Wisconsin and Michigan

We have now been on vacation for 8 weeks!! I can't believe our adventure will soon be over.

Today we arrived at my Dad's house in Dexter, Michigan.  It is a small town just west of Ann Arbor.  Before we got here we stopped in Wisconsin so we could meet the family that sold us our collie.  It was really nice to meet them and see their farm.  The dog pictures below are of our dog Maggie and her dad "Chief."  They had a litter of puppies while we were there and of course my kids begged for a puppy but we feel four dogs are enough for now.

We spent the last two days in Mackinaw City and Mackinaw Island.  We rode our bikes all over the island and had a great time.  We now have more fudge than we really need (the specialty of the island).

My brother and his family are also at my Dad's house.  We haven't seen them in over a year so it is nice to be able to spend time with them.  We plan on seeing family and friends while we are here and then heading to Sandusky, Ohio to go to Cedar Point.  My boys are more excited about that part of our trip than any other thing we have done.

Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan

The best campground internet ever in Jordan Minnesota!! I've added two pics that are from last week.  The first one is of the boys and me getting onto the calistoga wagon to go on the chuckwagon.(Jackson Hole)
The bottom picture is the Crazy Horse Memorial that I mentioned in one of my previous posts.  In the foreground the white sculpture is what the finished mountain will look like.  If you look at the top of the mountain in the background you can make out the finished face above the white sculpture.  They still have a long way to go!

We had dinner last night with our friends the Condrey's, it was really nice seeing them.  It poured last night on the way home.  It was very hot and humid here so I think the storm chased away the hot weather, that's a good thing.
Leaving early this morning for Wisconsin.  Stopping in Black River Falls to visit our dog's breeder and then hoping to see Lambeau Field in Green Bay. (Not sure if I spelled that correctly)
We should make it to the UP of Michigan tonight, then tomorrow we will drive to Mackinaw Island.

Quick stops

We drove across South Dakota yesterday to Sioux Falls.  We are only a few miles from the border of Minnesota.  On the way here we stopped at the Wall Drug in Wall, SD.  It is supposedly the largest tourist attraction in the state, it was mostly a huge cheesy tourist trap - not impressed.  We were going to stop at the Corn Palace but decided not to at the last minute.  Can't say we will miss South Dakota- the drive across was very boring!
Today we are going to the truck stop on our way out.  There is a truck wash and we are going to attempt to wash our very filthy RV.  I am so excited about this, the RV has a heavy layer of goad grime on it and I look forward to getting as much of it off as possible.
Last night we went to a movie in Sioux Falls. We saw the Sorcerer's Apprentice.  Not the best movie, but not bad either.
We are having dinner tonight at the Condrey's house.  Clay and Scott were teammates together with the Phillies and now Clay is with the Twins.

Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial

We are now at a KOA campground in South Dakota.
Yesterday we visited Mount Rushmore, just 5 miles east of us.  It was pretty neat to see the monument, it sits up pretty high on the mountain.  I had always imagined that it would be closer to the ground.

We also visited the Crazy Horse Memorial.  If the internet here was not so painfully slow, I would have posted a picture of it.  The Crazy Horse Memorial is pretty interesting.  It is a mountain sculpture that will be much bigger than Mt. Rushmore when it is completed.  It was started in the 1940's and all that is finished is the head of Crazy Horse.  They hope to have it completed by the end of this century.  I suggested to the boys that they come here with their kids someday to check on the progress!

Today we are going to Bear Country,  a drive thru wildlife park featuring bears.  We are also hoping to find a decent grocery store to stock up on supplies.  We will probably go up to Rapid City for that.

We were supposed to go to Kansas City and St. Louis from here but we have changed our plans.  On Monday when we leave here we will stop at the Wall Drug Store in SD (a huge tourist attraction) and the Corn Palace further east.  We are planning on camping on the east side of the state that night.  On Tuesday we will drive to Minneapolis to visit some friends for the night.  On Wednesday we are driving thru Wisconsin and stopping by the former home of our dog Maggie.  She is so excited to see her parents, Chief and Chloe!  We will then head towards Michigan and should be to my Dad's house Friday.

Jackson Hole, Wyoming

We left Yellowstone on Sunday and drove down to Jackson Hole.  It was actually a really nice drive, we drove thru Yellowstone Park and into Grand Teton National Park to get here. Very scenic, and as relaxing as it can be driving an RV.  My bottom photo is a bison crossing the street in front of us.  I have read quite a few stories in the local papers about people being gored by the bison.  Most of the time we chose to photograph them from our car!
We never did see any bears in Yellowstone but it seems like all of the other tourists we have met along the way saw them, oh well.
My top photo is the family with the Grand Tetons in the background (Maggie was barking at me).  The Snake River runs along the mountains and yesterday we rafted 21 miles down the river.  The first 13 miles were a scenic float and we didn't even have to row.  The next 8 miles was a section that had rapids and all of the adults in the boat had paddles.  It was tons of fun!!! Scott and the boys had never done it before and they loved it.  The water was 50 degrees though, brrrr but the sun quickly warmed us.

We have really enjoyed the town of Jackson Hole. There are lots of fabulous restaurants here and we have really taken advantage of that.  Last night we ate at a place that served wild game.  Scott got a sampler platter with venison, buffalo and elk.  I tried it but it was hard to enjoy because all of the animals were stuffed and on display- staring at me.

Today it has rained for much of the day.  We were going to go to Teton Village and take a tram up the mountain but the weather has been so dreary.  Tonight we are going to dinner at a chuckwagon.  You ride in a calistoga wagon up to a campsite where you eat and watch live entertainment.  We have heard really good things about it, we hope it's fun and the weather improves.

Tomorrow we are getting up early to drive to the Badlands and Mount Rushmore.

Yellowstone

We have been enjoying Yellowstone for the last several days.  We have seen lots of different animals and all kinds of hydrothermal features, i.e. geyers, hot springs, mudpots and travertine terraces.  We had no idea Yellowstone was so huge, (think sitting in your car all day to drive 100 or so miles).

We visited old faithful and all of it's surrounding geyers the first day we were here.  My middle picture is Old Faithful during its eruption.  We also let the boys swim in a swimming hole in the river (see picture below) they loved swimming in the river and have been begging to go back!

Yesterday we drove over to an area called the Canyon.  There is a huge canyon 24 miles long thru the middle of Yellowstone.  It has two huge waterfalls with overlooks for viewers.  The Yellowstone River runs thru the middle of the canyon, it was really interesting to see the canyon area.  We then drove over to Mammoth Hot Springs.  There were all kinds of elk all thru the town! We visited the Travertine Terraces, they looked like huge melted marshmallows.
We have seen tons of elk and deer, one coyote, a moose with baby (see pic), several bison and a bull elk.  Have not seen any bears or wolves, but not for lack of trying!

Today Scott and the boys went fly fishing with a guide, they had a great time and Scott was impressed by how well the boys did on their first time.  They had a ton of bites, but only reeled up two fish.
While they were fishing, I went on a trail ride thru the forest.  It was fun to just relax while riding but the saddle was very uncomfortable!

Tomorrow we are heading to Jackson, Wyoming.

On the road again

Today we headed east for the first time in over 5 1/2 weeks, so I guess in a way we are slowly headed home.  We left Seattle a little after 9 am this morning and drove east on 90.  We are on our way to Yellowstone Park, close to 800 miles from Seattle.  We made it to Missoula, MT and decided to call it a day. I spotted a moose standing in some water close to the highway and I was very excited!! I looked and looked for a bear ( I really want to see one) but I didn't see one.  Montana is lovely, I can see why it is called "big sky country."
We still have about 4 hours ahead of us tomorrow and we are hoping to get to our campground by noon tomorrow. Really hoping my boys get some fishing in and we are also hoping to go whitewater rafting either in Yellowstone or Jackson Hole.

I posted this and then realized I forgot to write about Seattle - oops.

While we were in Seattle we went to the Mariners game on Sunday.  Cliff Lee was supposed to leave us tix for us, but he was traded a few days before we got there.  Luckily, Scott was able to ask another player! I was at Safeco Field with Caleb back in 1999 when Caleb was 1.  It is a really beautiful stadium and we really enjoyed watching the game, even though they lost to the Yankees.
On a side note, I have been to all major league stadiums except for Baltimore.  I am trying to get my kids to all of the stadiums as well, but they are a few American League Stadiums short, especially Jacob who wasn't born when Scott played for the White Sox.  So now we can scratch Safeco Field off of his list.  He also needs to go to a Royals game, we are supposed to be going thru there after visiting the Badlands of South Dakota.

After the game on Sunday we took the boys to Pike Place Market so they could see them throwing the fish around.  It was fun, but really crowded.  We loaded up on some seafood and produce though so that was good.

Zip Lines!

Today we had some fun at a place called Wild Play.  Wild Play is an adventure place where there are zip lines, bungee jumping, and an aerial course called Monkido.  Monkido is a combination of zip lines and aerial obstacles.  The Monkido course is what we did today!  It has four levels, the higher you go up, the tougher the obstacles become and higher in the air!  We were all given instruction, then the kids completed the kids course before doing the adult course with us.  The first level was not so bad but the second one was pretty challenging.  Jacob was starting to get a little nervous about halfway thru, and I couldn't wait to get my feet back on the ground!! Jacob and I stopped before the third level but Scott and Caleb kept going.  For those of you who know Scott - he is extremely afraid of heights!! The fact that he did it at all, let alone the third level says a lot. Yeah Scott!! Also proud of Caleb of course, the things he did were tough and so high up in the air.

Tomorrow we drive to Seattle.

Nanaimo, B.C

We are centrally located on the east side of Vancouver Island now.  We have a great view of mainland Canada and it's snowy mountains!!

Yesterday we hung out around the campground and rented a canoe to paddle around the river and the area where the river meets the ocean.  At low tide there are lots of sandbars you can paddle out to and walk around.  The boys really liked looking at all of the crabs in their little holes.  My dog Murphy is the only one who likes the water, so he joined the boys for a ride in the canoe and he also swam in the river!

Today we drove up the coast to Parksville.  We were told by many locals that Parksville has the best beaches.  It was a different beach experience than Florida that was for sure!! The tide was so low we walked almost a mile just to reach the water's edge.  Tons of jellyfish, but they were very small and they didn't seem to be a problem.  We all had a good time trying out two of the beaches, one more primitive than the other.  It was a new experience having the mountains in the background, but so beautiful!
  

Whale watching

Yesterday was our last day in Victoria.  We spent the day whale watching on a boat.  It was a lot of fun and we saw lots of whales.  All of the tour companies have a network of whale watchers, so they seem to have a heads-up of where the whales are everyday.  While we were on the water we also spotted a pair of bald eagles and harbour seals.  The boat went really fast and the temp in the Pacific was 47 degrees,  it got pretty chilly!

At dinner last night we ate at the Old Spaghetti Factory around the corner from the Empress Hotel. Scott saw Pedro Gomez, a reporter from ESPN, and we said hello to him and his family.  They were also vacationing there but how funny to run into someone we know!

Today we drove up to Nanaimo, about an hour north of where we were previously.  We will take the ferry from here to Vancouver on Saturday.  Our campsite overlooks the ocean and we have a great view of the mountains.

Taking the ferry, Oh Canada, and bbrrrrr it's chilly!

Happy 4th of July!! We are in Canada, so no fireworks for us.  We also arrived a day too late to celebrate Canada Day here, on July 1st. Oh well.
We put our big old RV on a ferry to bring it over to Vancouver Island.  It was really easy, although I wasn't the one who had to drive it on.  The ferry ride across was about an hour and a half but it was really fun and went by quickly.  I was however very disappointed because I didn't see any whales on the way over.  Many people told me I was sure to see some from the ferry but I didn't, despite having my eyes glued to the ocean the entire way!

The Island is very beautiful and the city of Victoria is one of my new favorites.  Yesterday we visited Butchart Gardens for several hours.  My mom is with us on this part of our trip and she really enjoyed the flowers the most out of all of us.  Not to say the rest of us didn't like it, it's just not "our thing" as much as it is hers.

Today we took a Gray Line tour thru Victoria.  I really like these kinds of tours because they hit all of the highlights of fun places to visit, with a lot less work for us.  We got off at Fisherman's Wharf to look at all of the houseboats and fishing boats.  Saw a couple of spotted seals right next to the dock - cute!! The boys fed them some cod and took pictures of them.
Scott and the kids went to the Bug Zoo while my mom and I went to eat.  I can honestly say having a
millipede on my lip is not an idea of fun, so I guess I'm glad I missed that stop!  Scott would like me to add that he held a tarantula and a scorpion as well as many other bugs.

Another fun stop was the Empress Hotel.  This is a beautiful old hotel where you can have afternoon tea.  We opted not to do this as it is $55.00, and who wants to pay that for a cucumber sandwich anyway? In case I haven't mentioned it, Victoria is a really cool city!
Tomorrow I am taking my mom to the airport in the morning.  When I get back, we are headed out to go whale watching on a boat!  Hoping to get lots of good pictures! The next day we are packing up and heading an hour north on the island to a town called Nanaimo.  Lots of cool stuff to do up there as well... can't wait.

also... had to buy a sweatshirt and a jacket today, it is that chilly.

Giants game and Eugene

We had such a wonderful time at the Giants game the other night!! The Giants really rolled out the red carpet for our family.  Scott enjoyed seeing the staff and members of the Giants front office.  There were several players on the team that Scott either played with on the Giants or on other teams.  We sat in the dugout for batting practice and Scott did an interview with Amy G.  During the game, we sat in one of the owner's seats - the best seats I've ever had!  Scott also participated in a fundraiser for Junior Giants during the game and really enjoyed being able to help.  We will always have great memories of our time with the Giants!!
On Tuesday we drove to Eugene, Oregon.  Scott is quite tired of driving through the mountains!! The Mount Shasta area was another beautiful area to drive thru, there is a beautiful lake there!
We are enjoying our time here with my family.  My mom lives on thirty acres in the woods, but not far from town.  The kids are having a blast playing with their Oregon cousins, they don't see each other very often!  Yesterday, my Mom and I went on a trail ride, something I never do anymore, it was a great experience.





Happiness is a 10 month old collie who is free to roam all 30 acres!!!