So being at the bears for some time, i am ready for a change to get to Central America. Just the change of even lugging my belongings from crowded bus to crowded bus seems like the bit of new scenery i need. Some illness has been spread around through the volunteers and unfortunately i had also gotten ill... had to sleep an entire day to recover, which meant i got to avoid visitors for a day, hooray! There are some great bits about the sanctuary though- i do enjoy the rustic-camping wilderness of it all. Although we now have the ‘pleasures’ [View Full Entry]

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Bring the kids to Zollman Zoo in Oxbow Park. Located about 20 minutes west of Rochester, this county-run zoo and park is free. Check out owls, prairie dogs, badgers, bald eagles, cougars, river otters and more. [View Full Entry]

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From August 2004 through June 2008, Jeff and I challenged each other to a bocce battle in Minnesota's state parks, as a way to see them all. He kicked my butt, to put it mildly. It was great to see all the parks, but for many, our visits were brief. Lake Carlos was the third of four state parks we saw 21 May 2008 and we were there less than an hour. Jeff won 22-7, not one of my better performances. So, when planning a camping weekend with friends, we picked Lake Carlos and planned to actually see the park. The [View Full Entry]

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With a two and one-half month old baby, we knew we couldn't undertake a long road trip for our first anniversary. But I had a hankering to go someplace. My hubby gave me these perimeters: 3 hours or 200 miles. I knew I wanted to go south, having gone north and froze too many times in early summer. I dug out one of my favorite books, "Backroads of Minnesota", and starting reading. Forestville State Park caught my eye. It sounded like a great place to camp with fun things to do nearby. We could be as busy or as relaxed as [View Full Entry]

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First of many Im sure. Diana almost crashed the car. [View Full Entry]

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After our slow start, we covered a lot of ground today. Here's a quick state summary: Indiana: We were in Indiana for a good while before noticing, due to lack of signage....not great for a state that has such a cute name (inDIANA) Illinois: Probably our worst experience so far. Tons of traffic, we almost ran out of gas, became fugitives from the law, and did NOT win the lottery. Wisconsin: The signage was the biggest disappointment of all. "Wisconsin Fun, next exit"?!?! Could you be more vague?!? And highways with such creative names as "B" or "MM". And exits like [View Full Entry]

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Good morning guys. We got a earlier start today, still haven't quite made our goal departure time of 8:00am, but tomorrow is another day. We are about to cross into Iowa (which is not on the way to Seattle, but diana needed to add another state to her list) and see where Buddy Holly crashed (because Sarah's little sister is obsessed with him). We just crossed into Iowa and our love of Minnesota only grows upon seeing their excellent state line signage. Our ultimate goal for the day is Rapid City SD we'll keep you posted if anything happens before that. [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Mankato early today (around 2:00) and rested. We will probably have to ride in the rain on Tuesday, but we only have about 350 miles to go to Rockford, Il. on Tuesday. Each day Grace and I have some scripture to look at and contemplate about journeys depicted in scripture. It seems every movement of God involves journey and travel. Nothing worthwhile ever occured in scripture without someone taking a risk and taking a journey to accomplish it. Journeys sometimes involved someone going someplace special like Noah (who was really just adrift) or Abraham where God told him [View Full Entry]

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More details about project placements are on these sites. Obviously I'll tell you about what's actually happening as I get to Peru and the different locations, but if you want a preview or more general information, feel free to look. Conservation Project http://www.volunteer-conservation-peru.org/ Inca Project http://www.volunteer-inca-peru.org/ [View Full Entry]

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It took me the first 100 miles to mentally grasp that we are really on our way. And then I couldn't stop smiling. In the past few weeks I have thought more than once about the pre-journey that occurs in the preparation for a journey. My pre-journey prep seemed pretty intense as I worked to get three teaching projects with which I have been involved ready to be turned over to other hands. I realized the truth of what Steve has been telling me about my over-commitment to volunteer work. Boundaries in these areas have been non-existant for me. Preparing to [View Full Entry]

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