Hit the Road Again ???

I think we need to come up with Trip II. Debbie put this tidbit into my pscyhe last night.
What say you ladies???????????

 

We had a great day so far. Each day has had it's "Murphy's Law" as we call it but we've had an absolutely fantastic time. Today we took out the ATVs to the area surrounding Nancy and Dave's farm. We saw an antelope and some of the beautiful grasses surrounding the farm. At one time buffalo roamed free here and Nancy pointed out the buffalo wallows. To think about people crossing our country for the first time, is mind- boggling.
We also passed an antelope during the ride. She watched us, so we think a baby was nearby. Mac and Odie ran out with us.
Each of us took a turn riding the 4 wheeler on the dirt road. Warm sun, fields of wheat, friends. It doesn't get better than this!!!!!!!!

The fireworks last night were great.

Day 4

Day 4; Stayed in Belle Fouche, SD last night, went hiking to Devil's Bathtub, saw Bridal Veil, hit the road for Mt Rushmore but had car trouble. Cool thing was change in plans had us stopping to smell different roses. Stopped at a cool little eatery in outside of Deadwood (at Frankie's Hwy 385 diner) and had a great dinner. Had a picture taken atop of a ginormous rocking chair.

We had to by pass Mt Rushmore for tonight because of car trouble, hoping to do it tomorrow. We're staying in a neat little lodge tonight. Just came from the hot top, having some juice n gin.

Day 3

Day 3: we left MN and drove, drove, drove. We drove over the MO river, drove by the Corn Palace....stopped by the ranch where they filmed Dances With Wolves, stopped by Wall Drugs, met up with Nancy's family, went to Deadwood (which was dead). Exhausted. No cocktails. Angie provided drink of the day: pomegranate juice, apple juice and Captains. On the road about 8 hours.

end of day 2

Well this post is coming to you from the road we are in Wisconsin traveling west towards Minnesota. We have about 5 hours to get to our hotel. The sun is setting after an absolutely day.

We began the day with breakfast at the hotel. With the help of the hotel concierge we made reservations for the 10 am tour of the river and lake. Wendell a has been in business for 75 years. I think I can speak for the entire t and l group when i say the tour was well worth the fee and the time. The tour gives a great amount of information about the history of the buildings. You also can appreciate the beauty of the lake.

Then, we went to lunch at Portillo's and Barnelli's and had their famous Italian Beef with Jon and Karen. This was a delectable sandwich, spiced nicely and served on a crusty french roll. We ate outside and everyone enjoyed.

After lunch, we said our goodbyes to Jon and then walkted onto Olde City. Olde City is a lovely neighborhood in Chicago. We browsed several shops and then drove by Wrigley field. There had been a Cubs game and it was an afternoon game, and so we landed in lots of traffic, but we got a good view of the outlying Chicago surroundings.


I am actually finishing this post Thursday morning from Minnesota. ( Fairmont, Hampton) We arrived sometiime after 2 am CST and opened a bottle of vino as a nightcap.

Another wonderful day of smiles, laughs and fun, and great conversation.

Day 1

Day 1 has come to a close; it was a great success. We (MaryAnn, Cheryl, Debbie & I) arrived in Chicago and Nancy picked us up. We checked in to DoubleTree and did an impromptu (accidental) tour of downtown Chicago thanks to Nancy's TomTom navigation system (i.e., we got a little lost trying to get to our destination). :-)

We had original Chicago style pizza at Giordano's. It was INCREDIBLE. Afterward, we walked Millennium Park and walked down to Lake Michigan. It was stunning. We went past Grant Park (which was hosting Taste of Chicago). The temp was beautiful, sunny, sometimes chilly!

We had a tapas dinner at Emilio's then went to the top of the John Hancock tower, 96th floor, for cocktails. The night view of the city was stunning. Note: the wait staff was beyond rude. We actually saw another patron having a heated discussion about the service with the manager. They automatically embed an 18% gratuity in the bill...so what's their incentive to do a good job? Our server was beyond rude. If the manager wasn't busy with another customer, we would have shared out insight with him. Aside from that, the view made it all worth it.

It was a great first day; we had lots of laughs. Looking forward to Day 2. :-)

Giordano's Pizza

We had a wonderful Chicago style pizza and salads, too. Karen, Nanner's daughter in law joined us. Now we're off to see more of Chicago and hopefully Kathy Straub later