The two days spent getting east on this vacation were planned around one of our life goals: see all the National Park Service monuments, memorials and parks. We have done pretty well to this point, reaching approximately 2/3 so far. Perry's Victory yesterday and our first two stops this morning were still on the list. Johnstown Flood National Memorial is actually northeast of Johnstown, and commemorates the 1889 flood that wiped out the entire city, along with many victims in towns along the way. The South Fork Fishing & Hunting Club, whose members included Andrew Carnegie and Andrew Mellon, operated an earthen dam upriver to maintain a lake. They didn't repair a valve that had failed, put gates across the spillway to prevent fish from getting out, and didn't keep the middle part of the dam ... read more

It has been a very long time since our last vacation, 369 days since we last left home. That's a little long. I've been counting down the weeks, then days, then hours, then patients (sixteen today), but it all finally ended. Work went great today and we left ahead of schedule. This vacation will be far different than our last. We will drive fewer miles, do more stuff, and be around immensely more people. Jeff will probably still drive the whole way, although I have actually pulled the camper now and could do it if needed. I knit, and want to get a lot of projects done. We also geocache, and hope to do at least one per day and per state. We are also bringing a gnome with us for some photo ops. I'm not ... read more

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 perfect--overcast and not too warm--and the boys did well. We even found the geocache! From there, we traveled up to Pipestone National Monument. It rained on the way up and back, but not while there. ... read more

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 ... read more

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 the T Rex Discovery Centre in Eastend, SK. It hosts part of Scotty, a nearly complete T Rex skeleton found nearby, as well as other fossils and casts of fossils. Interestingly, they have a cast ... read more