Adventure Week!!!

Devil's Lake Sunset.....beautiful

So much has happend this last week in our travels I haven't even had a chance to write it down!

When we left Duluth, MN, we went to Devil's Lake, ND. We had no idea what a gorgeous place it was! The lake is very large and beautiful. The land around it is connected by long bridges that seem more like dams. Tom took some great sunset pictures while we were there.

International Peace Garden. Left side the U.S. Flag and right Canadian Flag

From there we headed to the International Peace Garden which is in very northern ND and part of Canada. It is literally half in the US and half in Canada. It is over 2,000 acres and in it are a formal garden, a campground, an athletic camp and a music camp. On Saturday we went to the music camp and listened to performances for about 3 hours. Those kids are amazing. They come from all over the world and have a week of intense lessons and practice and at the end of the week, they put on several performances. Loved it!! Click on the video below to see 21 seconds of the recital! Wonderful!

Sunday as we were leaving camp, we had a little "incident" and managed to put another dent in our truck and knock a little fiberglass off the end cap of the 5th wheel by going through a small ditch that neither of us saw. Tom seemed to take it pretty much in stride, however, Donna was not quite as calm about it. Enough said - what is is.

Grader Pulling Tug and Journey back to safety!

Monday as we were heading west on Hwy 200, we got into a construction zone and it was raining. As we were following the pilot truck through, the road went from kind of a loose gravel to mud. As we started to ascend a hill, Tom moved over a little to the right to let cars pass us as he didn't think we would make it. As he moved over the truck and 5th wheel started sliding toward a ditch. The mud was like being on ice. Luckily, he got it stopped before we went in the ditch. The construction crew were kind enough to send a large grader to get us out. He just hooked on and backed up the hill pulling us with him. It was quite an experience and not one we want to repeat! Although both the truck and 5th wheel are muddy, all ended well.

As we continued our travels, we went down Enchanted Hwy and saw some very beautiful metal sculptures along the way. Tom said a retired school teacher had done them. What an interesting sight to see as we drove along. Now we're here and we are taking some time to just kick back and relax before we go exploring in the park.

Duluth, MN

The lighthouse in Two Harbors, MN. Northshore scenic drive.

We liked Duluth so much we stayed for 10 days! Tom fished almost every day and loved it. I think he has the fishing bug for sure now. He caught a lot of fish but threw most of them back. While in the area, we went to Canal Park where they have the aerial bridge that is raised 25 to 30 times a day to let boats go under. It's an awesome sight. We took a beautiful scenic drive up Highway 61 along the coast of Lake Superior. We drove the Skyline Parkway that soars above Duluth, but we couldn't see below because it was too foggy. The drive itself was beautiful though. We met a new friend, Ann, who had dinner with us on Sunday. She made us feel so welcome in the park and was fun to visit with.

There were several pretty good thunderstorms while we were there, but never anything dangerous to us. Everything is so green and beautiful. We would recommend both the Duluth area and the park (Ogston's RV Park) to everyone - only in the summer, of course.

Now it's on to new sights in North Dakota. We are stopping for a few days at Devil's Lake - it's a beautiful area off Highway 2. Then we're heading north to the International Peace Garden, down to the Bismarck area and on to Medora in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We plan to be in Yellowstone for a week in the second week in August. It's great heading back to the western states. We love something about everywhere we go. What a great life we have.

Cornucopia, WI

Tom with his wide mouth bass (Two big mouths together)

Way at the tip of Wisconsin, we went to visit some old friends. They summer in Cornucopia on Siskiwit Lake (near Lake Superior). It's beautiful country, but no great shakes on RV parks. We only stayed two nights and spent our time with Ida and Jan, or friends. We had a great time visiting, playing cards and enjoying the scenery. This is where the Apostle Islands are and we plan to go back some day and explore them.

After leaving Cornucopia, we headed west to Duluth, MN, to stay for a week. We are actually in Saginaw, MN, in a very nice park with 3 ponds for fishing. Tom decided he wanted to try doing a little fishing, so he bought an inexpensive pole and he spent the last weekend at the pond. He caught about 15 fish and threw most of them back. He found a guy here who knows how to identify the fish and clean them but he hasn't brought any home to cook yet. It's great that he's enjoying this new hobby so much. Donna is really enjoying having some quiet time while he's out angling.

Today we are going to Duluth to see what's going on there. We've heard a lot about Canal Park, so we'll update the blog after we check it out.

Wisconsin Dells, WI

Lake Delton after the levy broke out!

A Wisconsin Army Duckie

Yes, we're still in the Wisconsin Dells. The other day we went out to Delton Lake which is quite close to where we're staying. It's empty!!! We only saw one end of it, but it's so strange to see the houses along the beach and there's no water - just beach. Our friends said they had seen a sign that advertised renting a pontoon boat for four hours for 95 cents! Crazy. I feel sorry for all the people who make their living from the lake. Here's a 2 minute clip of the devestation that took place. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0bVsSWXG-I

The rest of the Dells seem to be doing fine. They have a water park here called Mt. Olympus. It is huge! We drove by yesterday and it was wall to wall people. They have four roller coasters there and our friends who went said they waited and hour and a half to go on the largest one. Wow. They had a great time though.

The weather has been great and the best thing about being here is meeting some new friends - Tim and Rose along with their granddaughter, Anna. Tom has been communicating with them through his Excel forum and we all happened to be here at the same time. We enjoyed a happy hour with them and then had dinner together on the 4th of July. We had a great time. Friends make all the difference in our travels.

Tuesday we're off again for places unknown!

Wisconsin Dells, WI

Our old buddy, the Pink Flamingo.

Here we are in Wisconsin. We're going to check out the Wisconsin Dells and see what's here. So far, it looks a lot like Pigeon Forge with many water parks, miniature golf and other entertainment.

While in Shelbyville, MI, Tom went to the Gilmore Museum and had a great time seeing all kinds of cars and also a tractor display. He says it's the best car museum he's ever seen and he's seen a lot of them.

Donna had her weekend with the girls and came home exhausted from lack of sleep. They played many card games, ate too much and didn't sleep much but a great time was had by all.

We'll be here in the Dells for at least a week. Happy 4th of July to everyone.