Minnesota - June, July & August 2008
Well, I've been told that I can't take a break for the summer & I need to keep up with our blog, so here goes. We got back to Minnesota the first of April and thought we would see little or no snow. Boy, were we wrong! I think it snowed almost every day in April and then switched to rain almost every day in May! We're thinking about not coming back to Minnesota until mid to late April next year. We spent the first few months we were back in Minnesota just enjoying being home and spending time with our family. We took our rig up to Shorewood RV where we purchased it and gave them a list of things that needed to be fixed, all of which was warranty work. There was nothing major wrong with the rig, but since it was in for its 1-year checkup, we wanted to have them fix every little thing we found wrong with it. It was also a great place to store it until summer at which time we were planning on putting it at some campground for the summer. Great plans always seem to go wrong, don't they? We were so busy that we never got around to picking it up & setting it up at a campground until the middle of July. Memorial Day weekend, Katherine, Derek, Jenny and Katherine's sister, Karen decided to head down to Chicago to visit Karen's son, Bob & his new wife, Ellie. They ha
d just returned from their honeymoon and moved from Oakland, California to Chicago. After 7 hours on the road, we arrived in Chicago and tried to reach our hotel, The Belden Stratford. Every road in the area was blocked off. It took us an extra 45 minutes to get to our hotel even though we were only a few blocks away. We later found out that Johnny Depp was there shooting his latest movie. We had to keep our eyes on Karen to make sure she didn't run around the hotel looking for Johnny since he's her favorite actor. The room was actually an apartment with 2
bathrooms and a walk-in closet off the bedroom that was as big as our office back home. The views of Lake Michigan and Lincoln Park Conservatory were beautiful. We met up with Bob & Ellie on Saturday and we all went to the Museum of Science & Industry. Since Jenny is a science teacher & had never been to the museum, she was like a kid in a candy store. On Sunday, we went to Bob's in-laws for a delicious cookout. We had a great time and plan on going back some time in th
e fall, but next time it will be Karen, Curtis & Katherine and we'll go see the aquarium next time. On June 27-29, we changed our mode of transportation to the Harley. George and I, along with Derek and Jenny, rode the Harleys up to Duluth for the annual HOG Rally. We left early on Friday morning in what looked like it was going to rain at any moment, but we were lucky and only got a few drops
on us all the way up to Duluth (about 150 miles north of home). We stayed at the South Pier Inn which is right across the lift bridge from Canal Park. Our view was incredible as we could see and hear the bridge go up every time a ship/boat was going through the canal. It was so much fun. Shortly after we got settled in, we decided to go up to the Harley dealer. We walked out of our room and ran in
to Tom & Sandy Horne, who are dear friends of ours (and Derek's godparents). What a surprise! We hadn't seen them for awhile and they ended up being in the room above ours - talk about a small world! On our way back from the Harley dealership, we hit a downpour of rain and got totally drenched. Thank goodness, we were on our way back to our room and our room had a fireplace & a jacuzzi so we could warm up real nice. On Saturday, Derek & Jenny headed up to Gooseberry Falls and George & Katherine went to the Park Point Art Fair. We all met back in time to go on the annual HOG Rally ride up the North Shore & around Duluth and the weather was perfect. Our ride home on Sunday was again great because the weather continued to hold and it was a perfect day for a ride. However, since it was the first time this season we had be
en on the bike for a long ride, we were a bit sore for the next few days. It wore off in time to go on another ride on July 5th. We met up with Jenny & Derek and Craig (my former boss at the PD) & Tommy Reid and enjoyed a nice ride up to Taylor Falls where we stopped for some delicious homemade root beer. The weather was incredibly gorgeous for a ride and we continued over the river and into Wisconsin where we drove south to Hudson. We stopped there for lunch and had a delicious one at a small restaurant that Craig & Tommy had eaten at before. It was a great day for a ride and this time, we weren't nearly as sore as we had been the previous week. So...here we are the first part of July and still haven't gone up to Shorewood to get the RV back! We finally took the time and found a spot in St.Cloud at the St.Cloud Campground and RV Park. It's a nice little campground that's only about 75 miles from home so we rented a site for a month. Getting up here was quite an experience, one which I don't care to ever repeat! I dropped George off at Shorewood RV to pick up the rig and I headed up to St. Cloud in the car. I got a call from George shortly after I left him and he said that the
rig was overheating so he had to pull over about 5 miles down the road from Shorewood. And wouldn't you know it...it's a hot humid day & he pulls over in the recycling center with the waste management site only about 1/2 block down the road - yuck! George climbed under the rig & found that the fan belt had broken, so we called Freightliner & they sent out a tow truck to tow it back to them. I thought George was going to cry as he watched his baby being hoisted up on a tow truck! Lucky for us, it was all covered by the warranty. Can you believe it cost $450 to tow the rig 8 miles??? Incredible! But on July 21st, we were finally able to pick it up again and head to St. Cloud. It's nice to be able to stay up there for a night or a week, whatever we have time for si
nce it only takes about an hour to get there. My dear friend, Becky Rogers and her daughter, Krissy, came to town the last weekend in July so I stayed home with them while George, his Dad, and his brother, Eric went up to St. Cloud and had some quality sons & father time. George & Eric decided to play a round of mini-golf while there and George had to gloat because he beat his little brother! Of course, Mr. Bailey (our Shih-Tzu) loves being back in the RV! I think he likes the fact that we're all in the same room together all the time! We only have about one more week left up here and then it will be time to move on. I can hardly believe it's been almost a month since we set up camp in St. Cloud, but we've already reserved a spot at Grand Casino Hinckley. I know it's a casino, but they have a great inexpensive campground, too! Who knows...maybe we'll get rich on the $5 we might gamble!
d just returned from their honeymoon and moved from Oakland, California to Chicago. After 7 hours on the road, we arrived in Chicago and tried to reach our hotel, The Belden Stratford. Every road in the area was blocked off. It took us an extra 45 minutes to get to our hotel even though we were only a few blocks away. We later found out that Johnny Depp was there shooting his latest movie. We had to keep our eyes on Karen to make sure she didn't run around the hotel looking for Johnny since he's her favorite actor. The room was actually an apartment with 2
bathrooms and a walk-in closet off the bedroom that was as big as our office back home. The views of Lake Michigan and Lincoln Park Conservatory were beautiful. We met up with Bob & Ellie on Saturday and we all went to the Museum of Science & Industry. Since Jenny is a science teacher & had never been to the museum, she was like a kid in a candy store. On Sunday, we went to Bob's in-laws for a delicious cookout. We had a great time and plan on going back some time in th
e fall, but next time it will be Karen, Curtis & Katherine and we'll go see the aquarium next time. On June 27-29, we changed our mode of transportation to the Harley. George and I, along with Derek and Jenny, rode the Harleys up to Duluth for the annual HOG Rally. We left early on Friday morning in what looked like it was going to rain at any moment, but we were lucky and only got a few drops
on us all the way up to Duluth (about 150 miles north of home). We stayed at the South Pier Inn which is right across the lift bridge from Canal Park. Our view was incredible as we could see and hear the bridge go up every time a ship/boat was going through the canal. It was so much fun. Shortly after we got settled in, we decided to go up to the Harley dealer. We walked out of our room and ran in
to Tom & Sandy Horne, who are dear friends of ours (and Derek's godparents). What a surprise! We hadn't seen them for awhile and they ended up being in the room above ours - talk about a small world! On our way back from the Harley dealership, we hit a downpour of rain and got totally drenched. Thank goodness, we were on our way back to our room and our room had a fireplace & a jacuzzi so we could warm up real nice. On Saturday, Derek & Jenny headed up to Gooseberry Falls and George & Katherine went to the Park Point Art Fair. We all met back in time to go on the annual HOG Rally ride up the North Shore & around Duluth and the weather was perfect. Our ride home on Sunday was again great because the weather continued to hold and it was a perfect day for a ride. However, since it was the first time this season we had be
en on the bike for a long ride, we were a bit sore for the next few days. It wore off in time to go on another ride on July 5th. We met up with Jenny & Derek and Craig (my former boss at the PD) & Tommy Reid and enjoyed a nice ride up to Taylor Falls where we stopped for some delicious homemade root beer. The weather was incredibly gorgeous for a ride and we continued over the river and into Wisconsin where we drove south to Hudson. We stopped there for lunch and had a delicious one at a small restaurant that Craig & Tommy had eaten at before. It was a great day for a ride and this time, we weren't nearly as sore as we had been the previous week. So...here we are the first part of July and still haven't gone up to Shorewood to get the RV back! We finally took the time and found a spot in St.Cloud at the St.Cloud Campground and RV Park. It's a nice little campground that's only about 75 miles from home so we rented a site for a month. Getting up here was quite an experience, one which I don't care to ever repeat! I dropped George off at Shorewood RV to pick up the rig and I headed up to St. Cloud in the car. I got a call from George shortly after I left him and he said that the
rig was overheating so he had to pull over about 5 miles down the road from Shorewood. And wouldn't you know it...it's a hot humid day & he pulls over in the recycling center with the waste management site only about 1/2 block down the road - yuck! George climbed under the rig & found that the fan belt had broken, so we called Freightliner & they sent out a tow truck to tow it back to them. I thought George was going to cry as he watched his baby being hoisted up on a tow truck! Lucky for us, it was all covered by the warranty. Can you believe it cost $450 to tow the rig 8 miles??? Incredible! But on July 21st, we were finally able to pick it up again and head to St. Cloud. It's nice to be able to stay up there for a night or a week, whatever we have time for si
nce it only takes about an hour to get there. My dear friend, Becky Rogers and her daughter, Krissy, came to town the last weekend in July so I stayed home with them while George, his Dad, and his brother, Eric went up to St. Cloud and had some quality sons & father time. George & Eric decided to play a round of mini-golf while there and George had to gloat because he beat his little brother! Of course, Mr. Bailey (our Shih-Tzu) loves being back in the RV! I think he likes the fact that we're all in the same room together all the time! We only have about one more week left up here and then it will be time to move on. I can hardly believe it's been almost a month since we set up camp in St. Cloud, but we've already reserved a spot at Grand Casino Hinckley. I know it's a casino, but they have a great inexpensive campground, too! Who knows...maybe we'll get rich on the $5 we might gamble!
1 comment:
What are your plans for the fall, my Magdal family?
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