Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Itasca State Park

Left today for Park Rapids area for June Northwoods campout. What a beautiful area. Haven't been there for years. Stayed at the campground Camp Itasca which is right across from the North entrance to the state park. Had lunch at Camp Douglas Lodge in the park. Very Pretty. On Thursday had bad weather. That is the day that Wadena was damaged by three tornados. Thank goodness they didn't come where we were as there wasn't really a very good storm shelter at the park. Also toured a log house builder and got to tour the owners 1.5 million dollar log home. Wow.
Had supper at a logging themed restaurant. Very nice time in Park Rapids. Had not been in the area since I was pregnant with my 24 year old daughter.

On Sunday June 20th along with Charlie and Barb (friends from the Northwoods), left for Father Hennepin State Park where are friends the McKenzies were park hosts for the month of June. Stayed there thru the 24. Had a very nice visit with our friends. Lots of food, bonfires, and good conversation.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Chicago, Illinois for Adams Graduation

Well the good news is that I am now a mother of a doctor. Wow!!
We left Minnesota on June 1 to attend Adams graduation ceremonies on the 3rd. Everything was going along fine until just south of Madison, a semi trailer blew a tire right in front of us and threw a six foot piece of rubber back at our Motorhome. It caused some damage which we will have to take care of when we get home. After Lud did a little pounding and a two hour delay, we were able to continue our trip.

We stayed at a very nice campground in Sycamore, Il. It is about an hour and a half from Chicago. This was the closest campground I could find. After lounging around for a day and touring Sycamore we attended a reception on the navy pier on the 3rd of June. Since my son got the time wrong and it took much longer than expected to get to Chicago we did not spend much time at the reception but it was nice to meet some of Adams fellow doctors. Got home that night at 11:30 and had to be back on the road at 6:30 the next day.

On the 4th we took a better route into Chicago and got there in under two hours. The graduation ceremony was really fun and it really sends a chill down your spine when you hear your kid introduced as Doctor Adam Sunderland. Mom got a little teary eyed. After the ceremony we all went to a Greek Restaurant and had a family style meal. Yum. Adam was impressed with the pen I gave him that I had made at the woodshop at Winter Ranch. I bet he didn't get anything like that from anyone else but he still probably liked the check better.

The ride home from the graduation ceremony was unbelievable it took us almost three hours. I don't know how the people living in Chicago can stand that commute. Thank god Adam is moving to Detroit where the traffic is suppose to be much better because everyone has move out.

Our return trip on June 6th to Minnesota was uneventful.