August 26-28

Mark and I have been out of town the past 3 days visiting my Dad and clearing out the house to sell - a

BIG job.    My brothers and sisters-in-law have all pitched in and today, we brought home a big truck load full of stuff!

Here's a happy memory from Wednesday night when my Sublettian friends all gathered at Mona's in Toluca for some great Italian fare

Jane, Ann, Katie, Marilyn, Joyce, Kay, Judy, Pat, Anita, Debbi, Mary and Carole

Lots of laughs and reminiscing with these great friends who all grew up together!

August 25

Busy day of getting stuff organized around here, Daisy unloaded, grocery shopping, etc.    Our neighbor, Candy has a beautiful flower garden and here's a few pictures....

Connor and Liam are spending the night and here's Connor with Candy and a huge hydrangea bloom!

August 22-24

It's been a very busy, fun few days since we arrived back home!    Annette and Philip were here for the weekend.    Annette's parents joined us Sunday, along with Anne, Patrick, Liam and Connor and we topped off the day with dinner at Avanti's - sorry, no pictures of this!

Met long-time boating friends for lunch at Famous Dave's on Monday

Pat, Carol, Mark, John, Roger and Heather.    John and Heather are on their way home to Tennessee after spending the summer in Alaska

Met neighbors/friends for breakfast and great fun catching up.    Here are the gals:

Sigrunn, Pat, Norma, Donna Rae, Susie, Brenda and Sue

And the guys:

Ken, Darrel, Mark, Pat, Ed, John and Jerry

John and Susie are moving to Florida later this week......oh, how we'll miss them!!!

Saturday, I attended my niece's bridal shower - so much fun!    Here's

Jennifer (bride-to-be) on the right and her future sister-in-law, Jenna (left)

August 20

We are HOME SWEET HOME!!!!! Gradually settling in unpackng, sorting thru mail, doing laundry and taking care of all the piddlies! Tonight we enjoyed a delicious picnic supper at Anne and Patrick's - a real treat for the tired nomads!Soooo good to see Liam and Connor - ahhh, that darn sun in the eyes!
Yesterday was Liam's first "hour" of preschool and here he is in his uniform!

A few intersting facts about out travels this summer....Daisy traveled 9,500 miles; Toad traveled 2, 200 miles. We visited 11 states and 5 provinces. So many wonderful memories and now sorting thru our gazillion pictures! Thank you for traveling along with us via this blog!

August 18

We are spending a few days with family before heading home sweet home!

August 17

Mark and I have always enjoyed traveling thru Wisconsin and today was a treat once again passing thru the northwoods country, beautiful lakes, dairy farms and rolling countryside...A pretty lake in Minocqua - stopped in this neat little town, had breakfast at the Island Cafe and then I did my part to help boost their economy with some GOOD shopping!

Tonight we are in Madison and visited with our nephew, Jason and had dinner at "The Weary Traveler" (how appropriate is that????). Great neighborhood restaurant/bar with high tin ceilings, scruffy tables, wooden floor and super food!

Jason

August 16

It's a rainy Sunday morning, but we enjoyed good food and laughs with Gary and Judy. Met them for breakfast at the North Edge. All of us went to church (Mark and I at Holy Family) and then met up at their boat and checked out the shops of Bayfield! Also visited a very nice pottery shop and this unique wood carver in Washburn, WI. Bill carves the huge logs using a chain saw and several other carving tools! What a talent! Mark, Bill, Judy and Gary

Back on the road and traveled to the Loon Lagoon Campground in Mercer, WI for the night!

August 15

We spent a delightful day in Bayfield, WI - charming little town on Lake Superior. Long-time friends from back home spend most of the summer boating here. After coming aboard, we enjoyed delicious cinnamon rolls, fresh blueberries and strawberries, followed by a power boat ride to Madeline Island.

Gary and Judy aboard "Time A Weigh"On Madeline Island (largest of the Apostle Islands), we had lunch at The Beach Club and walked around. This picture was taken at "Tom's Burned-down Cafe" - a local tourist attraction!
Mark at the helm and "in his glory"!!!! What fun for us to be back on the water - had a great sail! Enjoyed dinner at Maggie's and just yakked the day/evening away!

August 14

We had a nice drive thru Minnesota today stopping in Duluth for a bit of shopping and manicure for me and both of us enjoyed browsing at Barnes & Noble. Arrived at the Northland RV Park in South Range, WI (near Superior) and Mark gave Daisy a good bath while I worked on the Shutter Fly albums! Found a roadside stand with fresh sweet corn and enjoyed that for supper! Met Barb and Wes from New Jersey here at the park. They are traveling in their silver Lazy Daze and we had a nice visit comparing our vacations and favorite RV's!

August 13

We arrived back in the good ole USA today. Stopped in Grand Forks, ND and met up with Mark's sister, Janet, Mike and daughter, Colleen who is starting graduate school next week at the U of ND. Janet and Mike are spending the week getting Colleen settled. We had a great visit, good lunch, saw Colleen's new "home away from home" and tour of campus. Janet, Colleen and Mike

Tonight we are in Fosston, MN - another warm, sunny day. We walked downtown to A & W for some icy cold root beers and sandwiches!

August 12

We saw a variety of farm crops driving along in Miss Daisy - wheat, barley, flax, sunflowers, canola and more hay bales. Summertime arrived big time today - 91 in Winnipeg. We enjoyed our time at Assiniboine Park starting with a delicious, delightful lunch at the Star Conservatory (upscale tea room in a lovely setting). The highlight was dessert - black forest cake made with fresh bing cherries - one of those "to die for" concoctions!!!

After lunch, we walked thru the gardens and the Leo Mol sculpture garden. Here are some of our favorites...

BambiWild pig with babies

Beautiful lily padGorgeous orange zinniasLuscious hydrangeasPlayful dolphins

The Assiniboine Park is huge and a real gem - it is the #1 tourist attraction in Winnipeg!

August 11

Sunny, warm day for driving along the countryside and found out that the #1 crop in Saskatchewan is wheat, followed by canola. Saw more livestock today (mostly beef) for all those bales of hay!Pretty field along the way...
Unique church out in the country

Tonight we are at the Minnedosa Campground in Minnedosa, Manitoba and the central time zone. The beach and lake are close by where we are settled with Daisy - beautiful evening and lots of activity on the water. We were entertained with fireworks, too!

August 10

Sunny Monday greetings from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. We started the day off by going to a big truck wash and giving Daisy a good scrubbing! Daisy all sudsy
Drove past several of these oil storage tanks along the way. We walked around downtown Saskatoon and had good dinner at Winston's English Pub & Grill.
I now have the nasty cold Mark had (he still has a cough) - so feeling kind of punky tonight!

August 9

Sunday morning in Edmonton started out cool with a few sprinkles - went to 10:00 Mass in Spruce Grove - out in the middle of a field...

Holy Trinity ChurchThe Edmonton skyline
Drove around downtown, including the University of Alberta campus where my cousin, Dick taught for several years (medical school) until his retirement this summer.
Just happened to come upon "Old Strathcona" and had fun browsing the shops - neat area!
Had delicious dinner at Joey Tomatoes (thanks for the recommendation, Darlene)!

After dinner we drove to the Muttart Conservatory - botanical gardens in these pyramids. We enjoyed strolling out in the beautiful, lush gardens. I know I'm always including flowers in this blog, but here are just a few more of the many shots I took...

Gorgeous zinnias

Pretty pansies

Sure was nice to have a leisurely Sunday (turned out to be warm & sunny) without a long-day of travel; but tomorrow, we're "back on the road again" with 1,800+ miles to go...

August 8

A nice short jaunt today of 100 miles to Acheson (west of Edmonton). Now we're back in the BIG city - lots of traffic, all the chain stores (including some favorites - Tim Horton's and A & W Root Beer stands which are seen frequently throughout Canada). Got Toad washed - maybe Daisy, tomorrow! So much dust and dirt and bugs from all the gravel & rough roads. We're staying at the Glowing Embers RV Park and it's HUGE......but speaking of HUGE.....

Just 10 minutes from our RV park is the West Edmonton Mall which claims to be the largest shopping/entertainment mall in the world with over 800 stores, enormous indoor water park, amusement park, I-Max theaters, etc., etc. So, after all summer of being in some very remote areas of Canada and Alaska, we are back in the thick of mall shopping! We were there 2 hours (didn't begin to cover it all) and bought some gifts - FUN!!!

Mark has been fighting a cold for a few days - so tomorrow, we are taking a day off for some R & R and we'll be back "on the road again" on Monday!

August 7

Drove passed this nature park as we were leaving Dawson Creek this morning........ How about this???
A field of canola - passed many fields of this which is shipped to Edmonton and

made into canola oil.

Our drive today took us thru a lot of farm country and you could see for miles and miles (On a clear day, you can see forever...)
Stopped in Grande Prairie and walked around - nice town and flowers blooming everythere! These Canadians really have "GREEN" thumbs!
We were surprised at the # of times we saw this sign today??? Luckily, we saw NO pedestrians walking on the highway?

Enjoyed our bing cherries today that we bought yesterday at a fruit stand - $9 per quart - but nice and plump and delicious!

We are in the province of Alberta tonight and also the mountain time zone. Staying at the Sagitawah RV Park in Whitecourt, AB

August 6

Today the roads were straighter and more flatland with mountains in the far distance. We are in Dawson Creek and have finished the Alcan Highway travels. Even I drove about 20 miles today. Along the way we saw some signs from back home...Farm land out in the wide-open countryside.Hay seems to be the major farming crop and here is field with lots of fresh balesA field of grazing sheep (not Dall, not Stone - just regular ole sheep)
These signs indicate icy bridges in British Columbia

Mark standing at Milepost "0" marker which signifies the start of the Alcan Highway which certainly has a lot of history!

. Nice downtown area - I did some shopping, we had some excellent gelato at Cafe Europa and then shared a Pannini sandwich on the way back to Daisy (3.5 mile round-trip on foot) Our "new" friends, Brenda and Alex from Charlotte stopped by to say "hello" and we had a nice visit - we all just happened to be at the Milepost "0" Campsite together.

The weather has been wonderful - cool evenings and warm, sunny days!