Father's Day - 2020

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

Thinking of our dear Dads today.......along with Michael and Philip (thanking them for giving us 6 grandchildren).    And Patrick.......knowing he's looking down on his boys with great pride and love.    

  And so proud and thankful to have Mark at the helm of our family - what a great role model, mentor, fixer-upper, and all-around good guy our kids and grands are blessed to call "Dad" and "Grandpa". 

We left East Grand Forks at 8:20 and as we were truckin' across North Dakota, so much vastness and flatland for miles and miles and miles.  In 2009 when we were out here with Daisy enroute to Alaska, we stopped in Grand Forks and had lunch with our niece, Colleen and parents (Mark's sister, Janet and Mike).    Mike and Janet were helping Colleen settle in at the University of ND for graduate school.    Colleen is now a doctor of psychology in Chicago.

 Went to Mass in Boston (via I-pad) with a priest who was formerly married, lost his spouse, Mary and became a priest 5 years ago.    Father has 3 children and 4 grandchildren and was hoping they could be with him today, but stayed away cause of the virus.

Stopped in Minot for lunch on Flo at a Flying J truck stop and then for awhile, we had hilly country and then back to flat terrain.     We passed a cornfield that had not been harvested last fall, a deer that crossed our path (yikes) with her little baby coming up thru the ditch.    Drove past many oil fields and drove thru Michigan, ND.    Not a lot of towns along the way.     One thing for sure, any and all towns have a Dairy Queen!!!

We drove past Rugby, ND which claims to be the geographic center (east to west and north to south) of North America.     A sign coming into town and 2 billboards marked this unique spot!

Hello from the Lewis and Clark State Park near Williston, ND (17 miles away).    We traveled  a bit over our average of 300 miles today (330) but it was a good trip and happy to be settled for the next 2 nights.    Lewis and Clark stopped here back in their day.....and the Missouri River is the longest river in North America which flows east and south 2,341 miles.    The Missouri River is 200 miles longer than the Mississippi!    WOW....we learned alot today! 

Our park is situated on a very large lake (Sakakawea) which is a part of the Missouri River.    It is very hilly and pretty,    Should be great for hiking,

We took a walk late afternoon thru a grassy area with tall grass on either side.    There's lots of territory to cover here.     Lots of people in their RV's, tent camping and of course, many boaters and jet skies on the water this Father's Day weekend.

Mark asked for a BLT for supper - I had my shrimp pasta leftovers from last night.   He enjoyed phone calls, texts, and face time with his kids and some of the grandkids!

Enjoying all this daylight the past several nights - tonight's sunset is 9:59 PM.    Today is the official first full day of summer!!!

Zoom with the siblings (9).     Walked to take out our garbage - what a pretty evening and pinching myself that we are in such an awesome area.    Mark is batting "1000" so far in choosing campgrounds!    All have been something special for the area we were at!   

I mentioned that Davis shot a 73 at golf last week - today he shot a 72......wow!!!!   Awesome!

Here's to a great week for all.....stay safe, healthy and happy!