The trip West 2019 - on the road

I adopted a new strategy for this road trip.   4 hours in the morning driving, then a 2 hour break someplace outside for lunch and some activity, then back for another 4 hours.  It has worked really well.   I think the secret has been the 2 hour break outside. It is something to look forward to, as well as wearing out small people.

     Our lunch stop on day 1 was in Austin, Minnesota, at the Jay C Hormel Nature Center.   It's just off the road, and has acres of beautiful forest and native praire to explore on trails.  You do have to bring your own chocolate chip cookies.

Catching frogs hopping along the trail were a big draw for Ephraim.  Sylvia enjoyed taking photos of the beautiful wild flowers in bloom.

     While Sean went to sketch a log cabin, I rented a pair of kayaks with the kids, so we could explore the river that runs through the property.  It was fun, but not exactly the relaxing adventure I had hoped for.  We ran into really shallow spots we had to walk through the mud, it started to rain, and I dropped my camera into the water and it died. Thus, no photos of us epic kayakers.   The stop was a good find. We didn't even take time to explore the inside of the center, where they were showing kids how to tag monarchs.  I would definately stop here again.

This trip is a camping -free trip. Ephraim enjoyed the hotel life. Pools and a waffles at the hotel breakfasts... he thinks he is in heaven.

 The first night in a hotel, Ephraim discoverd a Bible in drawer, "Hey!  They have a Holy Bible in here!  This must be the spiritual desk!"  and the he proceeds to talk about what a great hotel it is if they have a bible in the desk.  The next night, he checkes the next hotel, and sure enough, they have one too.   It was funny to see how excited he was about that fact, and that he wanted to read a verse before he went to the pool.

Day 2 on the road had us stopping for lunch at Cascade Falls, south of Hot Springs, South Dakota.  This was the best spot ever!   I read online that it is the local swimming spot for residents, and that tourists all go into the badland national park, or onto Mt. Rushmore. It is slightly off the beaten path, but well worth the 10 minue detour.

It is a lush oasis, in the middle of the badlands.  You park at a dusty, sagebrushy parking lot, then hike down to rushing river, mixed with natural hotsprings, so the water is a nice pool temperature, with a slight sulfer smell.

   We had the place to ourselves for over an hour.  It was beautiful.  Between the upper and lower  waterfalls are a little man-made concrete swimming hole, about 4 feet deep.   We had so much fun here.

The curent is strong, and it tries to push you over the ledge of the pool barrier.  There is a gap in the barrier,  and the foce of the water kept sucking Sylvia down.

She loved laying there, like a mermaid, with the river rushing over her, carrying her hair downstream.

    Sean enjoyed his art time, and we all went back to the car refreshed. It will be fun to stop here in the future, as the kids get older. There was a cliff ledge that you could jump off, in to a deep swimming area below the falls, but without somebody older and stronger to haul up people on a rope that may get stuck, I wasn't willing to risk it. You have to climb directly back up the falls to get to the top of the cliff! An adventure for another year.

 Day 3  We stopped to eat lunch  on the side of the road with the beautiful Tetons in the background.  Unfortunately, the place was so overrun with tourists at that we couldn't find a good stopping stop to play and relax. I'll have to rethink how to make this leg of the trip more fun in the future. After a bit of rock hunting, it was back in the car and over the pass to Grandma's.

 Without a wiggle break, Ephraim was more than ready to go walk Jagger.  The drive out was a fun adventure, but we are also excited to be with family!

Elroy-Sparta bike camp-out with Mattias

     Mattias has been biking around 20 miles each morning, since he came home from his summer research job at Cornell University.    I have been wanting to go camp with the kids at a fun campground along the Elroy-Sparta bike trail.     So, we organized an camping trip that had something for everyone.

     On the way north (the campground and  trail are 2 hours away), we stopped at a historic photo studio museum (the H.H. Bennett Studio) in the Wi Dells.   The old fashioned camera, one you could move and adjust to focus the upside image on the glass plate beneath the curtain, was the favorite exhibit.

      Ephraim wanted his picture taken in the fancy chairs as soon as he walked into this portrait room, lit with huge skylights.

     They used head-holders in the 1800's, to keep children's head in one position for the long amount of time it took to create a photo. It looks like a medieval torture instrument!

I tried for a nice group shot, but with Ephraim around, it is always going to be a bit loopy.

     We continued on to camp.  Mattias set up the bikes, Sylvia and I put up the tent, and Ephraim played in the river that runs by the site.

Bike-Master Mattias in action.

We had the entire tent side of the campground to ourselves!

The Kick-a-Poo River, behind our camp.

Ephraim plus water = hours of entertainment.

                                                     

After the camp was set up, Sylvia went over to the river to take photos. She got some beautiful ones!

I love this close up shot of Ephraim she took...

                                         


    You never know what she may come back with on the memory card after she takes the camera.  We got a funny "selfie" this time:

It was time for dinner and s'mores, with a great campfire built by Mattias.

                                         

                                        

          The next morning, Mattias got up at 6AM to leave for a 90 mile ride.  He took the Elroy-Sparta trail west, then hooked up with the LaCrosse River State Trail.   After 45 miles out, he reached a Culvers not far from the Mississippi, where he ate lunch, and then turned around to bike back to camp.
       
    He took a couple pictures along the way...

                                         
 
       The Elroy-Sprata bike trail is an old train track route that has been ripped up and converted to a gravel bike path. It's famous for the long stone tunnels you bike through.

    In the first tunnel Mattias biked through, because of the early morning fog and dim daylight,  he said you could barely see 5 feet ahead of you, even with the headlamp on. 

     Seven miles later, in the next tunnel he had to go through, it was pouring water down in drenching waterfalls from the roof.  He was soaked by the time he had gone the entire 3/4 mile through it.

                                        
 
     A couple hours later, I woke up with the kids, read leisurely in our tent,  had breakfast, and then biked over to the trail.   Our goal was much less ambitious, but still a challenge for Ephraim's first trail ride:  5 miles that only went through one tunnel.

                                          

     To keep Ephraim engaged, I'd have him look for beautiful things along the trail.  When he saw something he really liked, we'd stop and take a picture.  It was a great way to appreciate the beauty along the journey.  (Sylvia on the other hand, blasted at top speed ahead of us to the tunnel, then came back to us. She likes to go fast.  Next year, I'll have her bike part way with Mattias.)

                                          

     It was pitch black inside the tunnels, and you can't see anything that's not directly in front of your headlamp beam. You can only see  the inside of the tunnel  is these photos, because of the intense flash on the camera.

    Ephraim is standing inside a nook/fake door that was used by railroad workers to duck into for safety if they were doing repairs inside the tunnel when a train came through.   It was cool to press up against the cool stone, in the pitch black, and imagine a thundering train coming from one side, unseen.

    It was also fun going through the tunnel with Ephraim chanting "chuga-chuga-chuga -CHOOO CHOOOoooooo"  in different pitches, and hearing it bounce off the walls.
      As we left the tunnel, another family was just entering it, and they decided to howl like wolves.  The echo is amazing. I wonder what a real singer, or violin would sound like in there.

    We stopped for water and snacks on the other side of the tunnel.

                                        

      Ephraim took off his shoes and enjoyed playing in a small creek along the side of the trail.  He caught water-skippers and beetles, and made them sandcastles. I don't think the beetles really appreciated the upgrading of their real estate.

    Sylvia and I visited with other bikers coming through the tunnel.  It was fun to meet people of all ages, grandparents and toddlers, on all sorts of bikes that were just happy to be out enjoying the beautiful day. We'd take group photos for them, and hear about different sections of the trail they'd been on. We even saw a really neat motorized biking contraption a man had built for his mom who only had one leg.  It honestly looked like a bike-train with the headlight coming through the tunnel!

   It really was a perfect day for biking; around 70 with a  light breeze, and much less humid than the previous days. 

 
     We biked back to camp, ate lunch, packed up, and went swimming at the community pool by the campground. The cold water felt good on our muscles.  We did silly jumps off the diving board, and waited for Mattias to bike back into town. He showed up after we'd been swimming for an hour, and were getting chilly and ready to go.  It was perfect timing!

     It took Mattias almost 8 hours, with a long Culver's lunch break in the middle, to do the 90 mile ride. Since neither of us had cell reception in this hilly area, I was so grateful he didn't run into any problems.  He handled the ride well, and felt he could've biked farther.   Maybe next year we can work out a 100+ mile route for him.

A quick stop for ice cream, and we were on the road home. 

    This outing is the highlight of my summer so far.   I've been wanting to do it since last year, when I accidentally discovered the campground with the younger kids last August.   I knew it would be fun for Mattias.  I am thrilled Ephraim learned to bike on his own, and didn't need to be pulled in a trailer.  It bodes well for future outings!

Mid Summer-life

Sean's birthday is always a landmark of summer.  July 31 means summer is almost over, and you'd better get the rest of your summer party plans done!

 For Sean's birthday, we went on an exciting date.  We spent several hours in the DMV to get his license renewed (reading side by side, while waiting for you number to be called can be very romantic!)  then fun stop to a game shop to try out a new board game, and back to the DMV to finish the license process due to a computer glitch.

DMV Birthday Fun!

We celebrated with the kids at home, with a carrot cake, topped by sprinkles ala Ephraim.  The candles are arranged for 5 on one side, and 1 on the other (51).

I started up our homeschool in August, and dug out "Paddle to the Sea" by Holling C. Holling  to read with both kids.   We are reading two pages a day, and doing activities or watching youtube videos about the topics covered.  It is a fun adventure story of a little carved wooden canoe, that gets launched in Canada, and makes it's way through the Great Lakes to the sea.  (Geography adventure lessons.)

Here we are, launching our own popcicle stick canoes, down a creek, under a a bridge and through a culvert to see who wins on the other side.

Sylvia also took some cool water photos on that outing.

The end of July also gave us flat tires and a retaining wall that toppled over onto the sidewalk.   (In case you thought our life was entirely a bed of roses.)   Sean was amazing in sorting out the retaining wall problem.  If you arm him with tools and youtube videos, he can do anything!

The tumbled down wall...

Sean, chipping the old mortar off each block.

The heat and humidity were brutal.  Sean had to dig the dirt back several inches, and haul it to a pile in our backyard before he could start prepping the lower level of stones.  Each stone weighed around 300 pounds!  It took several days, a lot of backs aches, and couple of dollies to get them moved.

Sean gearing up to attack the wall.. again.

Once the site and the stones were prepped, Sean mixed up cement, and started re-stacking the blocks.

It has been a multi-week project.  The mortar can't get wet for a couple of days after it is put on, so keeping an eye on the weather was key for scheduling the different steps.  The finished wall is amazing.  No cracks, even and straight blocks.. it looks amazing! 

Mattias also came home from his summer internship at Cornell, so he was able to help with parts of the process.   Mostly, Mattias studies and bikes. Ephraim was so excited to show him he could bike without training wheels!

  We have gone on lots of bike rides because of this.

Which is good.. because whenever Mattias comes home, my butter supply vanishes, and things like full cream are requested from the store. Here is delicious an off-the-cuff-Mattias-dessert creation with creme pat, homemade jam, and candied almonds.

 It is fun to see what he creates in the kitchen, and good that we are biking at least some of it off!