Weekend Update: Devils Lake, WI (part 1)

06/30/10

"Can this day get any longer?"

"Only 440 minutes to go."

"Only 329 minutes to go."


Our Jeep sat in the work parking lot....the backseats folded down and the back area filled with my bike, my hiking pack, a duffel bag, my disc golf bag and my kayaking gear. My 16.5 ft kayak was strapped to the roof.

"How can they expect me to work today? A 5 day weekend is calling my name!"

Not helping at all, were my coworkers, "Are you still here?" "I figured you'd have left by now?"

At 4:00 I'd finally had enough, and snuck out early. After a quick trip home to feed the dogs, I was on my way to Des Moines.

3 times.....count them, 3 TIMES! traffic came to a complete stop on the interstate....my drive took almost a full hour longer than it usually does. Add to that, the Wing Ding traffic (Gold Wing Riders Annual Convention)....and I was very ready to finally arrive on the girls' doorstep!!!

Mel, Sheila and I left to do our grocery shopping not long after I'd arrived.

We hit Mot's favorite store in the whole wide world (not!) WalMart. While I'm not usually a Wally World fan, I DO usually get some good people watching in.....and that night was no exception.

For the most part it was an uneventful trip.....with the exception of one guy.

He was actually pretty good looking (sorry Mot), but his outfit ruined it....100%.

(and there I was, without my camera)

Let's see.....if asked, I'd say he was a cross between Eric Northman (True Blood), any of the extras from Sons of Anarchy, and Will Farrell's character in Elf.







Long blond hair (think 80's hair band)...black and blond beard.....tall, skinny, but fit.....dressed head to toe in black. Black leather pants (on a 90 degree day), black button up shirt - only buttoned up half way...white skull artwork on the back of the shirt....dark sunglasses (I wear my sunglasses at night, so I can, so I can.....), and, as a finishing touch, black cowboy boots.....with really pointy toes that curled up at the ends. Seriously, you could paint them red and put a bell on them...then wear them to your next costume holiday party!!

After we'd finally gotten all of our food for the weekend, we checked out and headed back to their place to unload.

(to be cont)


Photo #1 source
Photo #2 source
Photo #3 source

Taming of the Shoes: Blue, Blue...Blue Suede Shoes

OK, so they're not suede. But they are blue.

That counts, right??

:-)

Ghosts of Weekends Past: #10

06/26/10

Mom and dad took a week off and took their camper up to the Lake Okoboji Iowa area. When they were getting ready to leave, they moved their camper to a different park and left it up there. Both of them had to work a week, and then were heading back up for another week, and taking the grand kids with them.

Anyway........

Mom wanted to head up to make sure the camper was OK...and asked Mot and I to go along.

And who are we to complain about a short getaway to Okoboji? :-)


We left Saturday am as soon as Mot got home from work.


Sam was ecstatic that we were taking her along. (Isaac would rather stay at home....he's a pretty nervous traveler.)


As soon as we arrived, Mot took Sam to the lake. He needed to run a little bit of her black lab puppy energy out of her.....or we were all going to loose our minds. :-)


When we got back to the campsite, Mot walked over to talk to the campers across the road. As you can tell, Sam wasn't happy that he left without her.


He waved over at me, and I let her go over to visit. She's so shy!! :-)


Mom and I went into town (Spirit Lake) while Mot stayed back at the camper. He hadn't gotten much sleep at work the night before...and I thought we'd give him some time to read and relax.


Sam, our little lap dog, was completely cool on the idea as well!!!!


While we were out and about, mom picked up a game called Bananagrams. I'd seen it in the airline magazine the last time I flew south for work....and we thought we'd give it a try.

A pretty good sized storm moved into the area......so we cooked our steaks outside really quick and then the three of us played the new game all night. It was actually quite fun!!!

(But don't ask Mot the definition of a proper noun.)

(love ya hon!)

:-)

After about 17 hours of Bananagrams (slight exaggeration - closer to 3 or 4), we made the beds and hit the sack.


Sam slept with me. :-)

The next morning I got up early to do my run for the weekend. It was hazy and misting slightly the whole time....but I love running in that kind of weather!!!!

Mostly Wordless Wednesday: Disc Golf View

Monday the 14th was Mot's birthday. After I got home from work, we changed and headed back to the disc golf course near our house to finish (we'd gotten rained out that weekend).

This is the view of the lake from the 9th or 10th hole.

We played the full 18 that night.

Well....actually, I think we played 16. At some point, the course markings got very "interesting", and I'm quite sure we missed a couple of holes. :-)

Ghosts of Weekends Past: #9

Friday, the 18th, the boys and I loaded up and headed to a small town just over the Iowa border.

A group of us had been talking food at work that day, and it was recommended we try a place known for their chicken.



I don't know that I'll get any of them to go back, but I want to for sure. I want to give them a second chance.

Oh yeah, it was an interesting meal.

When we ordered, we were told that they only had one fryer operating.

At a place known for their fried chicken.

At a place that was filling full of people as we sat waiting for our waitress to take our order.

We should have left, but darn it...this was an adventure.

When we finally got our food (and boy do I mean FINALLY...it took forever!!!), I tried the chicken. (I think I was the only one that actually ordered the chicken. hehehehe)...it was ok. Nothing fancy, but wasn't horrible.

I'd like to go back when their kitchen is fully operational...and they have more than one waitress.

:-)

The highlight of the evening (and I use the term highlight very loosely)....was the Christmas village they had set up in the back room.

Christmas village....in June.

Actually, I don't think it's ever been taken down....ever.

And it's creepy.

Uber creepy.


I'm not sure what the villagers feed their wild animals in this village.....




...or what they feed the village children.

The display quite honestly gave me the creeps. 100%


After dinner, we drove through the small town to check it out....then took a scenic way home....


...via small country roads.


I took a picture of this country road intersection because it came up so darned fast....out of no where. You should have seen the size of the drop off on the other side of those signs. :-)


Danny rockin' his cast!!

Ghosts of Weekends Past: #8

They say it's your birthday.

(da, da, da, da, da ,daaaa)

Happy Birthday to you.

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This post takes us back to the weekend of June 11-13.

The boys and I had planned on hitting the city of Chicago for a long weekend....but none of us knew how Danny would be feeling after his surgery a few weeks before the trip was scheduled, so instead of going to Chicago....we invited a bunch of people over to the house for an impromptu birthday party/anniversary party. (Mot's 41st, our 10th)

We spent Friday afternoon getting ready for the party.


I can't remember exactly what Mot was hosing off......but he appears to be wearing it in this picture! :-)


I also made him climb on the garage roof to get rid of our Chia Gutters. My camera had fogged up because of the humidity....but just above the door...the gutters are springing to life with hundreds of Maple trees. :-)


The main protein source for the was going to be smoked. This is the smoker Mot built (isn't that a commercial or something?).

There's a winery in Western Nebraska that is having a bbq smoke-off in August. In order to enter, you need to convert a wine barrel into a smoker.


This is what he cooked on it the evening before.


The chef.


The chef and his dog. :-)


Mel and Sheila doing a little cooking of their own in the kitchen.


Brandon relaxing at the party.


Inny and Doug.


Mom and I made some homemade raspberry sorbet with the ice cream maker attachment they gave us for our Kitchen Aide this Christmas. It was mighty yummy!!!


More and more people kept arriving....and the back deck continued to hold them all.


Quite possibly my favorite pic of the whole weekend!!!!


The party wore poor Isaac out. He nested himself into the grill cover and slept the evening away.

The next morning, the girls, Mot and I headed out. Our first stop was checking out the disc golf course near our house. It was expected to rain, but we played the first three holes.

The course is gorgeous!!!!


Teeing off on the 1st hole.




The girls.


We've been getting a TON of rain this summer!!!


Mot in stealth mode. He's so sneaky!!!


2nd shot, 2nd hole.


Sheila teeing off on the 3rd hole.

Just as we were getting to the Jeep, it started to POUR....great timing!!

From there we hit a couple retail stores in Omaha.....bought a few new discs....and then spent an hour or so throwing them in our side yard.

They left for home that afternoon.....and Mot and I went inside to be lazy bums!! :-)

Ghosts of Weekend Past: #7

The first weekend in June was good.

The Iowa Outdoors Unlimited group hosted a camping/hiking weekend at some parks near my old stomping grounds as a kid.

And....if you can believe it....I left my camera in the tent for most of it.

Not on purpose.

(sigh)

We all met up at the campsite Saturday am, got everything settled, packed a lunch...then headed out on a hike.

We were camping at Willow Lake rec area....



......but hiking at Preparation Canyon State Forest, near the campgrounds.

The park had been closed for quite some time.

Even if you don't live in the Loess Hills area, you may have heard about the tornado that struck a Boy Scout camp 2 years ago, killing 4 boys, and hurting many others?

Preparation Canyon is in the same area...and suffered some pretty heavy damage from the storm.

Add that to the fact it had been raining like cats and dogs the entire week or two before this trip, and you can imagine what we found while hiking.

Mud, muck, and water.......lots and lots of it.

The first hour of the hike....we got maybe a quarter of a mile down the trail. People were getting stuck...shoes were getting sucked off of feet. Yet.....onward we went!!!

It was an awesome day!!!!!!!



Because of the damage done at the park from the storm 2 years earlier, most of the trails have turned into heavy machinery paths for the cleanup.



















After the hike, we went back to camp and everyone pitched in to make a wonderful dinner!!! Sweet and Sour chicken (cooked in a dutch oven over a campfire)....homemade salsa (and chips for dipping).....and campfire roasted peaches.


This little fella, all covered in burrs....was the friendliest thing. He stole that ball from one of the campsites...and fetches like a mad man.

He also sits on command.

Not sure who he belongs too....we're all guessing a farmstead near the park. He probably comes in to play with the kids camping, and get fed from picnic tables. :-)

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All pictures are courtesy of Lorna....she remembered her camera, unlike me!! Thanks for letting me use them!!!!!!! And thanks for organizing the trip...it was a blast!!!!!! :-)


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