Fantasy Fest at Key West--Gone to the Dogs!!!

We had a great week parked at Bluewater RV Resort on the ocean with a tiki hut and a dock in our front yard.  We snorkeled the reefs, we jet skied the mangrove trails, we ate well (Mitch was our private chef), had a little to drink, and spent some time in Key West. The sunrises were beautiful, the weather was great, and sharing good times with great friends can't be beat. Life is good!

(Don't know this lady, but I like her spirit!)

We're almost "down south"!

We left Minnesota when the frost hit the ground, spent a week with friends Jackie and Jerry in Tennessee, then spent money getting new batteries, new slide toppers, and new ceramic paint on the roof at Alliance Coach in Wildwood while chatting with other customers Tommy and Susan and John and Lulu--always fun to run into friends.

So look who we met when we got to Thousand Trails Orlando--

our western wayward friends--Faye and Ken and John and Pat. We've played a little pickle ball, a little "Hand and Foot", and had a little "happy hour". What fun to see them again!!!

August 2013

 Can't believe it is August already, where have I been?!

The first part of August felt like October then melted into the hottest ending we have had in a long time--but great for playing and that's what we did!

This is the Big Sandy Lake Tower of Terror--the old fire observation tower almost in our backyard.

A trip to the top with the girls and I wanted a cute picture, but Addy said maybe terror faces would be better. Great idea!!

So we've had breakfast cruises, dinner cruises, swimming cruises, done some tubing, some skiing, and of course eating. This is Shayne's birthday cake--the adults side and the kids side, six layers with six kinds of ice cream filling. Yum!

"Up North", Minnesota

We are finally "Up North" in the woods at the lake...

and on the lake! Yea!!!!

Motorhome Rally--Gillette, Wyoming

 We have spent the last two weeks in Gillette, WY for our motorhome rallies and have been busy, busy, busy. There were 260 motorhomes for the Monaco International Rally where Mitch is Vice President and was in charge of door prizes for this rally. That kept him on the move.

The FMCA Rally has 2,200 or so motorhomes so the place is really hopping. Although we don't have "work" to do, it seems there is always something to keep us going.

We took a day off to visit Devils Tower about an hour away. We hiked around the bottom of this awesome structure to get a view from every angle.

Dan and Cari were with us and we had a great little picnic lunch (with wine) and watched the prairie dogs.

Gillette is the Energy Capital of the U.S. providing over 60% of the coal for power plants and we took a tour to one of the many coal mines. The whole process is fascinating and it was a very good tour. This whole area is sitting on a bed of coal and they pit mine tons of coal 24/7. Check out the white van and you can get an idea of the size of the rest of the equipment.

The Black Hills of South Dakota

Mitch and I, along with Dan and Cari, spent a couple of days touring the Hills before heading to Gillette, WY for the motorhome rallies.

One of my favorite childhood places to visit was Dinosaur Park.

We caught a glimpse of Mt. Rushmore from the road. After visiting Stone Mountain near Atlanta and its carving also by Gutsom Borglum, I looked at the faces a little differently. This picture was taken really zoomed in from an overlook a long ways away. I never paid attention to the fact that the faces had all that mountain above them.

We also did the drive through Custer State Park and weren't disappointed. Besides being a beautiful drive, we saw a lot of wildlife!

We continued our drive on the Needles Highway, gorgeous granite spires rising to the sky. The eye of the needle gives the highway its name.

We stopped to visit Crazy Horse Monument and the visitor center and museums. It was a fascinating lesson.

Another childhood favorite was Sylvan Lake. It's just a beautiful little lake way up in the mountains.

We did stop to visit Mt. Rushmore and the perspective of the faces from "up close and personal" gives you a totally different feeling of the carving. There is definitely a grandeur that being up close gives to these faces. Go back to the first picture to compare.

Monaco North Central Rally--St. Cloud, MN

We hosted the Rally with Don and Janelle Z. and Gary C. Everybody worked hard as we were cooking the meals from Thursday evening to Sunday morning.

To get us all in the mood Mitch made ribs with his special Whiskey Smoke BBQ Sauce.

His specials included pancakes, Indonesian steak kabobs and Asian chicken, Ziplock omelets, and grilled pork chops. We also had bread pudding with a whiskey butter sauce one night.

I don't think anybody lost any weight at this rally!

Besides eating we also planned a few "field trips: a tour of the Third Street Brewhouse (and a tasting), a tour of the Sherco Power Plant, an evening at the Pioneer Theater with folk singer Peter Mayer, and rides in the POW-MIA Freedom Flight hot air balloon. Although the weather didn't cooperate and the balloon never got blown up, we all learned a lot from Luke.