55th Anniv - Katie & Ryan's Wedding

Today was another easy drive for the navigator. Get on I-70, get off for gas, get back on I-70, get off I-70 for lunch, get back on I-70, repeat.  Although the scenery was beautiful, we certainly got our fill of trees - not a common sight in Nevada.  We went straight west on I-70.  Originally, we had planned to stop at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, but we decided to continue on to Richmond, Indiana - crossed another state off our list this year.  Traffic is heavy, but Vi guided Zelda through it all.  Richmond turned out to be a good stop - lots of shopping, good hotel, and excellent dining opportunities.  Tomorrow, we head to Indianapolis and then catch an interstate which will take us back up to I-80.  This will satisfy our wish to skip all the toll roads and the Chicago traffic.  Clear sailing from Davenport to Reno.

 Who knew we would travel all day and end up in Sandy's hometown, except this Lamar is in the middle of Pennsylvania's forest land, not Colorado. We left Jay Peak Monday morning and headed over to East Craftsbury, VT to see Char and her new house which she'll occupy in September after she returns from her European soiree.  Afterwards, we drove to Tom and Carolyn's to spend the day and night with them.  Played golf at Copley - very humid which we're not used to; but it was a fun afternoon.  Pizza night and then the thunder and lightning hit, but not before we enjoyed a beautiful sunset. Tuesday we left early (real early) to start our trek back home.  We took 100 south through beautiful Vermont landscape and then headed west to New York.  Passed over the same locks that Trevor and Virginia had traversed on their way from Lake Champlain to Ireland (they arrived safely a couple of days ago).  Upstate New York has the same green landscape that Vermont has (...

 Like our anniversary celebration, this is just a place holder until we can do full justice to the events surrounding Katie and Ryan's wedding.

 Well, we thought we were going to be in Montreal this evening; however, when we passed Ottawa early in the afternoon, we thought it would be just as good to continue on to Jay Peak.  Arrived about 5:00 p.m.  Odd drive - two lane highway to start out which turned into a four-lane toll road and then we were on back country roads winding through Quebec.  Crossed into the US at the Vermont border at a little one lane customs shack.  Don't think it's the most prestigious assignment in ICE. Countryside in Canada was pretty much the same as Michigan - forests and lakes, just like yesterday.  We did see our wildlife today - a bear went loping across the highway in front of us.   Checked into Jay Peak and unloaded Zelda - I think she breathed another sigh of relief.  We're on the fifth floor of the Jay Hotel overlooking the mountains and the golf course.  Glad we're using carts on Friday - looks very hilly and woodsy! So we switch gears from our...

 Good intercontinental trip yesterday.  After leaving Newberry, we continued on US 2 and headed for the Canadian border. Same beautiful scenery, glimpses of the lake and rivers feeding it, along with large forests - some of which were lumber crops.  You could tell because I don't think the good Lord grows trees in parallel lines.  Our wildlife consisted of dead deer and live wild turkeys.  I think the turkeys are smarter crossing the road because they wait patiently by the side of the road until traffic passes.  US 2 goes south and M28 continues east to Sault Ste Marie.  We decided not to take I75 north to the Canadian border, rather choosing M28 until it ended, and we turned left , heading for Sault Ste Marie on the Michigan side.  Neat traveling through that town as it passed locks, old buildings and the largest tower in the state of Michigan.  Seems like they are obsessed in the Midwest with building the biggest of everything - partridges,...

Who knew that Newberry was the Moose Capital of Michigan.  Not us, but pictures and statues of moose are all over this town! We left Ashland after doing laundry at our own private laundromat and car wash (the car wash portion obviously hadn't been used in years as it was mostly storage and overgrown with weeds).  However, the laundromat side was very clean and had good machines.  They had had a local fiber optic break the day before which affected the motel's tv, phone, and internet.  While the hotel had been restored, the server for the laundromat had not, so we had to revert to quarters rather than using a credit card (how archaic, :-). Our trip East continued on US 2 along Lake Superior with vast expanses of water on our left.  A really straight road which went through several small towns, mostly geared to the summer tourist crowd.  The desk clerk at the hotel said they made 70% of their revenue in three months of summer.  Otherwise, it was ice fish...

 The previous post has not been updated because I wanted to do it full justice.  Right now, we are continuing on our trip East. We gassed up Zelda and gave her a bath, then loaded her up with all our luggage.  Normally, we travel fairly lightly; however, this time because of the myriads of events and different clothing requirements, it was a different story.  Thankfully, there was a big trunk and back seat to take the overload. Michelle and Adrian were going to Sonny Jack's christening, so we said good-by before they left. y  Theey did make sure Colen and Ryan were there to make sure we didn't make off with their patio furniture which we all enjoyed so much.  We also had some extra time with Tim so that was a bonus.  They helped load up, always nice to have extra help in loading luggage! We had made arrangements to travel with Dave and Wanda over to Leech Lake, MN to meet Hank and Diane (Diane is Wanda's aunt - Mary's sister).  It's almost a strai...

 This post will be updated with events leading up to the 55th anniversary.  

                      Photo taken at Bear Creek Winery - Ken, Adrian Michelle, Tom, Vi and Melanie We have a hard time believing it's July in Fargo.  The weather is beautiful - in the low 70's yesterday and the humidity is not too bad.  Awesome weather! Yesterday was gorgeous and we had several different activities.  We kind of split up and did our own thing.  After a trip to the bagel shop by Adrian and me, we had breakfast and then went our separate ways.  Vi went with Melanie and Michelle to do lunch with Karen and I ran some errands.  My trip involved going over to NDSU and checking out the Germans from Russia exhibit they have in their library.  Wouldn't you know it, it was closed for three days.  Everyone involved in the exhibit was over at Bismarck where the Germans from Russia Society was having their convention this weekend. Luckily, Wyatt, one of the curators, had not left ...

 First Destination!  But first a correction from yesterday.  I referred to George III and Taylor as "newlyweds", when in reality they are "newly-graduated".  They make such a great couple that it was an easy mistake to make; however, we will have to wait for the big day.  Mea Culpa or, in the present-day lingo, My Bad.   Had an easy drive yesterday from Watertown to Fargo.  The first stop was in Millbrook, SD to visit the Valley Queen Cheese Factory.  We have made this stop several times.  While their visitor center doesn't compare to the Tillamook operation, it's a fun place to visit.  Made more so by the effervescent hostess on duty.  In our conversation, she told us about the big celebration coming up on July 19th; however, hers was a little different than ours.  Valley Queen is having a big to-do celebrating their founding brothers and the company's existence since 1929.  When she learned about our upcoming anniversa...

 Well, those of you are paying attention should note that this post should be titled Brookings, SD.  Best laid plans of mice and men go awry (or something like that).  We arrived in Brookings to our hotel where we made reservations only to find that the only room they had was on the second floor.  Since they had no elevator and we have a lot of baggage (no comment, please), that didn't work out.  So, I cancelled the reservation and we decided to try other hotels in the Brookings area.  Not sure what was going on, but there was not a room to be had in the three or four locations we tried.  The only good thing was that JT called while I was checking out hotels and Vi was occupied catching up with him (as did I in between hotel visits).  We continued talking to him while we were on the way north to Watertown.  We were both in the same time zone (Central) since Pensacola is in the western section of Florida.  Good talking with him after his ...

  This morning, we left Rawlins, Wyoming after watching the beginning of the Wimbledon Men's Finals.  Decided it was going to be too long to watch in the hotel, so we left for our trip north.  Later we found that Djokovic had not shown up and Alcaraz repeated his win from last year.  Vi was disappointed because her favorite (Paolini) in the Women's Finals the previous day had also lost. Headed north toward Casper for our eventual destination of Rapid City.  Along the way, we stopped at the Independence Rock Rest Area which we had visited before.  Always an interesting stop to remember the pioneer's journey along the way.  As the plaque above says, it was a stopping point for the pioneers on their way from St Louis to California, hitting this spot in Wyoming close to Independence Day.  Crossed the North Platte River several times before getting to Casper. Had breakfast in Casper and then hit I-25.  It's an unusual way to travel for us as we we...

  p Another day of following I-80 across Utah and into Wyoming.  Same drill - gas up, get on I-80 and stay on the highway across the mountains of Utah and almost all of the way through Wyoming to the big city of Rawlins.  Main attraction seems to be the old Wyoming Prison which has now been replaced by the state penitentiary south of town.  I-80 seems to be the favorite highway for eighteen-wheelers heading across country.  Some beautiful scenes of buttes, cliffs and prairie lands.  Tomorrow, we bid a fond farewell to I-80 and head northeast through Wyoming to South Dakota, probably ending up in Rapid City. 

  We had a very challenging drive - drove two miles from home, got on I-80, got off I-80 for gas, got back on I-80, got off I-80 for lunch, got back on I-80, arrived in West Wendover on I-80 and were welcomed by the big statue of Wendover Will.  While it's not a drive in need of GPS, it's always fun to drive across Nevada and view the landscape.  As I have said before, "To be an artist in Nevada, you have to appreciate the subtleties of brown".  You also have to appreciate mountains - we have more mountain ranges (not just mountains) in Nevada than any other state.  Vi kept Zelda at 80 mph and kept us safe.   It's always interesting driving I-80 because as the map above shows, it is a way travelled by many people.  Originally, the Native Americans followed the Humboldt River, then the pioneers, then the railroad, and now the Interstate.  We're staying at Montego Bay which is one of the Peppermill line of casinos in Nevada.  Not as expans...

 Rather than sending out individual emails to keep track of our travels, I decided to revert to our blog system.  We record this information mainly for our purposes, but some people find it useful to keep track of where we are (maybe so they can run and hide :-).   Tomorrow morning we'll set out on our journey East to Fargo for our 55th wedding anniversary party and then on to Vermont for Katie and Ryan's wedding.  Today is going to be spent packing, taking care of last-minute chores, and anything else that comes up. We are looking forward to the trip and seeing friends and family along the way.  While we will miss Reno, we do admit it will be nice to get out of the 100-plus heat.  I don't care what they say about "it's a dry heat", it's still hot! Take care and enjoy life.