April - July 2016

Don't forget, you can double click the pictures to make them larger

We returned from the Dominican Republic the beginning of April.   We stuck around IL for a couple of weeks, getting in some DR appointments.  Also, Collins wanted to help daughter Paula with a couple of projects around her house, since she was planning a graduation Party for Becca at the end of May. 

Getting the prom dress fitted

 

It also gave me a chance to go with Becca to pick up her Prom Dress.  Wow, I can't believe the dresses these girls wear today.  To say she looked beautiful was an understatement.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Becca & her Prom Date

So grown up

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Becca thinks she's a cheerleader

Becca, Karen & Katie

 

Becca & I went to watch one of Katie's cheer competitions.   Becca dressed like a cheer leader so she could get in for free.  She made a cute one.   The girls are cousins but act like sisters when they get together.

Katie
 

Becca & Katie

Tyler goes over the pole

 

 I also had a chance to go to one of Tyler's Track Games.  He was doing Pole Vaulting that day.  That's not something I could ever do.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



By mid April we returned to Memphis to pick up the RV from winter storage.  With all the rain & storms that had passed thru while we were gone, we were a little worried as to what we would find.  Luckily, our home was sitting right where we left it, with no problems.  

 

 

 

 We kicked around in this area for a few weeks, went to the Botanical Gardens, had just missed the blooming of the Rhododendrons, but some of the azaleas were still pretty. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beale Street

 

 

 We also made a trip to downtown Memphis.  Had to check out Beale street & a few other iconic places.  As the old saying goes, nice place to visit but…. .  If you aren’t into blues music, & have already seen Elvis’ Graceland, which we did a few years ago,  Memphis offered us  little of interest. . 

 

 

 

Unique souvenirs on Beale St (Toilet Seats)

 

Sun Studios

Sun Studio

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also went to the Lorraine Motel, which was the site of the Martin Luther King shooting.  Kind of made you stop & think.  And you realize the violence continues in one way or another.

 

 

 

 

 

We also had to make a stop at Gus' Famous Fried Chicken restaurant.  We were told that some days people are waiting out the door.  Luckily for us, it was kind of between lunch & dinner & we didn't have to wait at all.  It was good, but nothing I'd wait a long time for.

 

 

 

 

Inside Gus'.  Collins & our waitress

 

After leaving there, we decided to stop outside Nashville for a few days. 

 

 

 

We made a trip to Hermitage, home of Andrew Jackson. 

 

 

 

 



Andrew & Racheal Jackson's wedding clothes



 

They had a great museum, which lots of information on the life of Andrew Jackson & plenty of displays

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also took a day to finally visit downtown Nashville.  This was our 3^rd trip thru there & for one reason or another had never made it downtown. 

 

 

 

We decided to take a tour of the  Grand Ole Opry  house.  We found it pretty interesting & also got to go onto the stage itself.

 

 

 

 

 

Opry Member Mailboxes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wood floor from original Grand Ole Opry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dressing Room

Dressing Room

Us on the Grand Ole Opry Stage

 

We also took a Hop On Hop Off Bus tour, but didn’t really find Nashville all that interesting.  I supposed if we had checked out all the bars in the area, it might have been more so.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 During that visit, we met up with old friends, Betty & Nick from IL, who now live near Nashville.  It was really nice to spend a few hours catching up on things.  After leaving Nashville, we were on our way to  Gatlinburg, another place we tried to go a couple times.  We found out that Gatlinburg is a huge tourist place, which is definitely not us. 

Red Throated Salamander
 

 

 One day while lying at the pool, I did see this red throated salamander.

However, we did take 2 drives into the Smokey Mts, & the views were beautiful.  One day we drove around Cades Cove & saw a mama bear & 3 cubs. 

We also saw another bear & a wild turkey that day.  If you like to hike, there are plenty of trails, but we aren’t into that either, so we just enjoyed the views.  











We were working our way to Lexington to pickup my mother, so we also made a stop not too far from the Cumberland Gap National Park & Cumberland Falls State Park.   


Cumberland Falls

 

The falls were ok, but I think after seeing so many beautiful ones in Alaska, we’ve become a bit jaded on waterfalls.

Us at Cumberland Falls

 



Collins at Cumberland Gap

 Cumberland Gap is located at the borders of Virginia, Tennessee & Kentucky.  It was famous in American colonial history for its role as a key passageway through the lower central Appalachians.  In addition to a passageway for Native Americans, it was explored by Daniel Boone & later, Dr. Thomas Walker.   The State & Federal Parks have great vista’s, & if you’re  into Civil War history, it’s interesting to visualize what those folks went thru trying to get from here to there.  Other than that, they were  fine places to kill some time.

Karen admires the pretty flowers at Cumberland Gap

 

We returned to Illinois in the last week of May for one of our Granddaughter’s (Becca) High School graduation &, on the way, picked up Karen’s mother in Lexinton, KY.  

4 Generations

Becca & her 90 yr old grandmother (my mom)

Becca & her proud grandparents

Dave, Tyler, Becca & Paula

This also afforded us an opportunity to see Becca sign a letter of intent for her College Basketball scholarship to Elmhurst, where she will be  majoring in Nursing.  

Tyler, Becca & cousin Katie

Beccs & four other girls played Basketball together since middle school, were designated as starters in their freshman year of high school & won 56 consecutive games, completing all four years undefeated.  

Us with Becca

They also won multiple Division & State titles.  By the way, Becca stands 5’11” and can hit a jump shot like you wouldn’t believe, hence the numerous schools trying to recruit her. 

Having completed our short stay with the Illinois tribe, & annual doctor check-ups, we headed to northern Wisconsin & Minnesota.  If the latter is known as the state with a thousand lakes, the former should be the state with 800.  One would think that having lived close to the Illinois-Wisconsin border for over 35 years we’d have visited northern Wisconsin at least once.  Regrettably, much to our loss, we did not.  
 

Our first stop, for 30 days, was in an RV Park with 250 spaces facing a 10 mile plus lake. Unlike many locations that feel the need to cram in the RV spaces, this park spreads them out throughout an old wood forest. 

View from our spot

Ironically, with all the fishing (muskie, walleye, etc) around, you can get fish or prime rib dinners somewhere every night of the week.  Between the cooler northern temperatures (50’s to 80’s) & forest shade, our June weather was great.  Really don’t know where the time went. 



You can see the Apostle Is in the background

We took 3 day trips while we were there.  One to the northern most border, where you could see the Apostle Islands.  They were having an old car show at one of the hotels.  There were some beauties there.

Copper Falls




Another to a couple of waterfalls (again nice, but no big deal) & one day over to a huge greenhouse that had some nice gardens.  If we still had a house with a yard, we’d spend a fortune there.  Luckily we don’t, so we bought a couple plants for the kids.

 

Us at Copper Falls

 

Since our son Doug was celebrating his 40^th birthday via a surprise party July 9th, we left the rig in Wisc. & returned to Illinois for 2 weeks.  He wasn't really surprised.

Brittany, Blake, Lexi & Collina

It was also a chance to see our daughter, Collina & granddaughters, Lexi & Brittany.  We also saw our 6 yr old great grandson, Blake.  Unfortunately, they were only there a short time, so we didn't have much time together.

Doug, Collins & Collina

Collina & Doug

Brittany & Blake

Doug & Kerry

Collina, Lexi & Brittany


 



A good part of the family, including "steps & exs"
 

We returned to our "home" after our 2 weeks in IL.  Thankfully all was well.  We had left it in a campground, hooked up to electric so we didn't have to empty the refrigerator.  We didn't leave the air on, so it was really hot.  Luckily, it doesn't take too long to get cool.   We stuck around a couple of days, doing a few chores & a little grocery shopping.  I wasn't sure what would be available at our next stop, which was Two Harbors, MN, just north of Duluth.  We had wanted to go further North, but didn't try to make reservations early enough. 



Light House, Two Harbors, MN

We stayed in a small campground & did a little sight seeing around the area.  One day, we went to the town of Two Harbors. 

It has a light house & a breakwall, so we did a little walking around, then made a stop at Dairy Queen.  No pics because I left my phone & camera in the car, but Collins got Snuggles a kid's size dish of ice cream (She goes crazy when we stop at McDonalds or Burger King because that's where we often get ice cream).  Anyway, she was in her glory having her own dish.  We only let her have about a third of it, but she was a happy dog!

Shipping Dock at Two Harbors

We drove along the shore line to Silver Bay.  There is a big company there that processes Taconite, a form of iron ore, then ships it all over the world.  It was a beautiful day & we enjoyed our outing.

Karen at the front of Glensheen

One sort of rainy day we decided to visit Glensheen Mansion, right on Lake Suerior.  It was built as the family home of a wealthy lawyer & capitalist, Robert Congdon (he made his original money in Iron Ore stock). 

Entry Hall

Check out the wood work

It's 27000 sq ft,  & 39 rooms.  At the time, it had a hefty price tag of $854,000 (estimated $21 million in today's dollars).  

Master Bedroom

Most of the original furnishings & décor are still in the house.  It was interesting to walk around & they had an hour long film on the family that we enjoyed.

Master bathroom (It has a sitz bath)

Check out all the shower heads

Upper Hall

Who wouldn't want a Butler's Pantry like this





Breakfast Room, overlooking the gardens & Lake Superior
 

Back View of House
 

Back Gardens

The rest of our time in Two Harbors was spent reading & being lazy. 

One evening we went to an outdoor concert in the town of Two Harbors.  It was no biggie, but it gave us something to do for the evening. 

Our spot in the pine trees

Our View

We left Two Lakes  today (Aug 31) for a couple weeks on a small lake not too far from Bemidji, MN.   We have a nice view of the small lake we're located on. 

We're slowly making our way toward Teddy Roosevelt National Park, then on to Mt. Rushmore.  We'll keep you posted as we travel along.