June 22, 2010

We are in Goodland, Kansas. We visited with good friends at dinner last night. Today we went to the High Plains Museum. This is a great place to learn about the area and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Goodland is one of our favorite places. We really like staying at the KOA Kampground where they offer daily breakfast and dinner. This morning we had biscuits and gravy, hmm good, and tonight we had wonderful home made Polish perogies. We had a great two days even though the temperature was in the upper nineties.

June 20, 2010

We are in Salina, Kansas for two days. We wish a Happy Father’s Day to all the proud fathers reading our blog. Today we drove to nearby Mushroom Rock State Park.

Yes there are still a lot of gravel roads in Kansas. This is the view on our way to the Park.

These natural rocks really do look like mushrooms.

These rocks are beautiful and in many shapes.

This is a big mushroom.

Kansas is known for its wheat fields. We saw many acres of ripe wheat ready to harvest on our drive today.

With fields this large it is difficult to get a close-up picture. Here large trucks are waiting to be filled.

I love my telephoto lens.

June 17, 2010

We visited the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer today. The museum has over sixty 100-year-old restored buildings on nearly 200 acres near Grand Island, Nebraska. This place is described a “More than a Museum…a Living History Experience and they invite everyone to “Take a walk through history”. We went through 16 of the 24 homes and businesses in the reconstructed Railroad Town. Almost all of the buildings have people dressed in the fashions of the day to explain what life was like then. Although it was 95 degrees today and no air conditioning, most of the hosts and hostesses had on long sleeves and long dresses as were worn in the 1890s. We were in shorts and short-sleeves but found the heat unbearable after a few hours and headed for the Silver Dollar Café for a refreshing cold orange drink.

I don’t have pictures to share because they don’t allow photography inside the Museum buildings. This is a great place to visit and learn pioneer history. I would recommend you choose a day that is not in the nineties. You can check out this link for more information: www.stuhrmuseum.org/

June 12, 2010

What do BBQ chicken, Notre Dame University and lasagna have in common? These are things we enjoyed today. We started the day with my cousin Ernie and his wife Rita driving to Lakeview, Indiana to see Don and Dee Milzarek, Rita’s sister. Don and Dee took us to a local Lion’s Club fundraiser for Port-A-Pit BBQ chicken and make your own strawberry shortcake for lunch. Hmm Good!

After lunch, Dee took us on a walking tour of Notre Dame University. While working for the university for ten years, she has learned a lot of history, legends and fun facts.

Left to right: Don, Ernie, Rita, Char, Dee and Ray

The Grotto

The Basilica of the Sacred Heart

Notre Dame’s golden dome

Father Sorin, founder of Notre Dame University

“Touchdown Jesus” on the library building faces the football stadium

The stadium from the 12th floor of the library building

We had a great couple of hours walking and learning from Dee and Don. We would like to do this again when the students are here. Hopefully we will have another opportunity to revisit this beautiful campus in the future.

We completed our day with a delicious lasagna dinner that included apple pie and ice cream for desert at Dee and Don’s home. Dee is a fantastic cook.

June 12, 2010

Yesterday we received a phone call from our best friends Richard and Vera. Vera had a heart attack and is in intensive care at a hospital in Utica, New York. She has some blockage but not severe enough for stints. She is better but will remain in the hospital for a couple of days for testing.

They have cancelled their plans to travel out west and will remain in New York this summer.

We ask that everyone please add Vera to your prayers.

June 11, 2010

A dear friend, Nancy Gooding, came to see us today. She is visiting her family in the area. Nancy, the author of “The Days of Noah” is busy writing again and will hopefully finish her new work soon. She promises to let us know when the publisher will release this book so we can obtain a copy.

For lunch, we went to Olga’s Place in Westville, Indiana for “Hometown European Cooking” as described in the local visitors guide. The pizza was excellent and the deserts were outstanding.  This is another wonderful small town restaurant to add to your places to visit.

June 7, 2010

We had another great weekend. Friday we traveled to Elgin, Illinois to see Linda Couch. We met Linda when we lived in Ft Myers, Florida many years ago. Her husband Jim and I help open the Lowes Store in Ft. Myers. Our good friend Jim passed on about four years ago and Linda moved back to Illinois where she grew up and still has family.

Saturday, Linda, Char and I drove to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin for the day. We had a delightful lunch in a local restaurant and wandered through several shops. Later we went to the marina and enjoyed the beauty of the lake while eating an ice cream cone. It rained on the way to and from Wisconsin but the day turned nice for us while we were there. I think Jim was watching over us and helped with the weather.

On Sunday, Linda invited us over for dinner. We were able to see two of her four children, her son Jim and his wife Anna and her daughter Tresa.

Left to right: Linda, Jim, Anna and Tresa with Sophie.

Linda’s other two children, daughter Missy and her family live in Texas and son Phillip and his family live in Alaska. Hopefully we will get to see them sometime in the future.

June 2, 2010

As I’ve said before, our lifestyle offers us the best of everything. We see many fascinating places and things in this great country. And this last weekend we had the opportunity to meet a terrific couple, Dale and Charli Shipp, also staying in our campground. We shared life, travel, camping and work stories with each other. Of course, my favorite was the travel stories. Dale and Charli love traveling in their 1994 32H Fleetwood Bounder and I enjoy learning about new places we can visit.

Last Saturday, Dale, Charli, Bill, Jeanette, their Granddaughters Ashley and Alyssa, Char and I went to the Hesston Steam Museum for the day. Bill was taking his 1927 Model T Ford and 1949 Plymouth to a car show on the museum grounds. Dale and Charli rode with Bill in the Model T. Char, Ashley and Alyssa rode with Jeanette in the Plymouth and I followed in Dale’s car. Dale and Charli needed to leave early to give their three dogs a potty break so I drove their car while they enjoyed the ride with Bill.

Jeanette packed a wonderful picnic lunch for everyone. For desert she made her fabulous strawberry pie. You can tell by the smiles above, we loved the lunch.

The twins found a shady spot to work on their craft projects.

Later in the afternoon, we all took a ride on one of the small-scale trains. I didn’t hear the conductor when we got on tell us not to take pictures during the ride. The trains are narrow and they don’t want people leaning and possibly causing the train to tip over. They stopped the train shortly after we started to inform me about the no picture rule. I felt bad but I don’t think I ruined the ride for my fellow passengers. Above are the only rule breaking pictures taken.

On Monday, Memorial Day, we had a lovely dinner at Dale and Charli’s with fresh strawberry shortcake for desert.

Yes, we had a terrific weekend.