Our Arizona friends left today

On July 3rd Ron, Jane and their granddaughter Ally arrived at the Lebanon Hills Campground in Apple Valley around 2:00 in the afternoon.

Ally’s parents, Scott and Peggy, were going to stop later in the afternoon to pick up Ally and have supper with us. We had planned to have angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream to celebrate Scott’s birthday which is today. Things did not work out and they were not able to stay for supper. That was too bad Scott because the cake was delicious.

Jane, Sandy and I went for a quick tour of downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul. We stopped at the Historic Arch Bridge on the Mississippi River in Minneapolis.

On our way through St. Paul we stopped at the famous (to us anyway) Snuffy’s Malt Shop where we each had a full-size malt. Peggy, Jane wants to know if you have been here.

We left Lebanon Hills for White Water State Park around noon. On the way to Whitewater State Park we drove by a farm that had these large White Pines. They remind me so much of Bonsai Trees.

Here we are at our destination, Whitewater State Park.

Once we got to the park we had to wait a couple of hours to get into our site because it was still occupied since the check out time here is 4:00 PM. Once we got to our site there was some concern about clearance over a parking barrier.

Whew!!

Ah heck, I had inches to spare.

Denver and Charley are wondering, did that last group leave us some snacks? The previous campers had spilled dog food all over and the dogs wasted no time in finding it.

Because of getting to our site later in the afternoon we decide to be lazy and just make pizza for supper.

After supper Sandy and Jane went down to the birder feeder area behind the Ranger station to take some bird pictures. I want to thank Jane for all the wonderful wildlife pictures that are in this posting.

Goldfinch’s galore.

A pair of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks.

A young male Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

A Red-bellied Woodpecker and a Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

Duck, No, I mean a Blue jay is coming at you so duck. What a picture, Jane.

On Monday when Sandy and Jane were out for a walk they came across several deer. Here is a great photo of a fawn.

Some more pictures from the walk showing the beautiful white pines.

Here is an American Goldfinch feeding in it’s natural habitat on it’s favorite food, Thistle.

Ron, I think they caught us sneaking off to go fishing. Looks like Andy and Opie in Mayberry.

While we were gone Sandy and Jane went back to the bird feeders and got a great photo of the Baltimore Oriole.

We finally get some relaxation time.

Before lunch on Tuesday the 14th we took a little hike to Chimney Rock to work up an appetite.

This is the start of the stairway.

Jane wanted us to stop for a picture break, and I was not about to argue.

More steps to go.

Did I hear someone say, only 200+ steps to go?

Denver and Charley said it was time for a water break. Again, who was I to argue.

Sandy said, I knew if we got high enough I could get cell phone service. Now I know the real reason for the hike.

We finally reached the top!!!

Here we are with our gratuitous picture at Chimney Rock.

Ron and Jane doing the same.

Now where is that Nature Store? I’m sure I saw it on the map earlier.

Persistence paid off. They had the essentials of life, “ice cream”.

It’s Thursday the 16th at 6:51 AM and Ron and Jane are getting ready to climb in the motorhome and start on the first leg of their trip back to the Tetons.

Jane and her two front seat co-pilots. You can barely see Charley to the left of Denver and poor Ron has to be in the back seat.

Good bye and have a safe trip.

Sandy is saying good bye to Charley.

Until next time,

Dave and Sandy

Closed on the house and Back to the 50's car show.

We closed on our house Friday morning and right after, our friends and former house owners, Brad and Connie, left for Cody, WY to supervise construction of their new house. We wish them the best of luck and hope to get out for a visit in the next year or two.

On the afternoon of the 16th we drove to Wausau, WI to have the last of the warranty work done on the motorhome. I’m so glad we bought at King’s Campers as they and their techs are so good to work with. After we got checked in and parked for the night we went out to supper at an interesting restaurant.

If you double click on the picture you can see an old Hudson in the top window.

We got in for our 1:00 PM appointment to have the required annual service on the refrigerator and Aqua Hot system. They also took care of a couple of warranty items. By 4:00 PM we were on our way back home. It is a ways over and back, 400 miles round trip, but it's worth the time to get capable and honest work done.

On the third weekend of June there is an event held at the State Fairgrounds called Back to the 50's. This is a car show that started in 1973 for 1964 and older cars and now gets over 11,000 entrants for the 3 days. We were not able to go on Friday and when we got there by 8:15 AM on Saturday there were no more parking spots on the streets so we had to park in one of the overflow parking lots. As it turned out there were 4 Chevelles parked together. The day was just perfect for the event with clear skies and a high of 85 degrees.

Our Chevelle is the second from the right.

The first thing we had to do when we got there was to have breakfast. Nutritious, right!! That’s Sandy in the hat getting her fresh hot cinnamon roll. Mmmmmmm.

Here are a few pictures of cars at the show.

1958 Chrysler product of some sort.

1964 Comet.

A nice ‘57 Pontiac.

 

On Sunday the 21st, we went to the wedding of my cousin, John, and his wife Alissa. It was a beautiful outdoor wedding even though it started to sprinkle at the end of the ceremony. Congratulations John and Alissa and we wish you a lifetime of happiness.

We have been busy picking out tile for the bathrooms, carpet for the downstairs, cabinets and countertops for the kitchen and paint colors. We decided to extend the wood floors that were in the entry, kitchen and dinette to thru out the main floor. After we pulled the carpet they pulled a couple pieces of wood to check the manufacturer and we found out that they have gone out of business. So rather then take a chance on getting a mis-match we had them pull all the wood and started over with #2 maple. It turns out the entire new wood floor will be nicer than keeping the the same original floor. As of today, about 2/3's of the wood floor has been installed.

Our friends, Ron and Jane from Arizona will be here tomorrow, July 2nd, with their granddaughter Ally . They will be here for a couple of weeks so I will probably wait to post again until after they leave.

Until next time,

Dave and Sandy.

Just an update.

On May 15th we moved to Mystic lake Campground to visit with friends who were there for the weekend. The campground was having a open house. So on Saturday they had a free picnic for all the campers and gifts for all. Other then being cool and very windy we all had a good time. Here are a couple of pictures from supper in the restaurant overlooking the golf course.

Pictured are Marlene, Ashlyn, Dale, Kayla, Mary, Drew and Randy. This was grandparents weekend to spend some quality time with their grandchildren. Kayla is Dale and Mary's granddaughter, Drew and Ashlyn are Randy and Marlene's grandchildren.

Here are Jane, Judy, Wally, Zach, Paul, Ron and Sandy.

On Monday we went to Aberdeen, SD to visit with Sandy's parents and her sister and brother-in-law.

The ground was too soft to camp out at the house so we camped at the Wyile Park Campground in town. One morning when Sandy went out to pull the window awnings down, she could hear all this chirping. It turned out a couple of young ducks were following her around the coach. With that outfit and hairdo you would have thought they would have been scared away.

 

Here is Erwin tilling the flower beds.

The following few pictures are the fruits of his labor. The tulips were at the end of their bloom, but a few pretty ones were still worth a picture. 

Some apple tree blossoms.

 

Iris.

 

Lilacs.

Erwin’s buddy, Buffy.

We left Aberdeen on Saturday the 23rd and drove to Staples to visit my family there. One evening some of us went out for supper at Tower Pizza.

Cydney, Becky, Dana, Derek, Glen, Sandy, Joe and Barb.

On Monday the 25th we drove back to Mystic Lake where we will spend most of the June.

On the 31st we drove to Staples for Cydney’s graduation party. She’s the last one out of the nest. We stopped at Joe and Barb’s to pick up our mail. I’m sure Joe is happy that we bought a house so he won’t have to be our mail address anymore. While there, some Bluebirds showed up at their Hummingbird feeders. Here are a pair of Bluebirds. The hummingbirds were a little too quick to catch a photo of them.

On June 3rd I went to watch our niece Cydney play in her last State Girls High School Golf Tournament. This is a two day event. The first day Cydney shot a one over par 73 to take a one stroke lead. There are no pictures of day one as I forgot my camera.

The next day Sandy and I went to watch Cydney play. Here she is teeing off on a par three.

Here is Cydney putting while two of her foursome watch.

This picture is of the top four finishers. Cydney finished third place with a 36 hole score of 150. The first place girl had a 146, the second place girl had a 148 and the fourth place girl had a 151. The three girls with Cydney are all on the same team, Minnewaska, which also won the state team championship.

Staples had three girls and one boy in the state finals. The “old guy” in the middle is the head coach and my middle brother, Glen. Congratulations to them all.

I think I have the girls on the ends names right.

Hailey (tied for 20th), Nick (tied for 25th in the boys division), Glen, Cydney (3rd) and Julia (tied for 12).

It was an early day for me on the 5th as I got up at 5:00 AM and rode the motorcycle to Staples to get our mail at Joe’s house. What one won’t use for an excuse to ride 160 miles one way. Joe rode back with me as far as our cousin John’s house, which is about 120 miles from Staples. No one was home so we left them a note and split up for our rides home. I ended up putting 360 miles on for the day. Then in the evening our Friday night supper couples went to supper at TGIF's. After supper we played cards at Pat and John’s house. I'm getting too old for this much activity in one day.

It is getting awfully dry here so it was with mixed feelings when there was a light rain all day on Saturday. But we ended up with .98 inches of much needed moisture. In the morning I went over to the garage to start working on a 1975 BMW R90/6 motorcycle that I bought a long time ago and had never started it. So the first thing was to pull the carbs and do an overhaul on them and clean out the tank. Then I can try to start it and see if anything needs to be done on the engine.

This coming Friday, June the 12th we will be closing on our new house, so the next few months will be busy.

Till next time,

Dave and Sandy