Double Decker Tour busses, Ferris wheels, bikes...
We are in Copenhagen, Denmark and thoroughly enjoying this. Beautiful city! We watched a digital counter tally the morning rush hour bicycles yesterday. Over 3,700 by 10 am. The number of bikes used here is just amazing.
The huge Ferris Wheel from Paris is here this year and we rode that last night, seeing the lights of the city and the huge amusement park, Tivoli, from 150 feet high.
We are loving everything here except the prices of hotel rooms, meals and drinks. $8 beer, $26 cheeseburger, $6 hot dog, $18 bowl of soup. Hotels $200 per night and up. So our stay here must be short.
We will get on the cruise ship this afternoon - yahoo! Free food! ...well sort of...
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
Updates...
ado
We've visited granddaughters in Omaha, played a little Twister, and Gregg got to stay in Nebraska for a week to see the famous and beautiful little 4 month old Jordie Schindel (and her Dad & Mom and Uncles).
Sally took off for the Wild West - Manitou Springs, Colorado. Where REAL GIRLS kiss wolves and all the 60 year old women look fabulous....
We loved our experience at Colorado Wolf & Wildlife Center. We learned that letting the wolf stick his tongue all the way in your mouth is a sign of respect for him when he has welcomed you into his home. I put that on the list of things, like para-sailing, that I am glad I have done ONCE!
We've visited granddaughters in Omaha, played a little Twister, and Gregg got to stay in Nebraska for a week to see the famous and beautiful little 4 month old Jordie Schindel (and her Dad & Mom and Uncles).
Sally took off for the Wild West - Manitou Springs, Colorado. Where REAL GIRLS kiss wolves and all the 60 year old women look fabulous....
We loved our experience at Colorado Wolf & Wildlife Center. We learned that letting the wolf stick his tongue all the way in your mouth is a sign of respect for him when he has welcomed you into his home. I put that on the list of things, like para-sailing, that I am glad I have done ONCE!
Here's some of what girls do at a 5 day long 60th birthday party...
Go out for High Tea
Play dress up
Facial masques
Hike a little, shop a lot
Go out to eat a lot, shop some more
We rented a beautiful home way up the mountain and saw lots of deer each day(and one huge black mama bear).
This deer is saying "Glad you liked Colorado. Now go home."
So I did, now back in Iowa with Gregg and we are laundering and packing, getting ready for a Scandinavian cruise with brother & sister-in-law, Gary & Judy, leaving Aug 31 for 2 weeks.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Sally signing off for a week...
I'm flying from Omaha to Denver, first to see my brother, sister-in-law and nieces for a day, then for 6 days with high school girlfriends in Manitou Springs. It's birthday party time. We all turned or will turn 60 this year; time to celebrate.
Gregg has plans for time with kids and grandkids in Nebraska while I play.
Tonight we are back in West Des Moines for the 3rd time this summer, our focal point I guess. We keep criss-crossing here. It's one of our favorite stops near a beautiful huge shopping area, Jordan Creek, with a pretty little lake and lots of nice restaurants with lakeside seating.
It's our 21st night in a Walmart parking lot in the past 4 months. One of our favorite homes away from home. 24 hour security. Close to everything. We've also stayed in Kohls, Costcos, Sam's Clubs, church lots, Jr. College lots, soccer parks, Presidential library lots, museum lots and a river ferry lot. We often ask permission and find it's almost never a problem.
We talk to other RVers often and find few who share our passion for the parking lots and we wonder why. Sure, there is usually no view, but we're usually doing this while traveling through somewhere and just stopping to eat and sleep. They are so easy and convenient and best of all, totally free. We've only spent 56 percent of our overnights at RV parks, averaging $13 per night overall. That's a little higher than our hoped-for $10 average but we've stayed at some pretty pricey places this year such as Door County's $32 and Spring Green's $36. Beats hotels all to heck though, doesn't it? Now that we are headed back to family in Nebraska and Iowa, we'll get our average back down again...unless they start charging us!
Gregg has plans for time with kids and grandkids in Nebraska while I play.
Tonight we are back in West Des Moines for the 3rd time this summer, our focal point I guess. We keep criss-crossing here. It's one of our favorite stops near a beautiful huge shopping area, Jordan Creek, with a pretty little lake and lots of nice restaurants with lakeside seating.
It's our 21st night in a Walmart parking lot in the past 4 months. One of our favorite homes away from home. 24 hour security. Close to everything. We've also stayed in Kohls, Costcos, Sam's Clubs, church lots, Jr. College lots, soccer parks, Presidential library lots, museum lots and a river ferry lot. We often ask permission and find it's almost never a problem.
We talk to other RVers often and find few who share our passion for the parking lots and we wonder why. Sure, there is usually no view, but we're usually doing this while traveling through somewhere and just stopping to eat and sleep. They are so easy and convenient and best of all, totally free. We've only spent 56 percent of our overnights at RV parks, averaging $13 per night overall. That's a little higher than our hoped-for $10 average but we've stayed at some pretty pricey places this year such as Door County's $32 and Spring Green's $36. Beats hotels all to heck though, doesn't it? Now that we are headed back to family in Nebraska and Iowa, we'll get our average back down again...unless they start charging us!
Mason City, Iowa
Ahhh, this is one of the events this trip was planned around...the Pyrotechnics Guild annual summer show. Indescribable. 
Only those of you who have been to a Lake Havasu City Winterblast in February or to an Olympics opening or closing ceremony or Presidential inauguration fireworks display would even have a clue about how stupendous these shows are. We have learned at Winterblast to get up close and personal and sat right up front last night. Best show we have ever seen. Set to music, the most incredible things happen in the sky. If you ever have a chance, BE THERE! Next August is in Appleton, WI. Who knows? Maybe we rovers will be there...
Here's someone's really good video of some of the 2009 show...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUN3bwOuWro
.
More in Mason City - a Frank Lloyd Wright preserved home. The 4th FLW that Sally's toured this summer - becoming a habit!
.
Mason City was home to Meredith Wilson, composer of The Music Man. Mason City IS River City. 76 trombones. Trouble with a capital "T" and that rhymes with "P" and that stands for POOL. They have a nice recreation of a streetscape from the early 1900's time period of Music man.
.
And, last, but not least, Forest City where Winnebagos are built, is nearby. We toured the plant and saw motorhomes being built. We've been shopping for our next RV and found this classic 1960's Winnebago to be just what we've been looking for!
Only those of you who have been to a Lake Havasu City Winterblast in February or to an Olympics opening or closing ceremony or Presidential inauguration fireworks display would even have a clue about how stupendous these shows are. We have learned at Winterblast to get up close and personal and sat right up front last night. Best show we have ever seen. Set to music, the most incredible things happen in the sky. If you ever have a chance, BE THERE! Next August is in Appleton, WI. Who knows? Maybe we rovers will be there...Here's someone's really good video of some of the 2009 show...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUN3bwOuWro
.
More in Mason City - a Frank Lloyd Wright preserved home. The 4th FLW that Sally's toured this summer - becoming a habit!
.
Mason City was home to Meredith Wilson, composer of The Music Man. Mason City IS River City. 76 trombones. Trouble with a capital "T" and that rhymes with "P" and that stands for POOL. They have a nice recreation of a streetscape from the early 1900's time period of Music man..
And, last, but not least, Forest City where Winnebagos are built, is nearby. We toured the plant and saw motorhomes being built. We've been shopping for our next RV and found this classic 1960's Winnebago to be just what we've been looking for!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Wife is Good
Read Gregg's new cap...yes, Sally bought it for him. Couldn't resist.
.
.
Wife is Good and Life is Good in Decorah, Iowa -
.
BEAUTIFUL campground.
.
The downtown shops are interesting.
A company called StoryPeople is here and
creates the most unique product that I could never begin to explain. Here, look at some in a store window (that's some of downtown Decorah reflected in the window). Says "feels like some kind of ride but it's turning out just to be life going absolutely perfectly". That about sums up how we've been feeling these past months.http://www.storypeople.com/
.
.
.
Great small museums...
Great biking and yes, the Iowa corn is tall!
We are loving it here, staying some extra days.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Taliesin
We are now back across the beautiful Mississippi in Iowa, in the small town of Decorah, in the most beautiful RV park we've yet seen with wide green lawns and bike trails leading for miles and miles around town. 
The last thing we did in Wisconsin was a tour of Taliesin, Frank Lloyd Wright's personal home.Very, very beautiful with tour guides who really know their business - fascinating. Pricey but well worth it and you see why they need the high price tags. It's a
big job trying to preserve this place that was designed more for beauty than for structural soundness. The home is wrapped around the top of a hill from which the views are incredible. No glaciers came through this swath of SW Wisconsin and NE Iowa to level hills. The land rolls and rolls and the sun and rain create lush, lush lan
dscapes.Monday, August 10, 2009
Spring Green
Southwest Wisconsin -Breathtakingly beautiful.
We are camped along the beautiful Wisconsin River.
REAL cheese curds, not those fake ones.
Fresh and squeaky.
Hot & humid - first time we've turned A/C on in SIX weeks, since June 24 in Southern MN.
The House on the Rock -The strangest place you can ever imagine. Think Walt Disney, Michael Jackson, obsessive-compulsive collecting, strange, strange, strange...
These pictures are only a MINUTE sampling of the strangeness there.
I'll post more another day after my tour today of Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)