Happy New Year

As the sun sets on another year, we marvel at what a year holds in store. We began with a cruise from Hawaii to Tahiti and then wintered in southern Florida spending time with family and friends. Spring came and we moseyed on up to northern Minnesota stopping near St. Louis to visit my dad for the very last time. Summer at our lake spot near Duluth, MN, close to family and friends, was warm and wet--the lake being over flood stage for most of the summer. By mid-August we began the fall migration south to Florida which took three months and 16 states via Albuquerque, NM for the Balloon Fiesta, again spending time traveling with friends. December found us on another warm Caribbean cruise and back “home” to spend Christmas with family. God blesses.

As the sun rises on Galveston Bay and the year 2013 we have a lot to look forward to. Of course the New Year’s resolutions are usually the “GO” words--GO on a diet, GO to the gym more often--I found my new resolution on the back of a pick-up truck: GO braless, if pulls the wrinkles out of your face!

Wishing you a year full of love and laughter,

Mitch and Barb

PS: For our RV friends who might be looking for a warm spot to park for next winter, there may be some open spots in our little RV park here in Homestead, FL. Google Earth to check out the park at 28300 SW 147th Avenue, Homestead, FL 33033, or give Manager Glen a call at 305-247-8915 for information.

Merry Christmas!!

Praying your Christmas is filled with the joy of Jesus!

Caribbean Cruise Dec. 2012

We had a great week long cruise of the western Caribbean. We stopped in Cozumel, Belize City (where this great little island on the barrier reef is located),  Honduras, and Grand Cayman. The weather was great, the ocean calm, and we enjoyed our time at sea!

We're finally in Homestead

Ahhh, we're home again, at the southern one anyhow.

We moved into Homestead then went to see the boys--and Caryn and Jason too.

Our projects for the day: making party mix and baking sugar cookies. Rylan and Brayden enjoyed the frosting the best!

Wauchula, November 2012

We are finally in Florida, but we have a lot to do. One is visit our Quebequois friends, Francine and Gilles, at their park in Okeechobee. We had a great visit which included a bike ride along the ridge of Lake Okeechobee and a great picnic half way through. We like ice cream at our half way stops, but some nice red wine is even better!










The other thing we had to do was visit Jan and Marshal and do a little Bradenton: lunch at the Star Fish for some great grouper, and of course, the Wine Tasting at the Yacht Club. Too bad I forgot my camera, the wine and the food was fantastic and the company was the best, Jan and Marshal, Debbie and Cliff, Emily and Steve, and Sandra and Dave. What fun!!!

A Chopped Champion

We got back to the Cities for our last dinner with the kids, but schedules were hectic, and the girls got fed an put to bed before Shayne got home with a dinner plan. He always has an interesting "dinner plan". Tonight he decided to give Mitch the a rendition of the Chopped competition. He had purchased the mystery ingredients and Mitch had 30 minutes to cook a dinner for four. Shayne, Sarah, and I critiqued, ridiculed, commented, and drank wine while he cooked with fresh wahoo, dates, napa cabbage, and basmati rice.

 

Hands up at three seconds left and he had plated his four meals.

Our dinner consisted of a napa cabbage salad with spicy peanut sauce (topped with apple jelly for color--one of Sarah's complaints) served with a bed of basmati rice cooked with chopped dates, soy sauce, and worchestershire sauce, and topped with grilled wahoo with an Asian glaze.

It was a lot of fun and it tasted really good!

Next time Sarah and I do the shopping and Shayne is in on the competition.

A Dark Rum Dinner "Up North"

Jim's favorite venison dinner is Rum Spiced Venison Chops and since we had to purchase a new bottle of  dark rum, Carol and I decided to "add" rum to the rest of the meal. We tried different drinks to start with and the Mumsicle, a takeoff on a Manhattan, with dark rum, bourbon, a splash of bitters, garnished with a cherry, hit the spot.

We ended the meal with a French Apple Custard Pie, delightfully rum sautéed apples with a vanilla custard topped with a sliced almond crunch. YUM!

Deer Hunting 2012

We left the coach parked in Houston and drove the car "Up North." The girls were excited to have us back and made a special Welcome Home banner for us.

 We got here in time to celebrate Halloween. Addy and Macy helped Big Grampa decorate the pumpkins.

It was a beautiful night for Minnesota and we all went Trick or Treating.

Once we get "Up North" we celebrate the three birthdays--Mitch, Mark, and Carol--all born on November 6.

Mitch's "Deer hunting"!

Barb's "Dear hunting"!

Around Houston

Blue Bell ice cream is a favorite of ours and we toured the creamery while we were in Texas. It was a good tour, but the best part was the BIG scoop of ice cream (any one of 32 flavors on hand) we got at the end of the tour.

If you have a chance try their Gingerbread House or their Pumpkin Pie for a holiday treat!

We had been traveling with Jan and Marshal since the middle of August and have had a great time. We ended our stay together at friends Connie and Joe's place outside of Houston on Galveston Bay. We were then joined by three more coaches and we had a mini-campground! What a good time we all had.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park, NM

No, this is not a wedding cake starting to melt, but one of the truly fantastic formations at Carlsbad Caverns.

Roswell, NM

We stopped to visit some "special" friends in Roswell!

Balloon Fiesta 2012, Albuquerque

Dawn Patrol:  Our day started on the field at 5:45 am when the first five balloons of the day fire up and check out the skies. It was awesome to be right there in the middle of it all!

Up close and personal!!!!

Up, up, and away!!! 550 balloons take to the sky.

What goes up must come down--right in the middle of the parking lot! We watched seven balloons sail just over the coaches and down behind us. Anyone close grabbed the gondola and pulled it to a safe place to deflate. What an experience!

Santa Fe, NM

We've had a great time in Santa Fe visiting historic Santa Fe with its Plaza, touring the old Cathedrals, and admiring the many amazing galleries. We also did some driving through the golden aspens to Taos and visited the Taos Pueblo. Today it was Bandelier National Monument to see the remnants of the ancient ruins of the early people of New Mexico.

On the Move

Fill 'em up!! A good start to the day for Valero.

 We spent two days in Oklahoma City and had the opportunity to visit the Oklahoma City Memorial for the 1995 bomb site that killed 168 babies, children, and adults.  The museum held so much information and was emotionally taxing.

It is a remarkable tribute to the lost lives and the devastation of a major part of the city.

On to Amarillo, Texas where we ate at the "famous" Big Texan Steak House--you know, eat a 72 ounce steak plus the fixings and eat for free. We didn't try it, but we did watch a young man not be able to accomplish the feat. The food wasn't too bad.

Larry Niemann, RIP

 My dad passed away last week at the age of 91. Although he had suffered from dementia for the last few years, he was always eager to carry on a conversation and still had his great sense of humor.

 I love you, Dad, and will miss you!

We traveled to the St. Louis area where Dad lived near my brother, and my sister traveled from Michigan. We don't often all get together, but we decided a good "memorial meal" would be one of Dad's favorites--Buttons, pork chops, and apple salad!

Buttons (I don't know what the German name would be) are a heavy dough that has been boiled and then fried with bacon. Sometimes we would eat it with syrup. I haven't had it in a long time and it was delicious!!

Montgomery, AL

We spent a day on our travel from Mammoth Cave to Destin, FL in Montgomery, AL and had a great tour of the city. Our trolley driver was very knowledgable and we saw and heard some great history. Later we went back to the capitol building for an inside walk. The stairs were just inside the entrance on both sides of the foyer and led to the second and third floors which were open to the beautifully painted rotunda.

Mammoth Cave

Mammoth Cave was the next destination and we kept busy, saw a lot, and had some fun. We did the two ad a half hour New Entrance tour and saw some amazing structure. Besides the Frozen Niagra we saw these beautiful stalactites.












We also toured the Lost River Cave where we took a boat ride into the cavern on an icy cold river. That was a unique experience.

We also went to see a Civil War reenactment which was a lot of fun on a beautiful blue skied day.

(The blogger does not seen to want me to type my captions next to my pictures!)

Columbus, IN

Next on our list of places to go was the Cummins Rally in Columbus, IN. We toured the Cummins Engine Factory, the Cummins Testing (high tech) Facility, the Cummins Corporate Office Building (which was a museum in itself), and spent time visiting the city of 50,000ish and its incredible architecture. Many notable architects have designed churches, City Hall, schools, office buildings, and the library. This is the ceiling of the library designed by I. M. Pei. Fascinating city!!!

Cincinnati

After the Indianapolis Rally we spent Labor Day weekend in the Cincinnati area. We had a good time visiting the countryside--a wine festival in one town and a music festival with a ride in a canal boat and all the history that went with it in another.

Nope, this isn't the Cincinnati Zoo. It's Jungle Jim's Mega Food Mart, a six acre complex of every kind of food you can imagine. Just what a "foodie" like Mitch dreams of.

The end of August

 After leaving Minnesota we headed north and spent some "quiet time" enjoying the Upper Peninsula of Michigan--you know...








pasties, a bottle of wine, the great outdoors,

 and the Mackinac Bridge. We had a great day on Mackinaw Island doing the carriage ride, checking out the old fort, taking a tour through the Grand Hotel, just fun stuff like that.

We stopped at the VanSchoick Family campground (we love it when we can park at a friend's house and have full hook-ups) and met up with Marshal and Jan, and all of us caravanned to the Monaco Pre-Rally in Springfield, Ohio where we joined more friends.

Eventually we ended up at the FMCA Rally in Indianapolis for more fun.

The Middle of August

The lake is almost back to normal but it is time for us to leave. We had a great birthday celebration for Shayne's birthday... huge cowboy steaks, king crab legs, and all the fixings--yummy!

We will miss the girls, but it's time to move on.

Beginning of August

 Our time is running out--we leave Minnesota on the 13th of August and we have a lot to do.

One thing was to visit our Florida/Minnesota friends at their home in Stillwater. No this isn't their house, but we took a trolley tour of historic Stillwater and saw some beautiful restored mansions of the logging barons of the late 1800s. Beautiful homes, many made into Bed and Breakfast Hotels, many still a private residence.

We stopped a spell at the top of the 157 downtown steps from lower Stillwater to upper Stillwater (reminded me of Quebec City) to look over the city to the oldest lift bridge in the US and onto the St. Croix River as it meanders past the town.

Just a note: we have a new email address: monacomitch@me.com.

The middle of July

 Donna and Ron are high school friends of Jim and Carol and live on a little lake a ways away. Donna knew with our flooded lake that the 4th of July would be a wash so she invited all of us to have the 4th at their place. What a sweetheart!

 So we all (minus Shayne and Sarah and the girls) had a great time with our cookout and playing at the lake at Ron and Donna's.

 The lake is slowly going down and we decided to "get out of town" for awhile. So off to Bayfield, WI we went, a great three hour scenic drive along the south side of Lake Superior. We stayed in the "billard room" (top floor two left windows) of a 1890s mansion which has been converted into the gorgeous Rittenhouse Bed and Breakfast. We had a great two night stay.

A 20 minute ferry ride from Bayfield is the Apostle Islands National Park and we enjoyed a 3 1/2 hour narrated cruise around the islands. One of the highlights were the sea caves on Devils Island.

All in all it was a great diversion from the high waters of Big Sandy.

The End of June

We had 19 inches of rain in about three weeks and the lake went up and up. Soon the shoreline looked much like this--skeletons of docks and lifts.

Eventually the water rose to cover the steps by about three feet, much of the docks and posts were completely covered, and only the front portion of the lifts are above water.

Not only water, but a good wind storm gave us a scare. This nice clump of huge oak trees are on the hill above the motorhome, the red marked one naturally leaning above us. With the 60 mile an hour winds--or a twisting wind or a bolt of lightning--a six foot crack developed and fortunately the power company felt it compromised their power line. We moved the coach, they cut it down piece by piece, and we moved back in. We feel safer now!

Early on we sandbagged Jim and Carol's cabin. We had a nice wall about three feet high and they had two sump pumps going. As the water came up, we thought we might make it--and then one night a portion of the wall broke in and the basement filled with water. Since this picture the water has risen to about six inches above the sandbags.

The dock at our place is moved up the shore as far as it can go and the water is almost covering  the sections completely, hence no shallow water, no beach, no ledge, just cliff...no place to park the pontoon with its sealegs.

We moved it to the lagoon and for about a week moved it forward everyday. This picture is now in the middle of the road to Jim and Carol's cabin which is about two and a half feet under water.


The lake is closed to the public, there are "no wake" rules for those of us on the water, we can't swim in the water in many cases can't use it for drinking or washing. That's the bummer!

But we made the best of it by having a "bad water" theme meal as in a hurricane. So we drank hurricanes while we prepared some great Cajun food--red beans and rice, shrimp roumalade, okra and andouille creole,  oyster hushpuppies, and enough to fill us all!

This is not a picture of our smorgasbord, but Addy and Macy made this cracker and carrot feast for the chipmunks. I especially loved the little daisy Addy added for the centerpiece.