the #4 donuts in the U.S., made with apple cider & not sicky sweet. Definite thumbs up. Couldn't resist buying an apple pie since they were making them in front of us & the place smelled heavenly. Also bought a delicious maple smoked cheddar cheese. A side road trip took us to the Trapp Family Lodge, as in the Von Trapp family from "The Sound of Music". The location definitely could have reminded them of Austria. Further down the road, we happened on a beautiful drive & short hike through woods & large boulders. Our campground was on an island in the middle of Lake Champlain. We had a beautiful view of the lake & it inspired us to drive around all the Champlain Islands. The towns were pretty sleepy but the shoreline views were amazing. And we found cinnamon creme chocolates. Possibly the best chocolate we've had, but it's a small operation & they don't ship so we'll have to be happy with the one we ate there. Lake Champlain Chocolates in Burlington came as close as possible on the yummy scale. We saw them make truffles & molded hollow chocolates in their factory. It was very interesting & the tour was filled with SO MANY samples. We ended our great Vermont visit with a concert at a local vineyard. The band was really good, playing mostly 60's & 70's music. We brought our chairs & bought a bottle of wine. The concert ended when the sun went down & we saw a beautiful sunset over one of the bays. We're defecting to Canada tomorrow for a visit to Quebec City & beyond. Not sure what we'll find for internet but will update when we can. Yes, we know they have internet in Canada, but we will be staying in relatively remote locations.
P.S. Happy birthday Steve!

August 10-17 - Finger Lakes & Adirondacks

NASCAR is stalking us! While sightseeing around Watkins Glen, we saw NASCAR semis & RVs on the move again. We toured the countryside & saw a few Amish farms. It was Sunday & no one was working but we did see their horse-drawn equipment & several fields of oat shocks. We found blueberries at a roadside stand so we're happily eating cobblers for dessert. Watkins Glen State Park was a real treat. We hiked a mile up a deep canyon filled with beautiful large & small waterfalls. The Finger Lakes were carved by glaciers & are beautiful. We stopped at Seneca Lake for a drink at the Tiki Bar, sat on their beach & watched boats go by. Did you know there is a salt bed under the lake? Dennis had good questions: Why did someone decide to drill 50 feet below a freshwater lake? What did they think they'd find? Who would guess salt? We saw demonstrations on glass blowing, glass making & glass breaking at the Corning Museum of Glass. Barb made her own glass flower (with a lot of help). We made an overnight stop near Binghamton. There are 6 antique carousels in parks around the area. We rode 3 of them & had lunch in Little Italy in Endicott. Definitely a good day! We moved on to the Adirondacks & tried twice to go to thoroughbred racing at Saratoga. We were too late for the Friday afternoon race, which was attended by ladies in dresses & wide-brimmed hats (very appealing to Barb). So we tried again Sunday morning but found out this session was attended by the unwashed masses. :) We weren't even sure we'd get a seat, so gave up & gawked at the beautiful mansions near the track instead. We did end up at the harness racing track on Friday night, which was a lot of fun. We won only one bet (which netted us $0.70!) when we bet on Cocktails at Five in honor of our friend LeeDelle, aka Ms Five O'Clock Somewhere. Our luck improved on our Saturday outing to Lake Placid where we visited most of the sites from the 1932 & 1980 Winter Olympics & watched a ski jump competition. During the summer, the runs are either porcelain tile or grooved metal & the landings are covered in a long astroturf. The competitors we watched were 14-17 years old. Danielle will be happy to know that the 14 year old girl came in 2nd place. After the competition ended, we were able to go to the top of the 120m jump tower & look down the run. Scary! We also watched the aerial skiers practice by flipping off the ends of their ramps into a pool. We saw the Herb Brooks ice hockey arena & Ice Capades tryouts were going on at another rink. Barb lacked the skill but still dreamed of being in the Ice Capades as a girl so was thrilled just to wish good luck to one of the hopefuls. Our last night in New York was spent in front of a campfire. We really hadn't thought much about what to expect from New York, but were constantly amazed at the beauty of it.

August 4-9 - Michigan & Niagara Falls

We finally left Wisconsin! We had a great time there but were beginning to feel like residents. Spent a couple days on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with an incredible view of Lake Michigan. The U.P. seems to be more of a place to relax at a rented cabin for a month than a sightseeing location. We were a couple days early for a classic wooden boat regatta, but did get to see the beautiful early arrivals. Barb took lots of pics as we traveled across the Mackinac Bridge. Picked up a hitchhiker on the way south! A ladybug crashed into our windshield at 60 MPH & lived. She (we're assuming) crawled around for about 15 minutes snacking on less fortunate bugs til she made it to the edge & blew off. The other ladybugs will never believe her story. We spent a night near Flint & toured the GM Truck Assembly Plant. We were alone on our tour & Roz did a great job explaining all the steps to building 3/4 ton & larger trucks. Funny note - they made us park our Jeep in a far-off parking lot! We thought they were kidding at first. They weren't. Cutting through Canada was a shorter route to Niagara Falls, but not as short as we expected. We waited on the highway about 1.5 hours due to a bomb threat on the bridge at Port Huron. The bridge did not blow up & we continued through Canada without incident. Niagara Falls was a fun stop. Not quite brave enough to go over the edge in a barrel, we went on the Maid of the Mist boat tour & got soaked. Just as we dried off, we hiked down to Cave of the Winds & really got soaked. Travel brochures revealed we were near the Erie Canal so we took a 2 hour canal cruise. It took us through two modern locks, by five historic locks & under two lift bridges. Over 150 years ago, people were allowed to take the leftover smaller stones when the large stones were cut for the canal. There are 12 "free stone" buildings left in Lockport, NY. Very interesting. We ended our Niagara adventure with a drive to the Canadian side to see the falls lit up at night. They were beautiful but masses of people on a Saturday night kept us from staying too long.

July 20-August 3 - Oshkosh air show trip

We joined up with our fellow travelers in Spring Green, WI. Our group came from all around the US & Canada & was ready to have a great time. We toured Taliesen & The House on the Rock. Taliesen was the home of Frank Lloyd Wright so the tour is reserved & serious. The House on the Rock is the polar opposite & defies description (take that LeeDelle!). Both are worth seeing. Our campground was right on the Wisconsin River so Barb convinced LeeDelle to float down the river on her deluxe $16 inflatable boats. It actually didn't take much convincing & 2 days later Dennis & Larry joined us for another float. Our tours also took us to a Swiss village, cheese factory & cave. Our next stop on the "caravan" was all of 41 miles up the road to Wisconsin Dells where we did all the touristy things - duck boat ride, Upper Dells boat tour, hypnotist show, circus, dinner theater, horse drawn wagon ride through Lost Canyon, etc. We were supposed to see a water ski show but Lake Delton drained a month before we arrived. The area received so much rain that it overwhelmed the dam & the lake emptied into the Wisconsin River. Bet ya never heard of that happening! We also met up with our friends Jack & Lisa, who live all of 5 miles from us in AZ! We spent a great day with them & had lunch overlooking the former Lake Delton. Our last day in the Dells was a free day so we went to the largest waterpark in the USA, Noah's Ark. One of the boys with our group was celebrating his 14th birthday so he came with us & the Kaspers, lending us an air of legitimacy. We had so much fun & went on virtually every slide. They even had a Spongebob movie in 4-D that Nick & Danielle would have loved. We moved 90 miles to Oshkosh for the EAA Airventure. What an amazing event! About 40,000 people camp onsite in their planes, tents & RVs. Shuttle buses took us everywhere around the airport to see the planes, seminars, movies & other displays. We were fortunate enough to stumble on talks given by a Tuskegee Airman & five WASPs. Colonel Charles McGee not only became a WWII pilot against all odds, but has also flown more sorties than any other US pilot EVER. What an honor to listen to him speak. The WASPs were so much fun to listen to & have also led amazing lives. Every day was so busy but we made it back to the RV almost every afternoon for happy hour & to watch the air shows. We watched from the flightline the first day & boy was that noisy! However, we did see Harrison Ford. Not sure if Dennis believes yet that it was really him, but it was. In addition to private pilots in their small planes, there were many "feature" aircraft including the Boeing Dreamlifter (huge) & several examples of our most frightening military muscle. 1968 Waubay HS class president Warren Hovland (the class reunion skydiver) & his friend Al flew in from South Dakota for a couple days. We had a great Friday Fish dinner with them & enjoyed seeing their plane. Warren had also given us some really good tips on which speakers we should see. It never would have occurred to us to attend this air show, but we are sure glad we did! We got to spend time with old friends, made new friends & learned a lot.

July 17-19 - Appleton, WI

Our trip with Mom wrapped up with a visit to the Appleton area to see Barb's childhood friends Stacey, Julie & Brad - aka The Dougli. Don & Dena Douglas (the parents) live near us all in AZ, but the kids have all stayed in WI. Mom was welcomed with an unusual event in the campground when it flooded. Rumor on the street was that we received 4 inches of rain in 2 hours. Also, a large culvert became plugged with debris so all the neighboring golf course runoff drained into our RV park. No damage, but we did have to take off our shoes to get to the Jeep! Dennis enjoyed wading through all the water to discuss the flood with the neighbors. Stacey & her husband Jeff invited us to their house our first evening for brats & we enjoyed the view of the creek on their property. Their twins Preston & Payson hung out with the adults for awhile but eventually decided games were more fun. We drove to Door County the next day & loaded up on great raspberries, strawberries & cherries. Mom had a regular produce stand in the backseat with her. Yum! Julie had us over to her house that night for another great meal. Her dog Bruiser allowed us to throw his ball to him over & over & over & over again. Our final day was a driving trip around the Appleton area. We followed the Fox River & stopped at the Paper Hall of Fame where we were able to make our own sheets of paper. We met Brad & Cathy & their kids Taylor & Wyatt at their home that evening & then met everyone else at a restaurant for Friday Fish. If you are ever in WI, this is a must-eat. We had a great time seeing everyone again. Dennis took off in the RV for the first campground in the trip we won & Barb took Mom to Milwaukee so she could return to real life. We loved having her with us & are trying to talk her into meeting up with us again.

July 14-16 - Chicago

Mom treated us to a stay at the amazing & whimsical Hotel Monaco, right in the heart of Chicago! We are very spoiled. Our room had 2 window seats & Mom's had 1 huge one, which all look out on the Chicago River & so many amazing buildings. The hotel gave us wine & chocolate chip cookies & we could have "slept with the fishes" by having pet goldfish delivered to our rooms! We took the architectural history boat tour on the river. It was a beautiful day; sunny, breezy, warm. We drove & walked around town with our expert tour guide (Mom). Macys, the former Marshall Fields, looks like no department store we've seen. No more than 6 hours into our visit, we ended up on the evening news! The ABC station films in a street-front studio & turned the camera around on the crowd at the end of the show. We smiled & waved but couldn't mouth "HI MOM" since she was standing right there. Day two was another perfect day & began with Mom & Barb strolling the shops on Michigan Avenue. Barb was thrilled to see an H&M store. She has always had the lofty goal of scooping up bargains there. It wasn't quite the mecca she expected, but a cute sweater & official H&M shopping bag were procured. Enough of that silliness! We spent the rest of the day walking all around town & hanging out at our perfectly located hotel with more free wine. Lunch was "cheezborgers" at the Billy Goat Tavern. Funny place in so many ways - the owner was the originator of The Curse on the Cubs (because they wouldn't let his goat into a game), it is located in a parking garage down a dark stairway & was the basis for the "Saturday Night Live" sketch. Click on pic for more info! We wandered around the new Trump hotel (which is directly across the river from our hotel) & then down to Harry Carey's for cocktails. Dennis & I decided to go back for dinner. Mom had apparently had enough of us. We immediately realized there was no chance of getting in on the night of the MLB All Star Game. So, we wandered some more & ended up at the Irish pub across the street from the hotel. We topped off our perfect Chicago visit by walking along the river & enjoying the city lights.

July 5-13 - visiting & Halldorson family reunion

We parked our motorhome at Dale & Gloria's house, which not only had water & electric hookups but also full run of the house for a couple days. Dennis spent much of the time running around the countryside so he could visit with family & friends while reliving farm life. Once Gloria was home, she & Barb continued their shopping & margaritas tradition. We went to the races in Watertown with Dale & Dann, had dinner at Wayne & Kay's house and lunch with Don & Carol. Dennis invited his lifelong friend Jim Amdahl & his wife Val over for dinner. Todd, Dale & Gloria also joined us. We had a great time & Barb fed artichokes to South Dakotans. They probably won't become a regular feature of many "suppers"! A few very busy & fun days indeed! We continued on to the Minneapolis area where we met up with Barb's childhood friend Tiana & met her family. It's so much fun to reminisce & update. We stayed at a beautiful county park & hope to return. But, it was off to Appleton, Wisconsin the next day. We dropped the motorhome off for routine service while we were to be in Chicago & they were nice enough to let us stay overnight. Completing our 4 states in 4 days tour, we picked up Mom in Milwaukee & headed to Chicago the next day. We made a quick stop at the Jelly Belly factory & took a tour. We received lovely paper hats & free samples! The Halldorson family reunion was very interesting - hearing stories about the family & Iceland and meeting the cousins. Mom caught up with her cousins Rosemary & Audrey. Ulfar Bragason has done much research into our family, discovered he was a cousin & traveled all the way from Iceland to share his knowledge. Quite a treat! Mom's cousin Rosemary did an amazing job organizing the entire reunion from her home in South Carolina. We explored the northern suburbs with Mom as our tour guide. Her childhood apartment is as beautiful as ever. We also saw her elementary & high schools, Barb's grandfather's factory, the church where Mom & Dad were married and the former location of Marshall Fields (very important!).

July 4 - Waubay H.S. Class of '68 Reunion

We sprinted across South Dakota to attend Dennis's 40th reunion. Classmate Al Skatvold hosted the reunion at his historic barn & it was a fantastic event. Al & his wife Marianne went above & beyond, hiring a band & catering our delicious dinner. We couldn't imagine why class president Warren Hovland wasn't at the pre-dinner social after he had done so much work organizing the reunion. Al led us out to a field as a plane flew over. We had pretty much decided Warren was going to take an aerial photo of the group but the plane was awfully high for that. Seconds later, Warren parachuted from the plane & landed right in front of us! It looks like Warren will be at the air show in Oshkosh, so we're looking forward to seeing him again there. We ate, we drank, we danced, the senior prophecy was read to much laughter & we had so much fun. It was fun to hang back & listen to the "Who is that?" discussions. 23 of 36 grads were there. Al & Warren also made sure to invite class members from the surrounding years. Dennis stumbled across his class ring right before we left home. One other classmate (Jim Mogen) had his, so they were a proud duo! Al let us park the RV on his property, so we stayed up late & visited with all the night owls. Dennis was almost put to work the next morning, but Al must have thought better of using cheap labor, so retirement continues.

July 2-3 - Brink family reunion

We were only able to spend 2 days at the Brink family reunion, so we made the best of it by arriving early in the day. Once our name badges were on our shirts, it was time to celebrate. Nick & Danielle stayed with us until their cousin Megan showed up, then spent the rest of the day exploring the hotel & swimming. We ended up in the lobby, greeting all the new arrivals. The 2 days flew by with many hugs, many laughs & tons of visiting. Don had arranged for a charter bus to take us to Mt Rushmore for the fireworks display. Our driver was an excellent tour guide & we learned a lot about the area. We didn't realize what a huge event this was until we were actually there. We all found great seats amongst the 30,000 or so attendees & enjoyed the program, music & fireworks.

June 23-July 1 - Nick & Danielle!

Nick & Danielle joined us in Colorado. They have stayed overnight in the RV but hadn't traveled in it. We had a fantastic time! Our 2 days in Colorado were packed. We explored & played in the snow in Rocky Mountain National Park, fished & rowed inflatable boats on our pond at the state park and snuck into the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. Our friend Barbara joined us for dinner & Danielle's tap dancing show. We celebrated Nick's pre-birthday with a river rafting trip. Nick volunteered to sit in front & was hit repeatedly by waves coming over the front of the raft. The water was 36 degrees! Grandpa eventually agreed to trade places. Danielle also received her share of water, including when our guide picked her up by her shoulder straps & dunked her in the water! We continued to Hart Ranch RV Park outside Rapid City, SD. It was a great place for the kids & they enjoyed riding our folding bikes EVERYWHERE, swimming in the pool & talking Grandpa into soft serve ice cream cones. We played bingo the first night we were there. Nick & Danielle each won a game for a tidy little profit of $11 each. It's looking like bingo will secure the family fortune! Both kids made friends in the RV park & were invited by one very patient grandma to a day at the waterslide park. We spent a much less glamorous day cleaning the RV & doing laundry. We toured Crazy Horse & Custer State Park, with a quick peek at Mt Rushmore. Our campsite had a large grassy area so we enjoyed playing trackball, badminton & flying kites.