kengelha - Engelhardt Adventures

Welcome to my travel blog!

My husband Jeff and I waited six years after getting married before taking a vacation. It might have had something to do with being poor graduate students, or perhaps that we drove a 1991 Geo Metro. Anyway, we've tried to make up for it since. By the end of August 2008, he and I had been in the 48 contiguous states, as well as Hawaii. Along the way, we added Liam (2004) and Cole (2006), who had seen 47 and 46 states, respectively, by the end of October 2008.

Eventually, we hope to travel outside of the United States. While we adore Canada, it barely counts as another country when you live in Minnesota. For now, we're happy seeing as much as we possibly can while still being able to drive there (it's a Jeff thing).

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Joined on: April 18th 2009
Last Login: August 23rd 2009

Blog Entries: 46
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Blogs & Travel Journals

by kengelha, order by Date newest first.

By kengelha
August 23rd 2009

Bright Lights, Big Cities: Countdown North America

Our trip to Alaska this summer was so much fun that we're going to make long vacations an annual tradition. Next year, though, we'll be heading east to the big cities--Washington, New York, Boston and Philadelphia. Does camping in New York seem wrong? [View Full Entry]

By kengelha
August 15th 2009

Pipestone/Kilen North America » United States » Minnesota

Spotted Pipestone Quarry

There are 168 National Park Service parks, monuments, and memorials in the county. We've been to 65% of them, but none of the three in Minnesota. Frankly, it's a bit embarrassing. So, we finally decided to do something about it and head southwest. We camped Friday-Sunday at Kilen Woods State Park near Lakefield. We've been there once before, as the fourth of four state parks we visited 28 August 2004 to start our bocce battles. It was twilight and buggy, so we didn't stay long. This time, we got out on some of their many miles of trails. The weather was [View Full Entry]

By kengelha
July 19th 2009

Home North America » United States » Minnesota

Home
Vacation is great, but it really is fabulous to be home.

We are home. It was very nice to just relax at the KOA with Mom & Dad, but it is so nice to be home. On the vacation, we saw license plates from 43/51 states/DC. Not surprisingly, we did not see Hawaii. We didn’t even see Nebraska or Massachusetts until we were within 100 miles of home. All the rest we saw in Canada or Alaska. We saw 10/13 Canadian provinces. The missing three were again not surprising: Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nunavut. Are there even any roads leading out of Nunavut? Our weather was very nearly perfect. We [View Full Entry]

By kengelha
July 18th 2009

A Much-Needed Rest North America » United States » Minnesota

We spent today at the KOA in Moorhead. We ate and sat around, and that’s pretty much it. It felt so nice to be outside. Mom & Dad joined us in their first trip out with their new camper. Dad will head back to Velva tomorrow for work and Mom will head home. License Plates Noticed: IA, MN, MB, ND, NM High Temperature: Low Temperature: Miles: 21.6 (7977.6) Total Time on the Road: 0:00 [View Full Entry]

By kengelha
July 17th 2009

Back in the USA North America » United States » Minnesota

In disguise
Liam tells me he was Blackbeard.

We took a wrong turn in southern Saskatchewan and ended up driving on Road 18. It was a bad decision, because the lower half of our camper and truck is now completely covered in a fine layer of oil topped with dust. Yuk! On the good side, we passed through customs for the last time in a long time with only the loss of 2 oranges. We also passed through the great State of North Dakota without issue and are spending the next two nights in Moorhead, Minnesota. It’s too bad Jason & Amy, who actually live here, are on their [View Full Entry]

By kengelha
July 16th 2009

Go Mode, with an exception North America » Canada » Saskatchewan

Banff National Park

We are in go mode. When we were finishing our cruise from Juneau to Skagway, the captain said we wouldn’t stop even for whales playing hopscotch. We’re not quite there, nor are we in our typical drive 24 hours straight through to get home mode. But we are heading home. Liam requested this morning that we stop at a dinosaur museum. He is still enthralled by Beringia, which I’m convinced was his absolute favorite thing he did this trip, but hasn’t quite gotten his dinosaur fix. Fortunately, we stopped briefly at a visitor center and found we weren’t that far from [View Full Entry]

By kengelha
July 15th 2009

Jasper/Banff North America » Canada » Alberta

Jasper National Park
We stopped at many viewpoints at first, but then realized it may take us the entire day just to get through Jasper.

Jeff disagrees, but if I could only go back to one place we’ve been this trip, it would be Jasper National Park. If truth be told, I’m trying to figure out how we can back here sooner rather than later, like August. Jasper is stunningly, consistently beautiful. We could have stopped every half mile to take photos. We had absolutely perfect weather—blue skies, occasional clouds. There weren’t even that many people. I loved that the viewpoints have signs that name the mountain, the height, and point directly to it. We got out to see Athabasca Falls. It certainly is not [View Full Entry]

By kengelha
July 14th 2009

Bighorn/Yellowhead Highways North America » Canada » Alberta

The quick, brown fox . . .

Today was another driving day. The scenery was pretty, but not exceptional compared to what we’ve seen this trip. We did see a cute little fox early on who almost escaped a photo. We also met an adorable dog at a wayside rest who we could have easily brought with us. Sadie wouldn’t have liked it, though, if we had left her for over 3 weeks and come home with another. His owner was also at the rest and may have noticed if his dog was suddenly gone. We are spending the night at Hinton/Jasper KOA, which has impressed all of [View Full Entry]

By kengelha
July 13th 2009

Peace River Valley North America » Canada » British Columbia

Welcome to Chetwynd
This was carved by Terry Mackinnon, the first carver whose work was displayed in Chetwynd.

After staying at a rest stop last night, we took a short drive from just west of Ft St John down to Chetwynd. Along the way, we stopped at the WAC Bennett and Peace River Dams, both with visitor centers. After arriving, we drove around town just a bit to see their carvings. Chetwynd, of course, is the chainsaw carving capital of the world, and has some very impressive carvings. I think the boys appreciated being in early. We had lunch from KFC (bad choice, by the way—no gravy for the potatoes, no biscuits, green cole slaw) and the boys played [View Full Entry]

By kengelha
July 12th 2009

Stop and Go North America » Canada » British Columbia

Are you looking for me?

We planned today as a crazy long drive so that tomorrow would be very light. It didn’t exactly work out that way, though. We again got a late start, and started seeing wildlife. First, we saw a black bear being lazy on our left. (We didn’t stop for pictures.) We then saw bison on the right. (We didn’t slow down for pictures.) Jeff then saw a brown bear on the left, something we hadn’t yet seen. We drove ahead just a little bit to find a place to turn around, did so, took a few pictures, drove back toward Watson City [View Full Entry]

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