Family Time

 We've been in the Minneapolis/St Paul area for about five days. We're staying at Dakotah Meadows RV Park in Prior Lake, MN, about 30 miles southwest of the Twin Cities, and about 50 miles southwest of the town of Stillwater, MN, where Donna's brother and sister-in-law live, as well as our niece and her family.

It's 160 miles from La Crosse to the park, but the reward is a great site in a nice park.

The park is on Sioux Nation land, immediately adjacent to Mystic Lake Casino. We met friends Dave and Sue for dinner at the casino the evening we arrived, and found that the food was overpriced and underwhelming. There are two casino facilities in the area, Little Six is just a bit north, but we probably won't visit it. Dave and Sue live about thirty miles away in Hastings, MN, and since we haven't been able to see them in a year or so, we made arrangements to hang for a few days.

The next day, we visited Donna's brother and sister-in-law and their daughter for an afternoon. Getting pizza for dinner from Victoriano's in downtown Stillwater was a treat. Friday, the fourth of June, we went to lunch with Dave and Sue at a wonderful restaurant in Lakeville, MN, called the Barley + Vine. Starting off with fried cheese curds and blueberry ketchup got us to wondering what the ingredients were in the "ketchup", since it was wonderful. The server couldn't tell us, but offered to consult the chef. A short time later, the executive chef arrived at the table to explain that hand mulled blueberries (read smashed), water, sugar, a little vinegar and a few drops of liquid smoke. Awesome!

Friday, June 5th, our nephew and niece-in-law, Chuck and Jill, prepared a full on four course meal for the entire family. They always request a toast upon arrival with a home made concoction of fruit juices, sugar and water.

From left, our son Jeff, who flew in from Seattle, Donna hiding, Aunt Linda and Uncle Bill, niece Jill and nephew Chuck. Let the fun begin! Chuck has a knife and ax throwing setup, and a few rounds were on the schedule, but the 100 degree heat and high humidity forced us indoors for the afternoon!

We started with a charcuterie board with meats, cheeses, fruit and nuts that kept us busy!

Jill served us spaghetti and meatballs with bread and salad in the dining room of her 106 year old home in St Paul.

Mom and Son had a moment before dinner!

Thanks for a great family afternoon, Chuck and Jill!

Our niece Cara and her husband Bruce were unable to attend the family festivities because they're Camp Hosts at William O'Brien State Park 20 minutes or so north of Stillwater, on the St Croix River, the border between Minnesota and Wisconsin.

We took a nice walk around the park.

Bruce and Car have a cute R-Pod trailer set up in the park with a screened room attached to double the living space. Cara fixed potato salad, beans, hot dogs, brats, and condiments in this small space. Cool! Well not so much....it was in the 90's with a light breeze.

Today, Donna prepped Chipotle Honey Chicken Tacos and we took the meal to CnB's house to share with Uncle Bill and Aunt Linda. CnB joined us (in their own home...). Bill and Linda live in an apartment complex that has strict rules on who can enter or leave. They are not allowed to have family with them, but they are allowed to venture out, which is why we used their daughters house for a safe house. 

After a little trouble opening a bottle, we enjoyed the meal and company!

We got back to our RV Park just at sunset, which is about 9:00 pm this time of year.

We have thoroughly enjoyed our visit with family in the Twin Cities area.

La Crosse, Wisconsin: How Do They Do That?

 Sasha and I took an extended walk around the park this morning admiring the green grass and Mississippi River. In spite of the fact that wifi and utilities are limited, Pettibone RV Resort is a lovely place! Well, in the spring anyway!

I got to talking with a neighbor this morning and asked him what he had found to do in LaCrosse. His answer was noncommittal, so I figured there wasn't much to see around here. We headed into downtown, which is centered around Third and Fourth Streets, and started our tour with a look at the Worlds Largest Six Pack.

From the City Brewery, the tanks contain enough beer to fill 7,340,796 cans. OK, Next......

Zipping through downtown, 

we came to Riverside Park. Established in large part by the Rotary Club, the park provides huge areas of grass, long concrete walkways along the river, and access to paddle wheel river boat cruises. This is also the confluence of the Mississippi, Black, and LaCrosse Rivers. 

Looking north up the Black River, we learned that there is a paddle wheel shipwreck located in only 10 feet of water just a bit upriver. A fire while tied up at the dock destroyed not only the ship, but most of the dock, some adjacent buildings and ships. Seven people lost their lives in the inferno.

It's still unexplained as to how it arrived, but there is a cannon from the USS Maine, the ship sunk in Havana Harbor in 1898. Spain was blamed for the event, and the Spanish-American War ensued.

Our next stop was at the top of Granddad Bluff. Mountains aren't too high around here, but this is just about the highest point in the area. The bluff was left as the Mississippi River drained the glaciers in the north some 50,000 years ago. The glaciers didn't pass through the LaCrosse area, because the rolling terrain diverted them to the sides.

At the top, a perfect Memorial Day moments:

The views of LaCrosse and on into Minnesota are wonderful!

The last view was especially beautiful!

Making a big circle, we left Granddad Bluff and drove north toward Onalaska, Wisconsin, where we stopped for some iced tea and a mocha to go. Onto Interstate 90 West, got us to the Minnesota border where we turned south yesterday. Today we turned north and stopped at the Minnesota Welcome Center, which is just a stone's throw from Lock and Dam No. 7.The lock elevates or drops shipping 9 feet from one "pool" to another using lock systems.

Ok, nice, but nothing new, so we strolled on to the Visitors Center, where we were able to catch a glimpse of the I90 bridge as it crosses the main channel of the Mississippi River.

While we walked along the river, we spotted a barge heading north and shot back to Lock 7 to watch the fun.

As the barge slipped into the lock, we scoped out the connections between the barges.

The lock is 110 feet wide and the barge is 105 feet wide. Tight fit! Right about here we realized that the barge was too long to fit in the lock! The lock is 600 feet long and the lock master told us the barge was 1000 feet long!

So, how do they do that? Simple. the first 400 feet of barges are disconnected and pulled through the lock by a huge cable, while the remaining barges and the tug (pusher?) remains outside.

Then the gates are opened and the rest enter and are raised. The whole shootin' match is reconnected and continues on it's way!

And that's how they stuff 1,000 feet of barge into a 600 foot hole! The entire process took an hour and a half, and the deck hands and captain had time to chat with us and wave when they passed through the lock. Nice job, guys!

Off to the interior of Minnesota tomorrow!

Certified 5150

 The Walmart in Rochelle, IL, was quieter than most rv parks, so we had a great nights sleep, but Monday morning, Memorial Day, 2021, found us back on Interstate 90 heading north. A portion of the highway is a toll road, but it's well maintained and traffic was moving smoothly. 

As we passed Madison, Wisconsin, the road narrowed and the traffic increased dramatically. We began to see traffic slowed to a crawl in both directions as "weekenders" made their way home from a long weekend.

Thank You For Your Service, Veterans, and Respectful Thanks to Those Who Have Died in Service.

We were maintaining a comfortable 60 miles per hour in the right-hand lane, trying to absorb road shocks as best we could, and watching traffic, including rvs, speed by us. Just north of Baraboo and south of Wisconsin Dells, a black pickup towing an rv lost concentration for a bit and let his trailer begin to sway from side to side at a substantially higher speed than we were traveling at. 

As some can attest, I'm not happy with irresponsible drivers who don't respect me or my vehicle. This was just a tap, knocking the mirror out of adjustment and breaking the metal housing, but the shock of the incident had us both angry and perplexed. The pickup and rv, of course, increased speed to over 75 mph and soon disappeared. I know the speed because for a short time that was how fast we were traveling in an effort to get a license number. Not happy, however, dash cam footage should reveal the license number.

Wisconsin is, of course, known for cheese, and we saw dozens of dairies as we turned west on Interstate 90 toward La Crosse.

Following I 90 into Minnesota, we turned south, following the Mississippi River on the west bank. Crossing back into Wisconsin, at Barron Island, we found Pettibone RV Resort, and site 313. A bit of backing and filling got us into a very attractive site, with Mississippi back channels on both sides of the road.

After a pleasant, warm afternoon, the storm clouds began to gather in the early evening.

And two hours later, after what seemed like two inches of rain....Ta Dah! Gone!

Many broken tree limbs and puddles everywhere, but....gone!

We're here for two nights, even though the park only has water and electric service to the campsites. It's a beautiful park now, but we hear that it was crazy, crazy over the long weekend. Water activities abound, and two of the neighbors live only 30 miles from here, so they bring their boats, set up the camper, and stay the summer (at least on weekends).