Well, I haven't done a very good job keeping up, but there is an excuse. Not a good one though. We were too busy having a great time with all our friends and relations (sounds like Rabbit from Winnie the Pooh) that we neglected to blog. Oh well, there's a lot to catch up on.
First of all, there needs to be a CLARIFICATION. The picture on the top of the last blog is NOT US-- WE ARE NOT THAT GOOD LOOKING (and we haven't aged that much either). So, we'll try to get a picture of us up again soon. Anyway, we left you as we were about to visit the Amana Colonies in Iowa, an old German religious settlement featuring hard-working people who get to eat lots of great German food. You might say they take the best with the wurst. Sorry.
From there we stayed and played in Baraboo, Wisconsin, home of the Ringling Brothers Circus Museum which was fun to explore and relive old memories, like watching that poor guy get shot out of a cannon at the end of the show and wondering how much it hurt. We then drove to North Prairie (near Waukesha) to see great friends Jim and Nancy Hannen who we have known for many years. Jim fixed about six things in our van and they also had a big gathering with many old friends to reminisce with. We continued the visiting with a 4 day stay in Green Bay where we saw many of Gloria's relatives and also got caught up on the lives of our childhood friends who we hadn't seen since grade school. I met with Jim Pfeiffer, blood brother and best friend in 5th grade who now is retired and married to a beautiful school administrator 15 years his junior. What a life! I always knew Jim would do well. Gloria also saw Nancy Deacon, 4th grade friend who used to go ice skating with her and also slide down their bannister. I asked Gloria to demonstrate her sliding down the bannister skills again, but she demurred for some reason.
We were hosted by a wonderful cousin, Joyce Kolb, and Gloria arranged for a big Reimer reunion in a pizza restaurant while the Packers were playing. On TV, not in the restaurant. They won and everyone cheered, we assume for us, but suspect the Packers may have had something to do with it. Our final family get-together was in Rhinelander with cousin Marsha and Jeff Schultz where we were taken to supper clubs for scrumptious dinners. We also went to their son's establishment, Big Daddy's, where we had fun trying a chocolate martini (delish) and dancing to the juke box.
Now, back to the travels. After Green Bay we headed north to the U. P. (Michigan's Upper Peninsula) where the people are called "Yoopers." They eat "pasties," meat pies which really stick to your ribs -- the old iron miners used to eat them. I golfed at a 5* course, Timberstone, where I was joined by several retired guys who were a lot of fun, especially Bob Pedo, an Italian Stallion who sang and told great jokes. He said he was Frank Sinatra's brother, "Notso Hotsa." From there we visited Sauk Centre, Minnesota, home of Sinclair Lewis who wrote Main Street and was hated by the townsfolk who recognized themselves in the book. They now have lots of tourist attractions all named Sinclair Lewis this or that, and they love him. See what 85 years can do for your reputation. When I read his Arrowsmith in 8th grade in which a young guy goes into medicine, fights a terrible epidemic in the Caribbean in which his wife dies, I thought it sounded cool to be a doctor. All except the wife dying part, that is, Gloria wants to add.
We met three more wonderful golfing partners at Grey Stone Golf Club in Sauk Centre, including a retired dentist named Dave Mayer who stayed for lunch with us afterwards. He and his wife found us just before we left town and gave us four delicious cinnamon rolls as a parting gift. How nice is that? They will definately go on our list of nice folks in the book.
We continued west to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in Medora, North Dakota where we took a 36 mile drive around the park and saw herds of buffalo, some only a few feet away from the van. Gloria has a picture of one engaging her in a staring contest -- he won. We also saw lots of mule deer and heard elk bugling loudly near our campsite. The next morning we were surprised when we saw a new life bird -- Sharp-tailed Grouse which was displaying before two females on the road a short distance ahead of us. It was an unexpected pleasure. I played golf that morning at Bully Pulpit, an amazing course near Medora, with some of the holes high up in the Badlands providing fantastic views. General Custer camped on the third fairway along the Little Missouri River just before he had an unfortunate run-in with Crazy Horse and half of the Sioux Nation. I guess he should have stayed to play golf instead.
Continuing South, we entered South Dakota where we stopped at the Geographic Center of the United States and tried to take our picture by holding the camera up. It looks quite goofy. We then went on to the Black Hills, but didn't stop at Mt. Rushmore (we've seen it a number of times before and it always looks the same). We enjoyed the beautiful scenery and ended up in Hot Springs where we are currently. I again played golf alone as Gloria is not quite healed up from her leg injury, and had fun just before dark hacking away while racing along the cart path while I could still see. There were storm clouds in the distance, but our luck has held out. For the 40th time we have played golf with NO RAIN! Amazing, since it has been a very wet year, especially along the upper midwest and Galveston, Texas.
So today we'll drive further south and a bit east with the eventual goal being Gothenburg, Nebraska where they have a real sod house on display, along with a Pony Express Station and remnants of the Oregon Trail, plus a neat golf course. The van is running smoothly, we are still speaking to each other, still eating too much, sleeping reasonably well, though my allergies are kicking up. You might know that I am allergic to smut which is a problem since I am walking around on a lot of grassy golf courses. Oh, smut of course is that fungus which grows on the side of grass. What were you thinking it is? Well, with that I'd better get out of here. Achoo!
First of all, there needs to be a CLARIFICATION. The picture on the top of the last blog is NOT US-- WE ARE NOT THAT GOOD LOOKING (and we haven't aged that much either). So, we'll try to get a picture of us up again soon. Anyway, we left you as we were about to visit the Amana Colonies in Iowa, an old German religious settlement featuring hard-working people who get to eat lots of great German food. You might say they take the best with the wurst. Sorry.
From there we stayed and played in Baraboo, Wisconsin, home of the Ringling Brothers Circus Museum which was fun to explore and relive old memories, like watching that poor guy get shot out of a cannon at the end of the show and wondering how much it hurt. We then drove to North Prairie (near Waukesha) to see great friends Jim and Nancy Hannen who we have known for many years. Jim fixed about six things in our van and they also had a big gathering with many old friends to reminisce with. We continued the visiting with a 4 day stay in Green Bay where we saw many of Gloria's relatives and also got caught up on the lives of our childhood friends who we hadn't seen since grade school. I met with Jim Pfeiffer, blood brother and best friend in 5th grade who now is retired and married to a beautiful school administrator 15 years his junior. What a life! I always knew Jim would do well. Gloria also saw Nancy Deacon, 4th grade friend who used to go ice skating with her and also slide down their bannister. I asked Gloria to demonstrate her sliding down the bannister skills again, but she demurred for some reason.
We were hosted by a wonderful cousin, Joyce Kolb, and Gloria arranged for a big Reimer reunion in a pizza restaurant while the Packers were playing. On TV, not in the restaurant. They won and everyone cheered, we assume for us, but suspect the Packers may have had something to do with it. Our final family get-together was in Rhinelander with cousin Marsha and Jeff Schultz where we were taken to supper clubs for scrumptious dinners. We also went to their son's establishment, Big Daddy's, where we had fun trying a chocolate martini (delish) and dancing to the juke box.
Now, back to the travels. After Green Bay we headed north to the U. P. (Michigan's Upper Peninsula) where the people are called "Yoopers." They eat "pasties," meat pies which really stick to your ribs -- the old iron miners used to eat them. I golfed at a 5* course, Timberstone, where I was joined by several retired guys who were a lot of fun, especially Bob Pedo, an Italian Stallion who sang and told great jokes. He said he was Frank Sinatra's brother, "Notso Hotsa." From there we visited Sauk Centre, Minnesota, home of Sinclair Lewis who wrote Main Street and was hated by the townsfolk who recognized themselves in the book. They now have lots of tourist attractions all named Sinclair Lewis this or that, and they love him. See what 85 years can do for your reputation. When I read his Arrowsmith in 8th grade in which a young guy goes into medicine, fights a terrible epidemic in the Caribbean in which his wife dies, I thought it sounded cool to be a doctor. All except the wife dying part, that is, Gloria wants to add.
We met three more wonderful golfing partners at Grey Stone Golf Club in Sauk Centre, including a retired dentist named Dave Mayer who stayed for lunch with us afterwards. He and his wife found us just before we left town and gave us four delicious cinnamon rolls as a parting gift. How nice is that? They will definately go on our list of nice folks in the book.
We continued west to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in Medora, North Dakota where we took a 36 mile drive around the park and saw herds of buffalo, some only a few feet away from the van. Gloria has a picture of one engaging her in a staring contest -- he won. We also saw lots of mule deer and heard elk bugling loudly near our campsite. The next morning we were surprised when we saw a new life bird -- Sharp-tailed Grouse which was displaying before two females on the road a short distance ahead of us. It was an unexpected pleasure. I played golf that morning at Bully Pulpit, an amazing course near Medora, with some of the holes high up in the Badlands providing fantastic views. General Custer camped on the third fairway along the Little Missouri River just before he had an unfortunate run-in with Crazy Horse and half of the Sioux Nation. I guess he should have stayed to play golf instead.
Continuing South, we entered South Dakota where we stopped at the Geographic Center of the United States and tried to take our picture by holding the camera up. It looks quite goofy. We then went on to the Black Hills, but didn't stop at Mt. Rushmore (we've seen it a number of times before and it always looks the same). We enjoyed the beautiful scenery and ended up in Hot Springs where we are currently. I again played golf alone as Gloria is not quite healed up from her leg injury, and had fun just before dark hacking away while racing along the cart path while I could still see. There were storm clouds in the distance, but our luck has held out. For the 40th time we have played golf with NO RAIN! Amazing, since it has been a very wet year, especially along the upper midwest and Galveston, Texas.
So today we'll drive further south and a bit east with the eventual goal being Gothenburg, Nebraska where they have a real sod house on display, along with a Pony Express Station and remnants of the Oregon Trail, plus a neat golf course. The van is running smoothly, we are still speaking to each other, still eating too much, sleeping reasonably well, though my allergies are kicking up. You might know that I am allergic to smut which is a problem since I am walking around on a lot of grassy golf courses. Oh, smut of course is that fungus which grows on the side of grass. What were you thinking it is? Well, with that I'd better get out of here. Achoo!
Gloria just updated some pictures, including the goofy one from the Geographic Center and Carhenge in Western Nebraska which is an artistic attempt to re-create Stonehenge with old cars plunked in the ground. There is also a picture of me and my golfing buddies in Sauk Centre, Minnesota, Dave, Bob and Bill. Colorado and the Rocky Mountains are next.
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