Celebrating my Birthday in Fargo

A nice spot for RV on the Red River on the North Dakota side. Pulled up some old pictures (from 2017) and took picture at this exact spot back then. Guess we stayed here then also, don't remember.

This replica Viking ship was built here in North Dakota by some dedicated people and then actually sailed to Norway. Now on permanent display in its own museum. 

Also a replica of an 11th century "Stave" church in Norway on the museum grounds. 

And it was my Birthday. Fun day--e-cards, phone calls, emails, posts, texts from the Kids and grandkids, friends and family made it a lovely day. I had my choice of a nice dinner out but I picked Pizza Ranch. Just seemed appropriate for Fargo. May be  our last chance to get this Midwest specialty-- fried chicken plus Pizza. I know Will lights up when there is an opportunity to go to this unique buffet.

Itasca State Park, northern Minnesota

Before leaving Minnesota we had to make one more quick stop. Itasca. We are headed for North Dakota now but one quick detour for two days in a very familiar place. We made many trips as a family to this grand old State Park, camped with friends here too over the years, and a time or two in the Lodge. 

Dinner or even breakfast at Douglas Lodge use to be a treat but now days they only are open for lunch. Things always changing.

This is where the Mississippi River begins in a stream out of Lake Itasca. Everybody remembers climbing across the rocks and walking across the Mississippi River. Guess I am getting old, just didn't want to get my feet wet this time.

Absolutely transported by the sounds of a Loon calling across the lake. Like non other.

We don't have a canoe with us anymore but we rented a paddle boat to get out on the water. Paddled through wild rice along the shore. Won't be ready to harvest until fall, but ricing is still a northern Minnesota thing.

Hiking through the thick old growth Red Pine forest. Not many of them left even in this wilderness area.

Total Nostalgia

Next stop on our tour was Minnesota where we spent over 30 years of our married life, where our kiddos grew up, where we lived and worked and made so many friends. We parked our RV at "Goff's Luxury RV Park"--our forever friend's driveway. A couple of days the temps got really hot and humid and they invited us to sleep in air-conditioned house, which we gladly accepted.

Endless parties!! Lots of memories to share. Somehow we all got older, how did that happen.

Our kid's friends now have their own families.

We met up with more from our "past lives" but failed to get pictures of everyone.  Too bad for me.

This dear lady who wants to remain anonymous, actually got up at 6am to see us off when we wanted to get an early start. Now that is true friendship!!

Sioux Falls

Made a side trip to Sioux Falls to spend a few hours with Pete and Alice. All went out for lunch and daughter Amy showed up. What a wonderful surprise!

Had to get a quick peek at Falls Park before we left town.

Okaboji and Orange City, Iowa

Les gave us a grand tour of Spirit Lake with his fun speed boat. Nobody of this crowd up for water skiing--like we once were--but a long cruise around this deep blue water lake was just right.

Then back to Orange City and home for Les and Helene. We found a cozy RV spot at the city park.  Did a little walking tour of central downtown and through the Dutch themed plaza. Orange City is a lovely community that emphasizes it's Dutch heritage in a big way. Most notably their Tulip Festival every May.

We had flat tire on e-bike but Will was able to find a replacement tube and fixed the flat.

Had to make a stop at Casey's Dutch Bakery for authentic almond pastries, Dutch breads and savories. It just is not the same anywhere else. This is a must-stop when we come to Northwest Iowa!!

Helene arranged a 'cousins reunion " from Will's dad's side of the family. Of the 23 who attended, the odest cousin was 87 and we decided maybe Jay was the youngest at 73. There were 8 original DeBoer kids so lots of cousins. All getting up there in age so lots of conversation about aches and pains and ills, but everyone loved to gab and reminisce. True to this generation the women sat at one table and the men at another!

Found a big Mulberry tree on our walk.

 Long time since we picked fresh mulberries and stained our fingers purple.

Okaboji and DeBoer siblings gathering

Les and Helene are members at Cuttys Resort at Okaboji and  bring their RV here regularly. We became their guests in RV park. Jay joined us from Washington state for the week also. All three siblings together hanging out. 

Reliving childhood memories at the renewed Arnold's Park.  All three have so many memories of fun times spent as kids at this amusement park. This is one of only 5 wooden roller coasters left in the country. It's been rebuilt and refurbished and whole new generation of people are now enjoying this icon of Okaboji. Jay was only one of us "old" people who dared ride a big ride again. Look for his white hat in picture.

But we did all ride the race cars. Will and I shared a car and Les and Jay went in single cars. That's Les besides us--and Jay a few cars back in line. But when we took off to "race" Jay actually passed us --twice!! He gained a whole lap on us!! And we were trying so hard to stay ahead, but alas they both beat us! 

movie day

The smoke haze from Canadian fires was heavy today in Iowa. Actually, it's the first time we have encountered it this summer. We have certainly had to deal with smoke haze other years from forest fires out West but this one is impacting Midwest and East. The 10am sun was a big red ball.

What to do but find a big bag of popcorn and a theater with comfy recliner chairs and watch the new Indiana Jones movie.

Perfect!!

O

It's classic!! Non stop action from the opening scene to the end. Pure Indiana Jones stunts and quips. So many nods to previous shows that kept me laughing out loud. Even a snake scene! And tied up so nicely at the end.

  I think the theater projection system was off, however as sound was not always clear and missed some dialogue but certainly got the drift of what was going on. Another telling of the same story.

  Another story. Doug and family had so many flight issues getting here. When he and girls first came out their evening flight was cancelled, so booked another next morning and flew thru Denver. When he went to board the plane to Des Moines he was told the entire Des Moines airport was shut down!! A private plane had crash landed on runway and had to clear that before they could open airport again. Ended up a 4 hour delay, but they made it.

 So Saturday going back they had flight through Chicago then onto Newark. First leg scheduled ok, but second leg cancelled--in fact most all flights into Newark cancelled because of weather/flooding. Airports all up and down mid Atlantic coast on ground alerts and cancelling flights! So nothing to do but pull the luggage from plane, rent a car here in Des Moines and drive home!! 

They made it home late Sunday night safe and sound. Whew!! Interesting that they actually had good driving conditions and ran into NO rain at all. Basically took Interstate 80 from Des Moines all the way home!

Meeting up with the Lechron family

One of those happy coincidences. Just so happened that Judy Massey, her son Brad and family were also in Des Moines area attending their daughter, Emerald's Horse Show competition this weekend. As everyone heading out of town we were able to meet up at their venue for a short visit!

Brad and our kids grew up together, we shared ski trips, camping trips, and family times together.  Judy is life long friend, our shared history produced a gazillion memories!

We got to watch Emmie in her pre-competion workout!

She shined today!!

She rallied and finished round 2 and 3 strong. And she had fun

The bow looks complicated!

It was a surprisingly large event.  All ages, from all over US and some "guests"  in Lia's age group, from Taiwan who were here to further their Olympic qualifications.

Lia is in "Under 13", "Recurve" division. Am still not sure I understand the scoring but I did learn a lot about the sport!

 

Larry and Jean came over again and sat with us to watch Lia the competition. Mom and Dad kept busy "repairing" arrows. The "feathers" get ragged and need to be replaced for perfect accuracy.

 Rain threatened but never materialized so turned out to be fun for everyone

 She did well but her final score doesn't show it as she missed one whole round! Great experience for her--and there is always next year!