Revisiting Belgrade, MT

Monday Aug. 5th (Days 340-343)


From South Dakota we pressed on to Belgrade, MT, arriving on Thursday, August 1st. Staying with Candy and Rick always means great food....as witnessed by this breakfast Rick cooked us on Friday morning.

On Saturday, we went to a local fair, and Candy bought this little Montana onesie to send to River.

We found out via Facebook that an old friend of Tasha's from Lake Stevens was now living in Bozeman, so we met her at the fair. This is a picture of us with Breonna, whom Tasha's known since 7th grade. It was so fun to catch up on her adult life!

Sunday morning, and Candy and Judy are making cinnamon rolls with Candy's new-to-her Kitchen Aid mixer. Her 95 year old mother  in law gifted it to her when she moved. The rolls turned out great!

Harris cooked a great stir fry for dinner. See...at Candy and Rick's, it's somehow all about the food! (Oh, and cards, and baseball, and laughter....)

We left on Monday morning, made it across Montana and stopped at the casino west of Missoula, then got up early on Tuesday and finally reached home. As we approached the Cascade mountains outside of Wenatchee, we saw several forest fires in the distance.

Home again, home again....it's been a very long trip, full of great scenery, adventures and most of all, visits with people we love.

Total miles driven this trip = 8525

Heading to Belgrade, MT

Thursday Aug. 1st (Days 336-339)

After leaving Chicago, we drove west (yay!) and stopped at a campground called Eagle Cliff outside Lanesboro, Minnesota. It was a beautiful, peaceful campground right on the Root River. The only complaint we had was with the showers....they sprayed out everywhere but where you would stand. Made for some interesting contortions!

Harris included this picture to show that yes, indeed, he did stop at some quilt shops for Judy.

A quick stop to see the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota. We stayed the night in the R&R Campground....a pretty good spot, except one of those "R"s stands for Railroads....very noisy in the night!

A glimpse of the Missouri River as we crossed over it.

We thought Reliance would like to know there is a town named after him!

We were passed along the route by lots and lots and lots of motorcyclists on their way to Sturgis, South Dakota for the annual party there.

We decided to tour Badlands National Park, as we had never been there before. It reminded us of places we'd seen in Arizona and Utah, but without some of the color variations. It would be a great place to come back to and spend a little more time, perhaps camping, to get the night views.

We saw prairie dog villages, with sentries guarding their holes and sending warnings to other critters when people got too close.

We made a quick stop at Wall Drug, in Wall, South Dakota. More cyclists!

We detoured off the highway to see Mt. Rushmore, which we hadn't been to in years. The line of cars to get in discouraged us from actually entering , so we took this shot from outside the park.

Around the bend was a view we hadn't seen before...you can only see George, but we thought it was neat.

Sunset at our camp at Heartland RV Park outside Hermosa, South Dakota.

Visiting Tasha and Ewan in Chicago (Part 2)

Sunday July 28th (Day 335)

Guess us old folks wore out the young uns......they sacked out in the afternoon for a few winks before we went out again.

This is the stained glass dome in the Grand Army of the Republic rotunda at the Chicago Cultural Center. It is a beautiful building, completed in 1897 for the city's central library and the Grand Army of the Republic's meeting hall. We didn't have a lot of time to explore because we got there at closing time. One more thing to come back for!

Thanks to the Chicago fire, there are all kinds of architecture examples from all over the world.

Tour group on an old fire engine.

We are at Millennium Park, where the famous sculpture named Cloud Gate is located. That's the official name, but everyone calls it the "Bean", because of its shape. It is fascinating to walk around and under it, and see how everything is distorted by the curves.

A wedding party tried to clear people out for some shots.

The bean changes almost minute by minute; one could hang around for hours enjoying the variety of reflections.

There was a free concert in the park that night...a symphony orchestra performs all summer long here.

Sunday morning we took a river tour that emphasized the architecture of Chicago. Our guide named buildings and styles and told a little history along the way. It was an excellent tour to take.

Tasha went with us on the tour, but Ewan declined. (He'd been on this tour at least twice before.) But we had to give him the complimentary captain's hat at the end of the tour.

On the way back through the city, we passed by Soldier's Field....where there just happened to be a huge crowd going to a soccer game. The US team was playing Panama for the final Gold Cup game. Tasha bought us all tickets from a guy outside the stadium, and in we went! It was the first live professional game we'd ever been to, and we were surprised at how well we could see the action. Great game! Especially because the US won 1-0.

Walking Legs sculptures outside Soldier's Field.

After walking a few more miles, Tasha and Ewan took pity on us and led us home on the subway. Our poor feet were thankful!

Unfortunately, the weekend came to an end and we had to leave the following morning. We enjoyed the visit and the hospitality immensely.

Visiting Tasha and Ewan in Chicago (Part 1)

Friday and Saturday, July 26-27 (Days 333 - 334)

Our computer died while we were in Chicago, so this blog post is being done in retrospect, after we have returned home. We're sure to forget details!
While in Chicago, we stayed with Tasha and Ewan in their delightful apartment on the edge of Old Town. It's very convenient to shops, Tasha's work and mass transit. (Not that we took mass transit often. Tasha and Ewan preferred to walk our feet off...)

Here's Ewan making us a terrific breakfast the first morning of scrambled eggs and sausage on toast spread with avocados...delicious!

We tried to take a tour of Wrigley field, but unfortunately it was closed for a private event, and the Cubs were on the road.

Nice of the Cubs to welcome Ewan and Tasha....Isn't this a great example of photo shop?

Ewan took us to his office....a small 3 person affair. Apparently Tasha doesn't like his Newcastle memorabilia?

Walking downtown, under the circle of elevated trains made famous in many movies.

Lincoln Park, with skyscrapers in the background and within walking distance to the apt.

Don't know the name of this fellow, but we thought he was cute.

We also walked through the zoo on our way to Millennium Park, and caught a quick glimpse of these flamingos.

Don't they look happy (how those Brits must maintain the "keep calm" attitude)?

It was finally time to WALK home.  Again...

Heading to Chicago

Thursday, July 25th (Day 332)

We left Florida on early Tuesday morning, in the pouring rain. It rained all the way through Florida and Alabama....heavy, pounding, thunder and lightning rain.
When we stopped for the first night in Alabama, it was still raining! We stayed at The Woods RV Park outside Montgomery, where we stopped last year. We woke early the next morning and took off. Florida is a very flat state, and Alabama isn't much different....just a few more trees along the highways. Since we had a long ways to go, and the weather was so crummy, we just went on I- 65 and drove and drove and drove...
Wednesday

When we got to Tennessee, the landscape started to change just a little, although the rain continued.

 We drove right through Tennessee, and into Kentucky, where we decided to make a stop. The weather finally turned...beautiful...warm, not hot, not humid..we'd almost forgot what that's like!
  Cave City  was just nine miles away from Mammoth National Park. So Harris decided to both get his Geezer pass and take a tour that he hadn't taken before (and to pay the Geezer half price rate!) The tour is called the "New Entrance" tour even though it was discovered 50+ years ago. The tour starts at a sink hole.

 The original stairs were wooden, but they didn't last long. The 3rd company that completed the stairs after the first two went bankrupt was the same that made stairs for the navy. Each step cost $3000 in 1980 and after going down 287 of them Harris thought that the US government got a great deal. They were made of stainless heavy gauge and look brand new today.

 The caves weren't as impressive as Carlsbad Caverns, but were worth the tour.

 The guide was a 3rd generation caver and told many interesting stories. Two people turned around within 5 mins. and 2 others had breathing problems halfway through.

 This was the bottom and mandatory picture for almost everyone.

 Judy isn't in the picture because she decided not to go underground again. We'd been here a few years ago, and speluncking isn't really her favorite thing.

 When we arrived at our campground we actually saw our first sunset in several weeks since Florida was so rainy these past weeks. Luckily, River provided enough sunshine for us.
 This little campground is called Singing Hills Rv Park.

Thursday
 Up and out again, and on the road.  We drove through the rest of Kentucky, admiring the hills full of farms as we did. We were enjoying driving without air conditioning for the first time in a long time. As we entered Indiana, the landscape changed again. It's flat, but still lots of trees around the farms and highways...farms full of corn, hay, and some other crop we don't know. We drove through the whole state, south to north, and are camped just about 1 hour away from Chicago, at a complex called Cedar Lake Ministries RV Campground...on Cedar Lake...

 Judy's perusing the map, planning our route after we leave Chicago...it sure is nice to sit outside again! Whoever would believe it's been too hot to do this for weeks?