CHRISTMAS MOUNTAIN GOLF & RV

Sept 19th-25th

The RV Park we stayed at during our stay at the Dells was one of the best parks we have ever been at.  It was $60 per night, but because it also belonged to one of our camping clubs, we got it for $10 per night.  It had a 27 hole golf course. I had never heard of 27 holes, only 18, but I'm not really into golf.   Also had the largest hot tub we have ever been in.   This is  a ski resort. There aren't any  mountains, only what we would call small hills.  One guy admitted that these ski runs are only for beginners and young families to ski together on.   We went to one of their sales talks, not to join, but they would give us a $150 visa card.  We don't usually do these, but for $150 we did.  They have resorts all over  the world. It costs $32,000 to join. Just about choked on that one!  The RV park is a very small part, it is mostly cabins, and condos.  I will have to admit, they was very nice, but certainly not $32,000  nice.  Just had to show you some pictures

 Notice the good looking guy in the hot tub. I think I'll keep him.

Trees are changing color, beautiful!

WISCONSIN DELLS

Sept. 19th- 24th

My folks always told me that the two most beautiful places in Wisconsin were the Wisconsin Dells  and Door County.
Wish I could ask them more because I never thought we would be here.

The Dells are in Southern Wisconsin.  It is a very touristy place, the largest waterpark region in the world.  It has 7 waterparks with over 200 slides, many theme parks with regular rides and 5 mini golf courses.  Of course, we weren't here for any of that, just the beautiful  area    Dells are  really just the Wisconsin River and its banks.  Not sure why they are called the Dells.  My folks were right, they are beautiful. You have to take a boat ride to see the beauty.

Two good looking people out for a cruise

Views of the Dells

Many rock formations along the banks.  Every line of rocks represents 500 years

Amazing how trees grow right out of the rocks

Our boat

The dog on the right  formation is going to jump across and back. In the late 1800's a photographer took a picture like that and it became world famous and made people want to come to the  Dells.

Notice I  was able to get the dog at the exact moment he jumped over. I was very pleased with myself. Not many people were able to get it at just the exact moment

We stopped at a canyon and walked in about  1 mile.

 I'm glad the walkway was stable. Didn't want to look down in some places

Scary

I took over 100 pictures, can't show them all,  you would  certainly groan if I put so many up,  but these give you the overall beauty of the Dells.

TRAVELING TIDBITS

Sept 21st

There are a few pictures I wanted to show you about our travels, but forgot when I was typing my blog

When we first started traveling with our new 5th wheel, we rarely saw one as big as ours.  It is 35' with 4 slide outs.  This year,  it is quite common to see 4 slide outs. In fact, we saw one with 5 slides and 2 doors.  Trailers usually have 2 doors, but never 5th wheels.  We were amazed to see this. 

We saw this RV in Jamestown, ND. Some people have to bring all their play toys with them. This toy hauler is the biggest we have seen.  Together it seems so long to pull.  When those toy haulers open up, we have seen ATVs, cars and motorcycles in them.  Most people bring one,  but some bring everything. Looks like there is a lot in this one. 

Since Denny lived on a farm in Nebraska when he was 10-16 years old, we run across lots of old equipment he has used. 

He remembers his mother using this washing machine. Hard for me to imagine. How 'bout you?

This thrashing machine is just like one he used 

This is our first Moose sighting. I'm glad he seems oblivious to us. We were close, hate to see him charging us. This is Duluth, MN, right in our campground. Scary!

When we were in Medora, North Dakota, visiting Theodore Roosevelt Park, we saw this bus in the parking lot. I have heard of this bus, traveling all over the world. They are visiting places and geocaching along the way.  

Notice all the places they have been on their trip

The shore of Lake Superior is made of volcanic rock.  Never read anything about a volcano, but because of this, the shoreline never erodes or recedes. 

I'm done taking you back and forth between all the states we've been to. Sorry about everything out of order.  We are certainly having fun and enjoying seeing all the places we have never been.

Sorry about all the different fonts and sizes. Having a little trouble

LAKE SUPERIOR

Sept  17th -18th

Everyone we talked to about what to do in Minnesota said the must see thing is travel along the North Shore of Lake Superior.  We traveled to Duluth yesterday  and went  a long the North Shore today. They were certainly right, it is an amazing sight.   Lake Superior is the largest Lake in the world.  it covers 31,700 miles.  If you go on the complete circle of the Lake it  is 1300 miles around and takes you into 3 states, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and into Canada. It has a volume of  3 quadrillion gallons of water, can't  imagine how many zero's that is.  I know I sound like a guidebook.  I read somewhere that the Lake is big enough  that every person in the world could sit  in a space  with a 12'x 12' blanket.  Seems  hard to believe.  It is big enough to see the curvature of the earth.  You usually only see that in the ocean.   We saw beautiful, large  old mansions  along the shore in Duluth.  I'm sure they were for the very rich.  It was only 50 degrees today. Notice how rough the water is.  BURRRR.....

Views of Lake Superior

These are views from the restaurant we had lunch at.    We ordered the fresh fish sandwich, thinking it would be some local fish.  NO, it was salmon.  It was very good, but SALMON, not what we were thinking it would be.  Denny had a  beer made in Duluth,  but they didn't have any Minnesota wine. Mine was from Spain.  Amazes me when we go places and they don't serve local  wine. There are 27 wineries in Minnesota. 

BEMIDJI, MINNESOTA

SEPT 16th

If any of you watched the TV show, Fargo, it took place in Bemidji.  The main character, Billy Bob Thornton, won for best actor.  It was based on a true storey.  It was a strange show, but we kept watching and liked it. The town didn't really look like the show, but oh well.

This is also the birthplace of Paul Bunyan. Legend has it that it took 5 storks to deliver Paul to his parents.   He is said to have dug and built Niagara Falls for a shower bath and he dug Lake Superior as a watering trough for Babe, his  Blue Ox.  Babe stomped around so much, his hoof  prints filled up with water and formed the 10,000 lakes.  Love the legends. he was a big deal when I was a kid. 

This is his gun

This fireplace is in the visitor center at the statue.  It has a stone in it from all 50 states in the union

There is also a lot of public art.  I love  traveling around and seeing all the sculptures. Of course, they are always some geocaches around them. We have been doing a lot of geocaching along our  travels. 

This is a  metal sculpture of an Indian in full dress.  Denny is looking for the cache, but I  found  it. 

The sport of curling is big in MN. This guy has a beer keg for his head.  Notice the broom in his right hand and  the  red thing is whatever they throw down the field.  As you can probably tell, I   really don't know much about curling.  The cache was in his  foot 

The main reason we went to Bemidji was to go to Itasca State park to see the headwaters of the Mississippi.  The source is Lake Itasca.  Even with all our travels, we thought this State Park is the most beautiful, well maintained park we have ever seen.   The headwaters are only 12' across.

Lake in background. The stones are the beginning of the Mississippi

The same stones,  looking down  at the headwaters

Denny walking across the headwaters.

Starting to flow on its winding way  down to the Gulf  of  Mexico.  If you put a can in the headwaters, they say it takes 90 days to get to there.  The river is 2552 miles long. 

It was my birthday. We had dinner in this old inn at the park, built in 1905.  Beautiful, fun day to celebrate my birthday

Beautiful Lake Itasca

DETROIT LAKES, MINNESOTA

Sept 9th-16th

We decided to stay here 7 days because we had been traveling to a different area every few days. This was also our first campground that we belonged to so it was only $10 per night. 

Minnesota is called the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Being here, we can certainly understand that.  Every few miles is a lake, more than I have ever seen.  Beautiful area, lots of green rolling hills and lakes, big and small.

In town, there is a lot of public art. I like that.  In Seattle there are pigs, in Detroit Lakes, fish. i think these fish are here year round, in Seattle the pigs are only once a year for charity

The park we were in is very nice but the concrete pads are certainly not level as you can see by the picture.  Looks like the RV is very crooked,  but  this is what Denny had to do to get us level. 

There was one winery in the area. I never thought they could grow grapes in MN, much too cold.  To be labeled a MN wine, 50% of the grapes have to be grown in MN.  They grow certain varieties that are meant to withstand the cold winters. In fact, last year was so cold that most wineries lost their vines, so the state waived the rule for that harvest. The wine we bought was a few years old, so we got a true MN wine. They grow Frontenac and Marquette varieties. 

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