As usual, most days are either morning or afternoon shift we work first; the morning shift feeds bears and makes food, then the afternoon shift will finish the food or do outdoor work like clean sites or make bear beds. Then we hang around doing some work and feed bears as they come in . At 3:30 we eat dinner then prepare for the visitors to come in from 5pm-8 or 9pm. I prefer working admissions as i just sell a few tickets and then read my book. We have a few new volunteers: 2 girls from CA i don't have [View Full Entry]

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We took the scenic route into Minneapolis on Friday through the South suburbs to unload my suff into storage, before heading to the hotel. The hotel was very nice, although we thought one Concierge, Kathryn, might be a indentured servant because she was always there working every time we left and came back. However, she finally got the day off on Monday when we decided to stay an extra day to find the perfect apartment as I did not believe I had been thorough enough over the weekend. However, I am getting ahead of myself. After checking into the hotel on [View Full Entry]

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Just set up my travel blog for my trip to Japan. I'll be travelling from July 8th, 2009 - July 19th, 2009. Check back then to read about my experience climbing Mt. Fuji and my travels in Nagasaki, Hiroshima, and Tokyo. [View Full Entry]

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May 31, Sunday The second bag was not utilized, though the 20 degree Go Lite bag was just hanging on to the “keep me warm” amount by a few feathers. Definitely NOT a true 20 degree rating, and I may have to ship it home and buy a different bag. Harrumph. I’m going to see if I can live with it across the northern plains because from BC we’ll be heading south down the coast, and then across the southern roads of AZ and NM to the National in Tennessee. I’ll have time to decide what to do prior to getting [View Full Entry]

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My goal for the weekend was to walk most of the trails, and so we took off for Hidden Lake Trail (a round trip of 2 1/2 - 3 miles). It was hillier terrain than the others had been, so it was probably good we did this last and by itself. Surprisingly, you can't see Hidden Lake from the Hidden Lake Trail, but only from a tiny portion of Maple-Basswood Trail. [View Full Entry]

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Today we’re heading home. After waking up and making what’s left of the bacon, we pack up. We’ve got one more place to see before we turn the truck back north. It’s actually the reason we came to Forestville. MYSTERY CAVE The name itself is enough to entice me. I’ve always been interested in going underground to see what wonders have been carved into stone by centuries of dripping water. I’ve been in caves outside Monterrey, Mexico, in Tennessee, South Dakota and Missouri (the Mark Twain Cave). It could have been Mark Twain himself who inspired my love [View Full Entry]

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I love the sound of rain on a tent, and the fresh smell it brings. Although the weather man said rain was in the forecast for Saturday night, it came on Friday. Figures. But we didn’t sweat it; our tent was leakproof so we just snuggled down deeper and kept sleeping. I was worried about the baby, but she was fine. She seems to really enjoy this camping thing. She’s been sleeping better and longer than she has in weeks. BABY GEAR Well, I learned that you don’t need much baby gear for a 2 1/2 month old baby. We didn’t [View Full Entry]

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While away an afternoon in Historic Forestville. Guides bring you back to 1899. Shop in a general store with original merchandise left on the shelves. Then head over to the kitchen to sample tasty bread cooked that day. Bring the kids out to the barn to try wood carving. Located in southern Minnesota inside Forestville State park, the historic site is managed by the Minnesota Historical Society. [View Full Entry]

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Today was an absolutely beautiful day. Not too warm. A little breezy. Great for walking. The Neumans actually do geocaching and have a good GPS, so our first adventure was to find the park's geocache. They had a brochure and Sam had prepared, so we headed off for a walk along the Maple-Basswood Interpretive Trail to follow the clues. It worked well and the boys had fun, but it wasn't the critter cache that we had been looking for. Our boys were worn out, so after finding the first clue for the critter cache, we all went back for lunch. That [View Full Entry]

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We are at the end of this project, and like the end of all of them, at this point it feels like it just rushed to this day. We’ve been waiting and waiting for the day when we’d get to go home and see the kids (read: grandkids!) and then all of a sudden it’s tomorrow, and there are things that we didn’t get done, or didn’t get to do yet. But the main thing is that tomorrow we’re leaving, and heading home! The men have finished the floor, except for grouting the last little bit. They laid nearly 5000 [View Full Entry]

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